AMY MACDONALD - UNDER STARS

It's been five years since Scottish singer-songwriter Amy MacDonald's last album, Life In A Beautiful Light and this assured fourth offering of guitar-led indie-pop appears to have benefited from a long gestation. Dream On bursts straight out of the gate, perfectly suited to Amy's smooth contralto voice, followed by radio-friendly Automatic, which is more rock than her usual folky tinge. The tempo doesn't let up until the choir-backed ballad Down By The Water, and the overall message is to doggedly pursue your dreams: Leap Of Faith, Never Too Late and The Contender are all variations on the theme. It's a feisty collection that promises an excellent live show, with lyrics that can easily be interpreted through the current political climate. An extra eight acoustic recordings of album tracks are a nice bonus, but fairly unnecessary.

7/10

(Review by Natalie Bowen)