Kirsty McGee
Kirsty McGee and Mat Martin are different. Everything about them, from the way they look, what they play, the way they play, the way they have taken control of their music and their career, is unconventional. Kirsty may write the songs, and her long time collaborator, Mat, may work on the arrangements, but their musical partnership is so close, so mutually creative, that it is difficult to know where one’s contribution starts and the other finishes. They are about to release a new collection of songs, THE KANSAS SESSIONS, Kirsty’s fourth, on their own record label, hobopop records; a company set up to spearhead their own sense of musical fair-trade. This CD too is strikingly different. It is dominated by Kirsty’s clear, intimate, English diction and phrasing, her dark, sometimes macabre, celebrations of life, and Mat’s inspirational musicianship, but it was recorded in the United States, it is full of joyously engaging songs, and shining with American influences.
Their choices of record producers so far have been as interesting as they have been remarkable. They’ve worked with Clive Gregson, John Wood (Nick Drake’s engineer), Boo Hewerdine and Neill McColl. This new choice of Australian born, American domiciled, Mike West (Truckstop Honeymoon), a brilliant but maverick musician, seems both surprising, and yet consistent with their other inspired, unconventional choices.
To read this exciting feature in full purchase the latest issue (September 08) of Maverick today…