Distributed by
Forge Records via Nova/Pinnacle

Released: March 2005

Rating: 10/10

Pitched somewhere in the mid-Atlantic, with more than a hint of Americana, this gorgeous offering should appeal to both sides of the pond - and beyond.

Scotland’s very own Alex McEwan, releases a debut album full of maturity, and promise for a glowing musical career. His songwriting skills are finely honed. McEwan has done his fair share of learning his trade, busking in a novel approach on the tube trains in London, and around Europe, and gigging in Nashville and Los Angeles, where he teamed up with Beach Boys collaborator Lou Natkin who helped with a demo and start this album, on his own label.

McEwan has the knack of incorporating emotive melancholy with hope: magically entangled with melodic choruses. It’s not all doom and gloom, as Summer Of Life bounces along in dreamy fashion, as he ‘she boops’ along. He digs deep into his repertoire gushing out lyrics that are direct and to the point – there’s nothing cryptic here: the message is plain and simple.

Thankfully, it avoid fads and trends pursued in the synthetic pop pantomime, and not a hint of production trickery. From the start, a pacey Make A Wave, to finish, it oozes quality and, style but above all-timeless class. Parallels can,on occasion be drawn with early Eagles and Sting’s vocals on Beautiful Lies. Top drawer musicianship brings pedal steel, acoustic guitars, saxophone, piano, violins and harmonica, scattered across 13 outstanding tracks. There’s also some pretty impressive vocals on the odd song by Nicki Lamborn, e.g. Run Away.

If he’s being tagged alongside contemporaries such as David Gray and Damien Rice, then it’s to his credit, but McEwan is streets ahead of them both, and deserves to be nationally and internationally recognised, with the plaudits being just around the corner.

As beautiful She Must Be Crazy is, and the debut single out on March 14th, I think either The River Runs Deep or Summer Of Life would have been a better choice, but there’s plenty of time for those to surface. It’s destined to be a great year for the Alex McEwan because, the beautiful truth about Beautiful Lies is, that it’s a stunning debut. It’s due for release towards the end of March 2005.

Catch him live in 2005:

• Fri 14 Jan – The Stables,Milton Keynes (TBC)
• Thurs 18 Jan – The Cobden Club,London
• Wed 19 Jan – The Bedford, Balham,London
• Thurs 27 Jan – Bush Hall,London
• Sat 5 Feb – Caledonian Backpackers 3,Queensferry St,Edinburgh
• Mon 7 Feb – 13th Note Café,Glasgow (TBC)
• Thurs 10 Feb – Club Clear at the 12 Bar Club,London