Light Dark, Light Again. Angie McMahon

The readers who pay close attention will have encountered the name Angie McMahon twice on this blog in the past months. Two singles preceding the release of Light Dark, Light Again were presented on the blog, so a review of the album is no big surprise. Pay attention, again, because we're going off the deep end with Ms. McMahon.

It's not that Light Dark, Light Again is a totally revolutionary album containing radically new forms of music. Anyone with some knowledge of recent music will be able to paste some names to it. No, it is the intensity that gets us to the deep end. Angie McMahon allows a lot of emotions into her music, if it is not her principle reason to start making it in the first place.

Also, she's not afraid to throw her life in the face of her listeners. Whether a true account or made up, 'Fireball Whiskey' would have the same effect on me, I'm sure. I can see her throwing up after drinking too much of the stuff. This example is most likely the most vivid image she sends us from her album.

By overdubbing her voice, several times even, she lays stress on her lyrics. They come to the listener in different layers, containing different levels of intensity and emotions. Listen on a headset and Ms. McMahon is almost everywhere. Yes, there's music but often minimal, small, allowing that voice to be everywhere without too much distraction. Light Dark, Light Again is about the singer, nothing else, really.

If anything, the way Angie McMahon sings brings to mind Dana Margolin of Porridge Radio. The way both can stress a single word, is exceptional. Where at times I fear for Margolin's sanity, I do not here. Angie McMahon's life, at least looked at from my distance, seems to be fully under control. "It's okay to make mistakes", she sings in 'Letting Go', one of the singles. Life itself is celebrated here, I think, and not utter despair. To sing this comes from a position of strength and not weakness.

The album contains a light-feeted pop song in 'Divine Fault Line'. Again, a small song where McMahon sings smaller as well, giving the song a pop feel, with very nice backing vocals. Another song that attracts me to the album more and more. Again, Angie McMahon sings with her stadium voice, think Florence Welch. This is only one aspect of what she wants us to hear. She has numerous timbres, between heavy and light and light and dark. She can move between them with ease, playing with the listener's mood.

It turns out, that I've reviewed Angie McMahon's 2019 debut album, 'Salt'. I have no recollection of it all, I have to confess. The title just now rang a bell, reading the bio. This album is the Melbourne, Australia resident's second. Reading my review of four years ago, what sticks is that Angie McMahon does not seem to be hiding behind anything. She's not on her new album too. I was impressed by 'Salt', I wrote, (and will have to give it a fresh listen), like I am by Light Dark, Light Again. This is not an album for the faint of heart, but one to enjoy tremendously none the same.

Wout de Natris