“I wanted to just start again and do everything without compromise,” states Meg Mac of the game-changing personal switch-up that led to Matter of Time: the singer’s highly anticipated third album which is released today, and a record that builds on Mac’s award-winning foundations and sends them to new places of clarity and ambition. In early press reviews, Matter of Time has already been praised as “her most compelling body of work yet” and “a grand statement” by Rolling Stone.
With a third album recorded and primed for imminent release at the beginning of 2020, Mac had what she now describes as “a bit of a meltdown”. She scrapped its lead single two weeks before release, and with it the rest of the body of work – a bold move towards a creative process without compromise. Needing some space to regain perspective, Meg moved out to Burrawang, a remote village in the NSW countryside, and began work on Matter of Time. As opposed to her pre-countryside scrapped album, the most important thing this time around would be “to mean every word I sing, to not have anything in the back of my head when I’m singing where I don’t totally love it.”
The album’s title track is the only song that survived the kill of the original album. Written by Meg and co-writer Sam De Jong (Jacob Banks, Muse, Maisie Peters), ‘Matter of Time’ shows strong evidence of the cracks of confidence that had almost derailed Meg. The track begins with a lament – “I’m not great and I hate that I can’t say it” – before swelling into a rich, soaring yearning for solace. “This song is the only survivor from the album I threw away. It’s the most important song on the album and sits right between the old and the new. I find it spooky because everything I wrote came true, it was only a matter of time before I was going to snap. Somehow I knew I was about to reach breaking point and then I did.” explains Meg.
As original author of every song on her album, Meg selectively sought co-writing support to refine and heighten her storytelling in writing partners Noah Cyrus’ frequent collaborator PJ Harding, the previously mentioned Sam De Jong and with ‘Chandelier’ co-writer Jesse Shatkin. Behind the desk came production duo The Donuts (Kendrick Lamar, SZA, H.E.R); playing with male vocal choirs, charmingly minimal instruments, and above all focusing in on elements of Mac’s vocals that had previously taken a back seat. You can hear the synergy across the record, from the first single ‘Is It Worth Being Sad’, the woozy unlikely jam of ‘On Your Mind’, the breeziness of ‘Only Love’, and the intimacy of songs like ‘Something In The Water’ or ‘Lifesaver’.
2022 has marked a mesmerising return to form for the revered Australian singer. The past six months have seen her not only release well received offerings in the album’s first four singles – but also a triumphant return to the stage with a sold out national tour which ended in a mesmerising closing night as part of this year’s Vivid Festival at the Sydney Opera House. Mac’s shows were described as “A badass masterclass in flexing God-given talent. Meg is professionalism defined.” Not one to waste any further time in in hitting the road again, Meg announces her national Australian album tour which will hit each capital city in March/April 2023.
Meg Mac has created a body of work rich in searing honesty whilst working overtime to find her voice and be satisfied that she has made a record that flourishes without compromise. On Matter of Time, she’s finally there. “I needed a switch up to find the love for music again and it worked,” she says. “Now for the first time, I really feel in control.”
MEG MAC – MATTER OF TIME TOUR AUST/NZ TOUR 2023
SAT APR 08 – SAN FRAN – WELLINGTON
WED APR 12 – HOLLYWOOD – AUCKLAND
FRI APR 14 – ANITA’S THEATRE – WOLLONGONG
SAT APR 15 – ENMORE THEATRE – SYDNEY
WED APR 19 – ALTAR – HOBART
THU APR 27 – MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE – MELBOURNE
FRI APR 28 – WOOL EXCHANGE – GEELONG
THU MAY 04 – ASTOR THEATRE – PERTH
THU MAY 11 – SOLBAR – SUNSHINE COAST