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Last year saw the release of Bill MacKay‘s Locust Land, his third solo outing for Drag City, which KLOF’s Glenn Kimpton described as “his most diverse yet, but also his most harmonious and satisfying, which is high praise, considering the quality of Esker and Fountain Fire. It feels like this one has been painstakingly put together, with every detail pored over, from the tight run time of a fraction under half an hour to the ratio of woozy versus uplifting music.”
Drag City have just shared details of Bill’s upcoming solo tour in March (details and ticket links below), which includes co-headline Ireland dates with Brigid Mae Power, whose latest self-released album Songs for You was described by Thomas Blake as a record that will melt the heart of even the most cynically covers-album-averse listener. His London date is a co-headline with Six Organs of Admittance whose solo album Time is Glass was also reviewed by Tom: “The one apparently simple thing that has always made Six Organs of Admittance stand out from the crowd is his ability to create cerebral music that’s brimful of soul, and ‘Time is Glass’ is a perfect example of that winning combination.”
In case you missed it, Glenn Kimpton spoke in-depth with Bill about Locust Land:
Extract: What is very apparent upon listening to Locust Land is its focus as a piece of work, a detail that shouts confidence and clarity. “It’s nice that you have that perception,” Bill says. “It was in my mind to make it so that it was determined in that way. That’s not to say that I wasn’t going with an intuitive side, or that there aren’t things that are left open or those moments left to chance. But it was definitely an aim and I also felt that with Cooper [Crain, BCMC] and with Dougie [McCombs] and Charles [Rumback] on the Black Duck one, so that’s nice and when you feel that happen it’s like a new template in a way, or at least a reminder that it’s right to continue in that vein.”
Another note was the album’s length, which at just half an hour is neat and appropriate to the material. “It’s interesting that you picked up on that, because I thought quite a lot about it,” Bill says. “I was wondering how long it should be, because it can’t really be fifteen or twenty minutes. So I was close to half an hour and there was a chance to put another thing on there, but it just didn’t need it and it didn’t feel right. And it feels like there’s a density to the material that feels rich, so that makes up for lost time, you could say.”
This is an interesting point, especially when considering songs like Oh Pearl and Glow Drift, both of which have a drive to them that is less common in Bill’s solo work. “They’re some of the most driving and uptempo songs I’ve ever done,” Bill nods. “I realised it was an area of music that I hadn’t explored that much, because tempos can become integral to your creative backbone in a way and most writers tend to aim for certain tempos. So it was nice to hit that area and it felt natural, part of which was having the band too, I think. Oh Pearl is all me, but Glow Drift has Sam and Mikel on it and I think it really helps with that lift off. And when it comes to slow ones like Half of You, that shift of gears makes sense and shines a light on the other things.”
Bill MacKay European Tour
March 2025
21st @ Dolans – Limerick, IE *
22nd @ BelloBar – Dublin , IE *
23rd @ Black Box – Belfast, Northern Ireland *
24th @ Róisín Dubh – Galway, IE *
26th @ The Glad Cafe – Glasgow, UK
27th @ Metronome – London, UK #
28th @ The Rose Hill – Brighton, UK #
29th @ Chair de Poule – Paris, FR
*with Brigid Mae Power
#with Six Organs of Admittance
Order Locust Land: https://billmackay.bandcamp.com/album/locust-land
