Music Review for Julia McDonald’s – Games

A lovely opener to this track, that nice meeting of summer time vibes with a slightly melancholy emotion – even just the chords chosen, that mood is set immediately. What really works the best about this is the sheer amount of lyrics Julia presents within the confines of the verses. It’s poetry, really, verging on being a rap, but melodically soft and smooth. It’s a great voice, a lot of emotion, but also a lot of passion and confidence – this is what pulls everything out from the sidelines and into the centre of the stage.

There’s a huge character present, so you want to listen, and you wonder if it will relate to you – and then you find that it does, and you find yourself agreeing, and then you find yourself wanting to sing along. For which you’d need to listen several times, maybe even look up the lyrics. A job well done – an ideal way to draw people into your music. It’s actually a pretty amazing song, hugely radio worthy, reminiscent a little of the first few tracks from Jason Mraz – I’m thinking ‘The Remedy’ in particular, but it’s mostly just the acoustic guitar and the quick fire delivery and addictive rhythm of those lyrics.

There’s a lot to love about it – it’s a pop song, catchy, memorable, but oozing character and originality. It’s a pop song that isn’t immediately comparable with any others of recent release, and her voice and her style have something really new and appealing about them. Let’s also get around to that all important and completely unexpected guitar solo. As if the speed and the good vibe of this track wasn’t sky high anyway, the solo comes out of nowhere, and just smashes the whole thing through the moon. Such a good piece of music, perfectly brought forward by a talented and energetic artist.

By Rebecca Cullen