Amy MacDonald - A Curious Thing

For her brisk and confident sophomore album A Curious Thing, arriving March 9 in Europe (U.S. TBD), 22-year-old Scottish singer/songwriter Amy MacDonald has managed to harness the blustery folk thrust of her 2007 3-million selling This Is the Life debut and make an album that's even richer, bolder and more dramatic than her first. "That’s because I’ve just toured constantly," MacDonald explains, "and just spent all that time with my band, who are all amazing musicians...Those experiences made me think we could get in a lot of instruments and make this really big-sounding album."

That expansive, generally upbeat production of her Curious project is best exemplified in lead single "Don't Tell Me That It's Over", a shimmering, simmering rocker that sounds akin to a lost U2 or Big Country track, all the propulsive wall-of sound energy of a breezy folk busker cranked to eleven and driven at 90 miles an hour. MacDonald's voice, a combination of throaty assertiveness and tender vulnerability, is a wonder throughout, whether leading the charge on the album's preponderance of stomping folk/rock anthems or the occasional ballad, most notably on the lovely piano-accompanied album closer "What Happiness Means To Me". "I love that it’s quiet and raw," she says, "that there are no effects on my vocal. It felt like the right way to end to the album." Highly recommended. Note: a Deluxe version of A Curious Thing contains a second disc featuring a live concert recorded in Glasgow.

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Amy MacDonald - "Don't Tell Me That It's Over" (from the album A Curious Thing)

Amy MacDonald - A Curious Thing Sampler