“Halfway to Summer” is the third album from Colin Macduff. Somewhat surprisingly, at least for me, I have even listened to his first two albums so would album number three perhaps be more of the same?
And so it was. After all, when you have got your recipe just how you like it then why would you change it? Duly, Colin Macduff, our master of laidback monotone, once more walks the yellow brick road with his thesaurus in hand to continue his search for that perfect combination of sentiment and semitones that is surely the aim of every singer songwriter. Given the evidence presented to my ears, the point of this album, I would assume, is not to shock but to quietly convince with his trademark world weary pacing even being infused - “My Father’s A Songwriter Now” being a case in point – with a dash of whimsy this time around. It was also a generous move on his part to let Shirley Barr show him how it is done by taking his song “The Hands of the Hill” and turning it swiftly and sweetly into hers.
An album as mellow as this will always be halfway to somewhere yet it is to Colin Macduff’s credit that he can, without apparent artistic effort, keep these ten songs on the same steady course.