This Is The Life

The most astounding thing about Amy MacDonald's debut album 'This is the Life' is that this Glasgow-born lass is just 20 years old. Twenty! Twenty, but with all the soul of Joan Baez, the pop-rock sensibility of KT Tunstall (another songstress from north of the border) and a lyrical dexterity not unlike a younger Jewel or Shawn Colvin.

It would be easy to blame (or should that be credit?) the foul Scottish weather, dreary Glasgow streets or too many glasses of whisky for the melancholy folk-rock that fills this album, but Amy blames it all on Pete Doherty. Or perhaps Fran Healy of Travis.

Regardless of the who, it's the where that really counts. Nights spent listening to talented singer-songwriters at iconic venues like Glasgow's Barrowland Ballroom and the famous T in the Park festival prompted MacDonald to pick up a guitar a scant eight years ago. Eight years from first strumming to first international album isn't bad in my book.

Singing what's best described as the Scottish folk-rock pioneered by Tunstall, you'd half expect 'This is the Life' to ramble on about life in the glens and Highland games, but MacDonald clearly keeps an eye on the world around her.

She shows her admiration for drug-addled Doherty is far from total, with 'Poison Prince' asking: "A poetic genius is something I don't see/Why would a genius be trippin' on me." She also takes a swipe at the UK's out-of-control celebrity culture, slamming the WAG (wives and girlfriends) troupes and reality TV stars on 'Footballer's Wife'. It's a less-humorous, but equally cutting version of Amy Winehouse's 'F*** me pumps'.

Folk rock it is, so the whole album has a distinctly retro feel to it; from the seventies-style cover through to the noticeable lack of electronic wizardy. There are no loops and samples here, just one woman, great songs, a guitar and a few musos to back her up. Magic.

While her songwriting is not yet as refined and tight as the likes of Tunstall, MacDonald is — let's not forget — barely 20. Provided she keeps away from the shambolic Pete Doherty I'm sure we'll be seeing more of her in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime pour yourself a dram of something single malt and soak up the latest smooth export from Bonnie Scotland.