Look, maybe it’s the fact that we are all now rounding out a full year of life under a pandemic, but the new single from Cape Breton-based singer/songwriter Aaron MacDonald, hits home and it hits hard. “Gonna Get There” is a wonderfully uncomplicated tune about a very sweet and touching sense of solidarity.
“I’ve been in the East Coast music scene for longer than I care to admit,” says the 44-year old artist and 2009 ECMA nominee. “I’ve been writing and recording a lot since COVID started last Spring and I’m finally ready to start getting my new music out to the people in 2021.”
The simple message to the song lends itself to practically any journey. While in the current context of the pandemic it’s clear that MacDonald is rallying for us all to come through it together, there’s an endearing positivity to the song that has us turning it around to cheer MacDonald on as he takes the next steps of his music career.
“This song was written and recorded in about a two-hour span,” says MacDonald. “By no means do all songs work like that, but this one came quick. Just with this new COVID world we’re in, and the struggles a lot of folks are having, it hit me that a lot of us are the same. We’re all in the same boat really. And it’s going to take all one’s resources of family and friends to get through.
“When COVID hit hard last year, my kids started to get after me to post music online. I never really did that before in all my years of playing. So, I bought an interface last Spring and started learning the recording process myself. Been having a blast putting tracks together.”
The picture is completed with straight forward video of MacDonald strolling through Mabou and tied together with a slideshow featuring photos of his family and close friends, signed off with a final photo of MacDonald and his wife on their wedding day. It’d be easy to fall to the nearside of cheesy if it weren’t so timely and delivered with such earnestness and dignity that it’s been rendered absolutely loveable. The task of writing a feel-good song that can also encapsulate the year we’ve had seems an impossible feat and, somehow, MacDonald has done it.
And MacDonald says there are plenty more to come.
“I really have just been sitting on so many songs for so long. I’ve always written since forever and now I’ve written about thirty new songs since COVID, I just thought it’s just time to let folks hear them. I’m getting older. My kids are getting older. Why bother waiting?”
With so many songs in the bag, MacDonald says he expects there will be an album coming along at some point, but won’t be holding himself to any strict deadlines. After all, time seems to have lost most of its meaning. However, if you’re still counting the months yourself, you can expect to hear four new songs from MacDonald over the new few.