Nick McNally - Getting Away With It

Nick McNally

​Getting Away With It
self-released; 2016

3.3 out of 5

By Ted Rogen
​

Nick McNally is a college kid who spends some of his free time making music. Getting Away With It is a complete DIY effort that certainly shows some potential and a number of inspired ideas. The song ideas are disparate at best and McNally at this stage in his development seems to be recording anything that sounds good to his ears.

The recording quality is about what you expect from a guy who doesn't have much experience in a studio and is forced to use consumer gear. Overall, it's good enough to get an idea of his talent but isn’t competitive with the production of top echelon indie acts.

The album starts with “If” which is a frenzy of distorted guitars and drums that leads into a solo piano that slowly builds with atmospheric synths. Around two-and-a-half minutes in the song completely changes. McNally might as well have called this a different song as it has nothing to do with the first half. At its best it sounds like Neutral Milk Hotel is warming up about to play a song.

McNally then goes into “If You Can't Beat Them” which is a much more straightforward garage rock song revolving around a couple of power chords and piano. He follows that with White Stripes-esque “Voodoo” and “See Me Later.”

“Mirror Mirror” is mostly cymbals and distortion with a couple of words thrown in here and there. “My Dear” is another complete departure that has nothing to do with what came before it. That being said it is arguably the highlight on the album. He hits his finest moment when he sings “I'll lose myself without you.”

​McNally is a decent songwriter but is still in the beginning stages of his development. Luckily he is still extremely young and has time to start refining a general style and eventually an original sound. Getting Away With It feels like an exploration of McNally’s musical interests that contains mixed results.

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