It’s not often you find metal singers releasing albums full of lighter material as another project.
While the practice itself is quite common, you generally find that singers will collaborate with another artist or guest on their track to showcase that side of their musical make-up.
When Being As An Ocean vocalist Michael McGough announced he would be releasing his debut album Beautiful Dangerous, drawing from lived experiences and a set of notebooks he has been scribbling away in for the better part of ten years, it understandably drew cries of uncertainty.
Those cries need not have surfaced, because McGough fulfilled his promise last month with the release of his debut album and delivered exactly what he promised.
A collection of rock songs at its core, Beautiful Dangerous is the sound of a musician not afraid to bare his soul by taking himself out of his comfort zone and pushing himself in ways like never before.
HEAVY caught up with McGough to chat about music and the world at large.
“So far, so good. I was very surprised because it’s still a very small thing Heart Of Gold, but it’s all about growth, and it’s all about getting it out to the right people and hopefully people enjoy it. So far, it’s been out tomorrow for three weeks, and the reception has been incredible. People have been so kind, so generous, so lovely about it, We’ve only just scratched the surface on what we’re trying to do with this record, so I’m excited to see what people think of everything.”
As for the music aspect to the album, McGough softens even more when asked to explain.
“Musically, the idea was always to create something so… there’s a lot of different words that flew around in the studio, number one being nostalgic and meaningful. So, giving you something where you can listen to the words or even listen to the piece of music, and it takes you back to somewhere in your life. Whether you’re with a certain person, or you’re doing a certain activity, or you’re having your heart broken or falling in love. There’s so many different emotions that I think I tried to capture, because I drew from those experiences with writing, and it wasn’t just, okay, this is a cool piece of music, I’m just going to sing over it. It was okay, this is what I’m trying to say lyrically, and I want the music to make you feel that certain way too. You know when you watch a movie, and the soundtrack makes the movie mean something to so many people? It was as much about that as the lyrical content for me, so nostalgic and meaningful and heartfelt I think.”
In the full interview, Michael talks more about the themes and emotions running through the album, the memories and notebook that inspired the lyrics, getting personal with his music, getting over social anxiety and being able to perform, releasing the album to coincide with his birthday, how this music drastically differs to Being As An Ocean, what different things he gets musically out of both projects and more.
