Adult Contemporary

Shawn McDonald

Sparrow Records

CBN.com – On occasion we are fortunate to hear a voice that rings true. One that is hard to forget. A vocal delivery filled with cracks and crevices that belie a difficult past. Simultaneously hopeful and haunting, it is impossible to get out of your head…let alone your heart. A cry from deep in the valley where the spirit of a song lives and the necessity of its telling is born. This is the case with 28 year old Seattle singer-songwriter, Shawn McDonald. On McDonald’s second studio offering , Ripen, the humble songwriter carves out 15 stories with the urgency and earnest of a town crier.

McDonald’s tender is his honest lyrics. Neither inexplicit generalities nor simple saccharine praise are found on the album. Rather, Ripen exhibits poetic pop , soulful howling and vulnerability , à la Damien Rice, Cat Stevens and Ben Harper. The artist’s gravelly voice, wrapped in atmospheres of cello, violin, acoustic guitar and sophisticated noise, provides several snapshots of a journey in progress.

In the set up stages of a record launch, artists are often asked about themes running through their creations. For Shawn McDonald that is the equivalent to asking him the theme of his life; a life that the artist claims has an insatiable need of the higher power his songs often reference. That in mind, Ripen is the soundtrack and telling of two years marked by significant change, both personal and professional. While the artist has matured and the context has shifted, the music has remained true to what listeners have grown to love.

This latest evolution began shortly after the debut release of 2004’s critically acclaimed Simply Nothing. McDonald was swept up as album sales steadily grew and fans began connecting with his songs. The artist spent months on the road, usually alone. Days were filled meeting and fulfilling the expectations and obligations that come with being a “professional” recording artist. This was a very different reality than what he was accustomed to as an independent artist. It is in this context that a maturation of writing and creating was birthed. “A lot of the new record I actually wrote the lyrics before I wrote the music – I would write the lyrics on flights, I wrote four or five songs on a train ride from Germany to France,” McDonald relates. “I had to find a way to write that was different than the way I was used to writing so in that way it’s a different record.”

Two examples of this new approach to writing are the songs “I Want To Be Ready” and “A Little More.” On the former, McDonald takes the overwhelming feeling of being on his first European tour and writes on the go, infusing that sense of awe and wonder into the ethereal opening track. Close your eyes and you can almost see the countryside passing outside your train car. The latter showcases the songwriter’s ability to challenge himself and listeners to take off the blinders in our day to day interactions with the poor and suffering. The song lays out an interaction McDonald had with the neighborhood panhandler while living in the U District of Seattle. Contrasting his own response to the characteristics of one of the most often misunderstood persons in history, McDonald points out that we could all use “a little more Jesus inside of” us.

Once it came time to marry the lyrics to the lush arrangements found on Ripen, the artist decided to, again, do things differently. “I think for my own sanity I wanted to branch out and dive in with a different producer just to see what would happen musically.” Dive in he did. McDonald expressed the desire to his label that he would like to record a demo with producer Will Hunt (Shane and Shane, Robbie Seay Band). The result of those demos was a decision to have Hunt produce four of the tracks on the album including its first single “Free.”

As for the other producer, McDonald continued his longtime collaboration with producer Christopher Stevens (TobyMac, Sanctus Real) who brings the overall aura that resonates throughout the record. His was the house/studio that was strewn with candles, electrical cords, incense and at times gangs of musicians. Those musicians often spent late nights convening to play and experiment with a myriad of instruments, from an Indonesian Timor guitar purchased on eBay to a broken piano found at a local thrift store. “We had a lot of artists and a lot of talent in that room… I would say that four or five of the songs were written in the last week of the recording, just kind of happened on a whim because we were just messing around in the studio.” The end result certainly does not feel like a “whim,” yet the artful expression of an artist who believes that there is beauty in music, and that the process of creating the music can be art. “I feel like I am a person who has art in me and I can’t be anything else. For some reason that’s when I come alive – when I make art and when I make music. It’s when I truly thrive.”

An avid photographer and all around creative soul, McDonald plans to nurture that same feeling with his live show in the spring. “We don’t really buy into the way things are supposed to be done,” he is quick to point out about his new touring philosophy. In 2006, McDonald plans on playing smaller theaters with a backing band and unsigned acts as openers. In addition, the tour will enlist an artist who will create original paintings on stage during each set. The result is an intimate atmosphere in the show and a traveling community on the road. “We’re going to try and do our own thing... hopefully some type of experience for people and something they haven’t seen before.” He continues, “At the same time it’s not about coming to see something different, but more of coming and being a part of our family.” With an organic approach to building the set list, McDonald & Co. are able to offer fans in each city a distinct evening of musical expression.

McDonald writes about the spiritual and temporal in a way that brings both to the heart of the listener. He writes about the beauty in this world and the people who make it beautiful. The lyrics are for people seeking words to express their joys and pains, as well as a soundtrack to their lives. McDonald writes these lyrics into a chorus that invites us all to sing along, with our voices, our feet, our brushes and our pens – whatever the medium, just SING.

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