Launched on the 28th of November last year, ‘Precipice’ is the latest album from Manchester based singer-songwriter, Helen Mac.
‘Precipice’ is available to stream and download here.
Comprising 11 tracks, ‘Precipice’ has emerged from more than a decade of songwriting, and has been transformed from Covid era bedroom recordings into polished studio productions, thanks to Oscillate Recordings.
Throughout the release, Helen Mac takes her inspiration, as she explains it, “from the sky” – the songs seemingly emerged from nowhere – not specifically personal to her, but exploring the very edges of the universe and the human condition. Nonetheless, this doesn’t stop the songs being heartfelt and deeply relatable to all listeners.
Opening with the title track, ‘Precipice’, resonates with all of us who have been in a situation where we don’t know which way to go in life, or whether we should just give up. At the same time, it is encouraging to know that others have been in the same situation, of “teetering on the edge”. Helen’s writing style involves crafting the entire song in her head, before moving to the piano to work out the instrumentals. This ensured that she had an entire track established, before fine tuning in the recording process.
Watch the music video for ‘Precipice’ below:
There is an element to Helen Mac’s sound that is reminiscent of Kate Bush’s style, and this is no accident, as Mac’s style involves layering each vocal and instrumental track manually, rather than using computer software to do it. This is particularly evident in the track ‘Teenage Princesses’, where it’s possible to distinguish the separate vocal layering. The track is about a cultural shift that Mac observed, before Covid fell upon the world, when people were using Snapchat a lot, and women of her age, in their late 30s and 40s, were using unrealistic filters, in order to change their appearance – think bunny ears, whiskers, and face shape changers. Helen saw that this wasn’t a healthy way to be, and that it was important for young people to understand that aging is a natural process, and it’s quite okay.
Final track, ‘Waves’, was originally written to an instrumental by Paul David Gillman, one of Helen’s inspirations. The lyrics reflect on serenity and healing, and Helen tells the story about when she first met her husband, Dave. She had been through a lot in her life, and the experiences had damaged her, but he was patient and helped with her healing, giving her a normal life beyond even her wildest dreams. With the song, Helen allows her vocals to flow like the waves in the title, ebbing and flowing in cascading rhythms in time with the piano instrumental.
Starting out on her musical journey at the age of 13 back in the early 90s, Helen Mac has recorded 9 albums and 3 EPs over that time. Performing on her first major support tour at the age of 19 led to signing an exclusive writers publishing and record deal at the age of 22. Since then, she has performed all over the UK, supporting the likes of Leo Sayer, and Durutti Column – she additionally co-wrote an album with Vini Reilly, Durutti Column’s frontman.
More recently, Helen Mac has performed on BBC Radio 6 Live and XFM, and worked in the studio artists such as Jocelyn Brown to sections of The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and Maddox Jones. She has composer/songwriter credits on about 50 released tracks, with some garnering more than 1 million streams on Spotify alone. Writing collaborations include Caruso/ Ten Lovers Music, Maurice Bird/Mange Le Funk and Paul David Gillman.
‘Precipice’ is available to stream and download here. You can find out more about Helen Mac and her music online on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, and Apple Music.
