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Photo credit: Hugh Stewart

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Combining glistening modern alt-country with sentimental hues, the upbeat new single Make You Feel out today with an accompanying music video from Sydney country sensation Gavin Mac is an utterly effervescent glimpse into Mac’s impending debut full-length of the same name, with the album Make You Feel officially set for release on Thursday September 5.

A buoyant outing anchored by infectious melodics, lustrous instrumentation, and lashings of country charm, Gavin Mac’s new track Make You Feel saw the talented artist team up with Ben Butler on lead guitar, Melinda Jackson on backing vocals, and Josh Schuberth on drums, along with mastering courtesy of William Bowden. Simultaneously nostalgic and joyful, Make You Feel ultimately also reflects Mac’s driving musical mission statement threading throughout his debut studio release, as he reveals, “Make You Feel was, first and foremost, my mantra when I was thinking about song selection and production. I felt that success, for me, was eliciting an emotion, taking the listener to a time or place, and opening them up to some kind of reflection. In today’s fast paced life, we’re always ‘more’ and ‘what’s next’. I’m as guilty of this as anyone.”

Make You Feel also arrives today with a charming accompanying music video that seamlessly expands the underlying lyrical content. With its 1980s setting, empowering storyline and sentimental cues, Make You Feel is equally relatable and aspirational, with Mac choosing to not take centre stage in the visual setting. “I wanted to tell the song’s story, through the experience of my intended audience,” shares Mac. “I’m a terrible actor, which doesn’t help either. Funny given my younger brother Blair McDonough, forged a pretty successful career as an Aussie actor on Neighbours. Based in the 80s, a decade synonymous with excess, the story revolves around an uber-successful businesswoman, who, having reached burn-out, flees the city to reunite with her childhood bestie. En route, she breaks down in the middle of nowhere, and with no means of modern communication, she is forced to walk until she finds help. As she clambers through the countryside in high-heels and a white power suit, our hero’s exacerbation with work and life in the city melts away, and the sights and sounds around her reignite her nostalgia for simpler times. She is reminded of a similar car breakdown with her best friend, and their journey to find help. From despair comes a journey of re-discovery, which results in the two reuniting with a warm embrace.“

Serving as the title track for Gavin Mac’s forthcoming new album Make You Feel, Mac’s latest single opens proceedings into the 10 tracks lying in wait across his maiden full-length, flowing between sharp and driving empowerment (Live Your Life), swooning contemporary twangs (Getaway and How Much Better), airy countrified love songs (Angel In A Black T-Shirt), and poignant, heart-rending odes (Bushfireand Forever Changing You). Spanning influences ranging from John Mayer through to Chris Stapleton, Eric Clapton and Midland, Make Them Feel also boasts Mac’s time-travelling single Sideswiped, with the crisp tune first penned and demoed by Mac as a teenager before catching the attention of Sony Music Australia earlier in his career. “Although this collection of songs was written over a long time span,” shares Mac, “I tried to unite them by singing them, cleanly. By that I mean, not leaning into any style, just singing them straight. I also chose to work with a renowned country music producer to unite the songs through honest, earthy production techniques and instrumentation. My goal was to present a polished set of modern contemporary songs, that each incorporate a nostalgic cue, be it the narrative, instrumentation, or driven. In absence of these recordings being easily boxed into a popular genre or genre subset, my hope was to ‘make you feel’ something.”

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Discovered at the age of 16 by Sony Music’s Denis Handlin and John Watson, Gavin Mac quickly gained the title of being Sony Music Australia’s youngest-ever Australian recording artist at the time. Evolving his music industry skills and knowledge in the years to follow, Mac worked alongside both international and iconic Australian artists, including previous work with Nickelback, Queens of the Stone Age, Linda & Vika Bull, and Alex Lloyd. And from managing A&R duties for Roadrunner Records to stepping back from the industry to raise his family, Mac still kept his creative fires alive, co-founding the award-winning brand experience agency Urban, conceiving and delivering marketing campaigns for Electronic Arts, Airbnb, and Netflix.

With years away from music, a fortuitous 2019 road trip to the Tamworth Country Music festival provided the very kindling that would ultimately turn Mac’s gaze firmly back to his passions, songwriting and storytelling, with the Melbourne-hailing singer-songwriter emerging from his musical hiatus with gusto in 2023 balancing renewed purpose, perspective and the powerful drive that comes with unfinished business. In 2023, Mac released his debut solo singles Getaway, Live Your Life and Bushfire, amassing over 300K streams and counting, with 2024 also garnering Mac his first industry nod, taking home the Tamworth Music Association’s 2024 New Songwriter of the Year. Now poised to release his long-awaited debut album this September, Make You Feel may be Gavin Mac’s first official full-length release, but it’s been a labour of love many years in the making, with many incredible experiences also along the way. “Make You Feel is a debut album 30 years in the making,” says Mac. “Do I qualify for some kind of Guinness Book of Records nod?! It’s been a long time in making, but hopefully the first of many to come. I’m already well into my follow up album, which I’m planning to release a little quicker than the first. I take a quiet satisfaction in defying convention. It’s when you know you’re being different, brave and beating to your own drum. So bring it on.”

“The album is like an old photo,” Mac concludes. “I’ve extracted my favourite photos and then digitized them for perpetuity. But not to dwell on the past, instead it’s presentation to the market blends old and new, to ensure it is true to its promise of delivering a ‘modern nostalgia’ experience. I feel the same as I’m sure any artist does when releasing a debut album: excited and nervous. Releasing music into the public domain is also cathartic for any artist. Regardless of how it is received, it’s liberating to hang your music in the public domain for people to hear and hopefully, enjoy in perpetuity.”

Make You Feel is out today.

Gavin Mac’s full-length album Make You Feel is due out Thursday September 5.

Stream: MAKE YOU FEEL

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Photo credit: Hugh Stewart

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Follow GAVIN MAC
Website – Instagram – Facebook – Spotify

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AMNPLIFY – DB