Scottish singer-songwriter Malcolm MacWatt is here to remind us that poignant, oft visceral protest songs via folk music live on in this century. He is an angry, thoughtful writer with important messages. On Dark Harvest he hits harder than he did on his 2021 Settler and takes a different approach as well. Instead of inviting high-profile Americana guests and musicians, he mostly plays all the instruments himself and except for the occasional additional instrument(s), he relegates his primary guests to just three of the generous fourteen tracks.
Musically, MacWatt is self-taught and operates rather spontaneously as he mixes in Celtic and Appalachian influences in much the same way that he intersperses the past tales of British folklore with today’s contemporary issues. In both cases, he often seems on both sides of the Atlantic simultaneously. Though never shy about his politics, his strength lies in the symbolic, metaphorical songs, several of which are gems. Yet, there are somewhere he is too direct about horror and violence, leaving nothing to our imagination. If he were to purge them from this effort, the album would be outstanding but instead on subsequent listens, we will be skipping forward in a few places.
Let’s take the gems first. “Strong Is the North Wind” is a strong political analogy with the south wind representing forms and hate and terror while the north wind is the voice of freedom and autonomy. MacWatt urges us to stand for democracy and personal expression. “Empire in Me” features Angeline Morrison duetting with MacWatt about the daughter of a mixed couple, a Scotsman and a black slave. He effectively poses important questions amidst his intriguing narrative. “The Nightjar’s Fall From Grace” is another of his effective political parables, as the other birds rise from oppression to conquer the nightjar’s reign. Nathan Bell adds spoken word and guitar to the title track about rehabilitating an island off Scotland’s coast that has a horrific history of war crimes. “Heather and Honey” uses beautiful imagery to decry gentrification and “She Told Me Not to Go” is a brilliant outcry on environmental ruin. “
Yet, MacWatt insists on driving too hard with some material. The descriptions in “Brave David Tyrie” are excessively brutal. When one sees an agonizing injury in a football or soccer game the telecast quickly shifts to a commercial rather than subjecting us to the sight. MacWatt would be wise to do the same. This same principle could be applied to “Red River Woman” (with Shannon Hynes on the backing vocal). MacWatt has proven himself to be far cleverer than to detail the gruesome drowning of an indigenous woman to make his point. You’ll hear these songs once and move past them the next listen.
Despite the darkness that abounds here, MacWatt is telling us that there is hope if we are informed by history and act accordingly. Listen to his closing “Semi Scotsman” for confirmation. It may just have you further exploring his messages and story songs with a slightly different take.