Horse McDonald, The Road Less Travelled review: 12 glorious songs from the heart

That trio now becomes a quartet with The Road Less Travelled which landed this summer. It’s an album to immerse yourself in - a dozen new songs which come from the heart and cover every emotion under the sun. Close your eyes and you can imagine the new tracks fighting perfectly into her set of audience favourites and classics from her back catalogue.

From the cathartic opening title track, with its defiant line “I’m leaving with my head held high” to the calm, serenity of The Moon And I, Horse takes us on a journey with nothing less than absolute honesty. The lyrics speak of joy, pain, regret, happiness and, ultimately, a sense of contentment?

Songs such as Superpower are surely a certainty for her forthcoming live shows - uplifting, celebratory and joyous. In it, her super power is singing, dancing and loving, all delivered with sheer warmth, while the children’s voices at the end share their super powers, culminating in “my superpower is being a girl.”

The Road Less Travelled sees Horse singing about moving on, while She Said has that smokey, jazz bar vibe with its finger-clicking intro.

As If Before is the album’s first big ballad with harmonies and piano creating a gorgeous sound, before the tempo rises once more with Kiss Me, and Starlight delivers an irresistible chorus which drives it forward. Hungry Ghosts is a big, powerful ballad, while Horse’s vocals soar on Heaven (Something Made Me Fall), and the orchestral score adds a new dimension to Forever Lonely.

And if The Road Less Travelled opens with a power-packed punch, then it closes with a sense of calm, with the light as a feather, The Moon And I with the sound of water lapping, and the warmest, softest vocal looking up to the skies. It’s a beautiful, contented way to wrap an album filled with gems.

> The Road Less Travelled is available now. More information at https://www.horsemcdonald.com/

> Horse is touring to support the new album, and is at the Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy on October 31. She is also at Dundee Rep (Nov 1). Full tour dates available at her website.