Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Newcomer Fraser MacDougall sure knows how to write a catchy lick. After listening to his debut album, "What it Sounds Like," a four-day "organic layering process" recorded in his recently sold childhood home, Fraser emerged with a disc full of them. And what does it sound like? The album has the pervading feel of a sweltering summer night. Fraser draws you in with his captivating, funky guitar grooves and takes you effortlessly into his world - a dream-like, underwater world that makes you want to sip on a cool drink with half-lidded eyes and nod your head in time to the seductive rhythms of his smooth guitar and even smoother voice. In fact, you may have trouble keeping still while listening. From the chugging guitar in "On the Corner" to the smooth, sparse, jazzy sounds of "There, But it's Endless," from the haunting piano melody in "Jenga" to the almost joyful chorus of "Roots in this Ground," this album will certainly find its way back into your head long after it's finished spinning.
- Alexis Hagerman- www.dogfucknow.com
Like Dylan, Fraser is a bard. Like Davis, he stretches himself in every possible direction. Like Difranco, his political views cannot be separated from the music that encases them. And just like everyone from whom Fraser has learned, he can teach and must be given attention.
- By Jeremy Young,(www.weburninggiraffes.com)
Discography
Fraser MacDougall - What It Sounds Like-
ten track lp
In the first few days of June 2005 a solo album was recorded with aid from neighbor and sound engineer Drew Vergil, in the empty dining room of the recently sold MacDougall home. Combining Drews technical skills and Frasers musical material and sketches within a small window of opportunity they surrounded themselves with instruments and recording gear to layer: Vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, piano, percussion, drum set, and harmonica. The result is an album titled What it Sounds Like, inspired by the organic process captured during live takes on a rented Tascam 8-track recorder. The album is an independant project that is currently being assembled and distributed by Fraser and is availabe for download from his website.
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
People often forget that musicians write music as a form of expression. We forget that with every note or every lyric, people have something to say. Artists themselves often forget that music is a way of voicing one’s own opinions.
Fraser MacDougall is that overarching reminder that a song is a conversation, a dialogue of values and perspective between the writer and the reader, the composer and audience. His music is heartfelt and historical in that it draws from both his external life experiences and his internal reflections. In the summer of 2005, he recorded What It Sounds Like with a friend, an 8-track D.A.T. recorder and one intention; to introduce the world to the mind of Fraser MacDougall, the album is what that sounds like.
He plays all of the instruments on the album but in a live setting, he settles into the acoustic and electric guitars and his soft-textured, yet powerful voice. Fraser is often joined on stage by a range of musicians, but continues to perform solo as well, and recently performed with a Montreal-based improv comedy troupe providing soundscapes for their show. It is this honest versatility that adds to his musical expression, and as he travels deeper within himself he also evolves with everything that comes his way.
Fraser has sited musical influences from the worlds of jazz, folk, reggae/dub, hip-hop, rock, funk and electronic music, and is continually shaped by the artists he shares the stage with. Such artists include the Kalmunity collective, Throwback, Bullfrog, Joel Plaskett, Mathew Barber and In Us Aso, as well as an entire network of musicians in Australia and New Zealand.
Fraser uses his lyrics to tell the stories of his world travels, to express his politics and to communicate environmental awareness. Before leaving university Fraser founded, actualized, and performed in a now annual eco-festival called Rock for the River. Many of his songs are self-reflexive about music itself, and the industry in which he often feels trapped. At the same time, Fraser is committed to using the positive medium of music to bring about changes in the world he lives in. His former band, The Stairway Movement, received a grant from the Quebec government that allowed them to musically educate kids in elementary school.
His sound is somewhat hard to place as he draws from so many different wells of inspiration, but his sense of rhythm is perhaps the most powerful element to appear in his compositions. He no doubt, has an ear for groove and can turn the simplest progression or melody into the funkiest vamp. Fraser’s guitar work blends jazz and folk into a unique hybrid which audiences can comfortably dance to and genuinely marvel at. But like improvisation, Fraser’s art is full of surprises and rooted in exploration and evolution. Even though What It Sounds Like is less than a year old, his songwriting has already begun to move in different directions and the songs that appear on the album take on a life of their own when performed live.
Like Dylan, Fraser is a bard. Like Davis, he stretches himself in every possible direction. Like Difranco, his political views cannot be separated from the music that encases them. And just like everyone from whom Fraser has learned, he can teach and must be given attention.
By Jeremy Young (www.weburninggiraffes.com)
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