Halifax, Nova Scotia-based singer-songwriter Norma MacDonald unveiled her sixth album, In Waves, in October 2023. Norma has earned multiple Music Nova Scotia and East Coast Music Award nominations for her first five albums, which is no surprise.
Let’s take a journey down memory lane, through her ten biggest milestones, so far.
2005 – Released Nothing Is Where It Was
“My first solo album after having played in a Celtic pub band, recording and touring for several years. I wrote most of these songs while I was living in a small town in Japan where I was teaching English to kindergarten kids. I ended up playing a fair number of solo shows when I was living there and became a lot more comfortable with playing my own songs on stage. But the first song on the record I wrote while I was working at a restaurant in Halifax—a woman was super rude to me so I got her first name from her credit card and wrote a song about her (“Annaline”).”
2008 – Released Forest for the Trees
“To me, these songs definitely feel more refined than those on my first record. I was listening to A LOT of CBC Radio 2 at the time. And subsequently got a fair bit of play on Radio 2 with a few songs (“Long Shot”, “Everyone Lets You Down”, and “We’re Ghosts”). I was obsessed with Amelia Curran.”
2011 – Released Morning You Wake
“Produced by my good friend and fabulous musician/producer Phil Sedore (who produced Amelia Curran’s War Brides which was a big reason I begged him to produce for me), this was the first time I ever worked with a real producer and let go of the reigns with some of the songs. It was recorded, mixed, and mastered in Phil’s apartment in the North End of Halifax. Two of my favs production-wise on this one are “Comeback Kid” and “Swollen Sky”.”
2015 – Released Burn The Tapes
“I produced this record while Phil engineered, mixed, and mastered it. It’s a scrappy little folk-country record with some of my favourite songs I’ve written to date (“Blue as a Jay”, “To Nebraska”, “Company”). I was listening to A LOT of Gram Parsons at the time. It was recorded in at least 4 different studios with lots of different players. More than any of my other recordings, Burn the Tapes feels like MY record.”
2015 – Burn The Tapes Album Release Show
“If I had to pick my favourite show I’ve played, I’d have to say the album release show for Burn the Tapes in June of 2015, which almost didn’t happen. My dad passed away unexpectedly 3 weeks before the release of the album and I didn’t think I was going to be able to stand up in front of a room full of people and sing my already sad songs. I considered canceling or postponing but I needed something else to focus on to get out of my own head and my grief.
It wasn’t a big venue (The Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax, ~ 100 seats) but it turned out to be such a magical night. The room looked and sounded gorgeous, I played with an 8-piece band, and there were so many supportive friends and family in the room; everything felt perfect (except that the air-conditioner was broken and it was very hot). There used to be a piano in the lobby of the Bus Stop and after the show, some friends started playing. It turned into a 2-hour sing-a-long while the humidity broke and turned into a wild downpour outside. It remains one of my favourite nights of all time. I think my dad would’ve loved it too.”
2015 – Burn The Tapes Makes the Polaris “Longer List”
Burn the Tapes ended up on the Polaris Prize “Longer List” (which basically means a Polaris juror submitted it for consideration but it didn’t make the Long List).
2020 – Released Old Future
“My pandemic record. Old Future came out in April 2020, right at the beginning of Covid lockdown. In 2018-19 by band and I put together a show called The Great Ladies of Classic Country for Ships Company Theatre in Parrsboro, NS. A lot of the songs on this album are heavily influenced by old Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette recordings because that’s mostly what I was listening to at the time as I was putting together the set list for our show. This album was co-produced by myself and Dale Murray, who had played on nearly all my albums up until this point but I had never worked with as a producer. Of all the people I have worked with, I would say that Dale’s musical instincts are closest to mine.”
2020 – Old Future Makes “Best of 2020” Lists
“Old Future made a couple of “Best of 2020” lists including Lonesome Highway out of Dublin, Ireland, and the International Americana Music Show (NYC).”
2023 – Released In Waves
“As you may have noticed from the timeline of these albums, I’m not a super-prolific releaser of new material. But I do feel that with each record there’s a bit of progression. In Waves is my most ambitious record to date. Working with producer Dan Ledwell changed my approach and challenged my comfort level but I am so happy with the outcome. We had a lot of fun making this record. Most songs were written during the Covid lockdown but instead of feeling dark, they feel hopeful to me. My favourite tracks on this one are “The Heart Wants” and “Trying to Try”.”
2023 – Releases single, “The Heart Wants” along with music video
“Sometimes songs get kicked around and toyed with for years before they find a home on a recording. I wrote “The Heart Wants” back in 2011 for my third album, Morning You Wake, but I couldn’t manage to capture the right feel for it at that time. Over the years, I’ve tried arranging and producing it in all sorts of different ways, but it never quite worked. The lyrics follow a very loose stream-of-consciousness about the ineffability of longing, and I wanted the sound to be weightless and ethereal. “
2023 – Releases single, “Comes In Waves”
“This album includes “Comes In Waves,” a song which I initially told myself was about the desire to change everything about myself, feeling stagnant out of nowhere.
When I was playing it on my couch a few months later during another lockdown (these periods were pretty strict in Nova Scotia) during whatever wave of the pandemic we were in at that time, I actually started laughing, like ‘Of course this is about Covid!’
“Comes In Waves” was initially written with a country shuffle kind of feel. Daniel Ledwell turned that on its ear by changing the groove for the rhythm section.
Everything else about the song stayed in terms of chord structure and arrangement, but changing the rhythm really makes the song feel more urgent and impactful.“
Connect with Norma MacDonald:
Bandcamp
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram