Douglas MacGregor: Songs of Loss and Healing
Douglas MacGregor

Certainly the personal history Douglas MacGregor drew upon for his Songs of Loss and Healing provided an inestimably fertile ground. After losing his mother to cancer when he was seven, a quarter-century of suppressed grief eventually brought about an emotional collapse of nearly two years' duration. It was, not surprisingly, music that helped sustain him through that time and allow for some kind of provisional sense to be made of it all. He composed seven solo acoustic guitar instrumentals and then recorded each in a different non-studio location in the UK, video treatments of which were posted online with accompanying commentary. The work involved in creating the project aided the healing process and also enhanced his appreciation for how other cultures use music to cope with grief.

The material itself is neither folk nor classical but rather inhabits a space encompassing both, even if a piece such as “The Stowaway” leans more in the latter's direction. There is little that suggests the overriding influence of any particular school, be it American Primitive, Takoma, or otherwise, on MacGregor's writing and playing styles. In fact, while the compositions presumably were wholly composed by him on guitar, they could pass for guitar transcriptions of fully notated piano works. Regardless, the material is beautifully rendered, its tone by turns lyrical, sombre, reflective, and hopeful.

The refreshingly uncluttered arrangements indicate MacGregor is more focused on emphasizing composition than virtuosity. That said, the playing on a representative piece such as “From the Murk” shows he's an extraordinary player up to meeting the songs' greatest technical challenges. Soloing is downplayed for through-composition, the typical piece melodically enticing and poetic.

The songs are united by a common theme, but differences in character and tone emerge. Whereas the sparse opening part of “The Well and the Flood” is pensive and poetic, the lilting second proves dreamlike when MacGregor embroiders its layered patterns into a quietly uplifting pastoral evocation. “The Pathway” alternates between regal chords-heavy passages and lulling fingerpicked patterns. Buoyed by a minuet-styled rhythm, “Song for Lost Childhood” captivates for its carefully calibrated ache and the wistfulness of its writing. It's undeniably pretty, yes, but beneath its surface lies a lifetime of yearning for something lost. Exquisitely rendered, “New Beginnings,” fittingly, arrives last, the folk ballad's placement suggesting some degree of resolution has been reached and MacGregor ready to move on.

While the release is his third full-length solo album, he's played and toured with figures such as Jim Ghedi, Toby Hay, Eric Chenaux, and Alasdair Roberts, and often collaborates with poets, dancers, artists, and filmmakers on their projects. I'm guessing Songs of Loss and Healing will be a standalone statement that's followed by an album with an entirely different focus; whatever it turns out to be, it'll certainly warrant attention, given the high artistic level attained on the current release.

June 2020