Amy MacDonald has announced her fifth and finest album ‘The Human Demands’ on October 30th. It represents her first release under a new deal with Infectious / BMG and is launched alongside the lead single ‘The Hudson’. Listen HERE.
‘The Human Demands’ rediscovers, from a grown-up perspective, that magic youthful moment of excitement and discovery we can all relate to. It finds Amy reconnecting with her indie roots, albeit with a Bruce Springsteen-like widescreen grandeur and an ambition that suits her powerful, resonant vocal. Its themes include getting older, dealing with depression, and falling in love with someone you want to spend the rest of your life with.
“A lot of the themes on this album are about getting older, which seems ridiculous given I’m only in my early 30s,” Amy explains. “But I signed my first record contract at 18, which feels like a lifetime ago, and on a personal level I’m at the stage in life where parents are getting on, friends have faced depression to the point of not wanting to be here anymore, and everyone has had ups and downs whatever their background. It’s OK to feel a bit crap, and it’s OK to talk about it as well.”
The first single ‘The Hudson’ is the perfect introduction, an upbeat rocker which was inspired by the stories Amy’s dad used to tell her about going to New York with her mum in the 70s. It also echoes the themes of her debut single ‘Mr Rock & Roll’, evaluating whether or not you’ve made the right choices in life.
“New York was dangerous back then, definitely not a tourist spot, which made me think about their relationship,” she says. “Growing up, Mum and Dad were at each other’s throats, but then so were the parents of everyone I knew. You go through your life with someone you shout and swear at the whole time, but if you ever parted you’d reminisce about them constantly.”
‘The Human Demands’ is now available to pre-order here, with ‘The Hudson’ provided as an instant download. It will be released on CD, vinyl and digital formats, as well as a Deluxe CD which adds six exclusive acoustic bonus tracks. A special box set packages the Deluxe CD with a lyric book, a poster, a lanyard and a plectru
