On one end of an (unscientific) scale of popular male singer-songwriters sits Ed Sheeran, perched comfortably at the top of the charts while still maintaining an air of authenticity, and at the other end is pop supremo Bruno Mars, master craftsman of insuppressible earworms. Somewhere between these two sits Mark McCabe's brand of insular emoting, not quite hooky enough to instantly pull in listeners but earnest and just unique enough to potentially glean recognition on a wider scale.
Returning home after two years spent living in the French capital, Scotsman Mark McCabe began work on his second full-length A Good Way to Bury Bad News. The former tour mate of punk-folk troubadour Frank Turner and up-and-comer Jim Lockey has spent a lot of his time playing gigs in mainland Europe while also reacquainting himself with his homeland.
In instances where you expect McCabe's vocals to whimper along with his bouncily inoffensive acoustic tracks, McCabe instead responds with a commanding, shattering call that quickly quashes any notions you may have built up judging by instrumental backing alone. At times the songs that seem promising fall flat, and the initially less inventive songs suddenly pull you in with such strength that you begin to question what you thought all along.
On an LP that winds its way through adjustment, growing, and memories of the past, McCabe doesn't settle on one point or explore anything in enough depth to cause any kind of lasting connection between listener and song. The promisingly named opener "Summer in Scotland is but a Word" is an unnecessary 30 seconds of bare acoustic muddling that doesn't have enough time to materialise into anything worthwhile. Instead of turning into a song that bleeds into the rest of the album it sounds like a mismatched component that ends abruptly before developing into what could have been an interesting song.
Disjointed beginnings aside, there are still some inspired moments captured on A Good Way to Bury Bad News that highlight McCabe's talent for catching a moment of time and translating it into lavishly building instruments that swell and fall with little urgency. Anguished cries of "But I wonder do you even care/And I wonder were you really there at all" create a palpable air on the sublime "Catch the Wind" while McCabe's return to Scotland after his Parisian excursion takes centre stage on album highlight "Welcome Party." The track encapsulates mesmeric vocals eased into pertinent drum rolls coated with a completeness and sheen that takes A Good Way to Bury Bad News up a notch. There are peeks of twinkling guitars poking at the edges of the song as McCabe expresses his unease about leaping back into the life he left behind as he contemplates, "And I'm not sure/What I'm hoping for/When I return."
At the very foundation of A Good Way to Bury Bad News are Mark McCabe's vocals and his acoustic guitar, and his talent for wielding the skills he has with these instruments. McCabe's evident surfeit of ideas make this record sound like a stream of consciousness that comes to no pointed conclusion or resolution. Individually the songs crack and splutter in all the right places but collectively it feels like McCabe is trying to say too much all at once.
