Of Secrets And Wine
MACSTANLEY’s first offering is a very organic and acoustic collection of 17 songs, produced by South African legend Theo Crous. The beautiful guitar and haunting cello, the lyrical depth, and the heartfelt vocals make for an entrancing debut. Of Secrets and Wine included the two successful radio singles ‘Treading Air’ and ‘Real Live girl’, as well as their first song ‘Rain’ which launched the band after winning a local song-writing contest. The pending recording of this album opened the floodgates, with years of songs, ideas and emotions cascading out of the band, and promising of the depth and consistency of albums to come.
Between 2 Worlds
MACSTANLEY’s SAMA Nominated second album featured a much bigger, electric sound, and spawned the singles “As I Am”, “Freedive”, and “Daytrippers”. In this second offering the band’s rock sensibilities come to the fore, whilst managing to retain the distinctive Flat Stanley feel throughout, thanks to the consistent songwriting and distinctive charisma of Andy Mac’s vocals. Lyrically, the content covers topics as diverse as a dedication to the band’s supporters (‘Daytrippers’) and day-to-day financial difficulties (‘Paper Thin’), to toxic masculinity (‘I, warrior’) and the challenges of being an introvert in a world of extroverts (‘Outer Space’). Between 2 Worlds opened more doors for the band, with a resulting European release, radio singles and tours. Legal constraints in Europe at this point resulted in the name change from Flat Stanley to Macstanley.
Lucid Alive & Dreaming
For their third album MACSTANLEY worked with another legendary South African producer duo, Brian O’Shea & Chris Tuck. Lucid, Alive & Dreaming for the first-time featured keyboards and programming on one of their releases, bringing a smoother and more lush sound to the maturing songwriting. The album spans indie pop (‘Hold on’) and darker rock (‘Forgiveness’), with a stream of engaging diversions in between. Highlights include the beautiful radio single ‘Angel’, the haunting and insistent ‘Star’, and the closing track ‘Feels like home’ which is dedicated to the band’s families. The CD release included a plastic sheet which could be used to animate the album cover.