The Changeling

posted in: Artist Features • Rock

If you’re going to drop out of school, then drop out of some place prestigious. And if you’re going to play the cello, well, play it like a guitar. The mantra of Lindsay Mac might go a little something like this. Prior to carving out her unique niche in music, the Boston-based singer and cellist started off as a med student at Dartmouth before returning to her musical upbringing with stints at London’s Royal College of Music, The San Francisco Conservatory and, finally, Berklee College of Music. With that kind of pedigree, you might expect a cellist with classic sensibilities. But Mac, if anything, is a musician who thwarts expectation. Strapping her cello across her body like a guitar, and forgoing the bow for finger picking and strumming, she summons a whole bevy of sounds from her instrument”be it a whimsical honk, sepulchral strain or low-register moan. As an edgy folk artist, she begs comparison to Ani DiFranco. But stylistically, Mac falls somewhere between the mercurial, lilting melodies of Tori Amos and the bassy saunter of Morphine. If you want to hear both in play, check out Stop Thinking,”part sinister slink, part cheerful amble. But make sure you listen to Cry Cry Cry as well, a poly-melodic ditty that showcases Mac’s bewitching chirp. True originality is hard to come by these days, but Mac’s success isn’t her innovation, it’s her ability to make it feel easy and fun.