Broken Chanter is the stage name of Scottish musician David MacGregor, a moniker he adopted in recognition of his poor attempts as a toddler to play his grandfather's
chanter
The chanter is the part of the bagpipe upon which the player creates the melody. It consists of a number of finger-holes, and in its simpler forms looks similar to a recorder. On more elaborate bagpipes, such as the Northumbrian bagpipes or ...
, which led to it being hidden from him.
Career
Origin and ''Broken Chanter'' LP
MacGregor was the principal songwriter of
Kid Canaveral until guitarist Kate Lazda's departure led to the dissolution of the band in 2017.
In early 2018, after writing demos in a closed gift shop in the Highlands and on the
Isle of Skye
The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of ...
, MacGregor travelled to
County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...
with drummer
Audrey Tait and multi-instrumentalist/producer Gal to begin recording an album for an as-yet unnamed solo project.
Working on a song a day, starting with a demo in the morning, interspersed with walks on one the numerous local beaches, the trio returned to Glasgow where the recording was finished.
The resulting eponymous debut album as Broken Chanter was released to critical acclaim in September 2019 with
The Skinny calling it "A Stunning, stately debut", and featured Audrey Tait, Gal,
Jill O'Sullivan,
Gav Prentice,
Kim Carnie,
Hannah Shepherd, and
Emma Kupa.
COVID-19 pandemic and ''Catastrophe Hits''
With touring to promote ''Broken Chanter'' cut short by the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, MacGregor spent the many lockdowns recording and releasing ambient and instrumental EPs for
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...
Fridays. MacGregor stated that he did this to make sure that was remaining creative during the pandemic-required lockdowns.
MacGregor recorded the second Broken Chanter album at Chem 19 with producer
Paul Savage in March and April 2021, having exchanged demos and notes during lockdown prior to in-person pre-production sessions when restrictions allowed.
''Catastrophe Hits'' was released on 29 October 2021 on Last Night From Glasgow and Olive Grove Records, going on to win The Weekender's ''Album of the Year'' award, and reaching number 7 in the
Scottish Album Chart,
number 10 in the UK Vinyl Chart,
number 16 in the
UK Independent Album Chart,
and number 30 in the UK Physical Sales Chart.
The album's first single ''Extinction Event Souvenir T-shirt'' was ranked at number 20 in
The Herald's Top 100 songs of 2021,
and ''So Long! (I'm Not Around)'' was ranked at number 44 in
The Herald's Top 100 songs of 2022.
Chemikal Underground and Chorus of Doubt
Chemikal Underground announced on 30 November 2023 that they had signed Broken Chanter and they would release MacGregor's third album in early 2024.
On 5 April 2024 ''Chorus of Doubt'' was released to positive reviews with
Uncut Magazine
''Uncut'' is a monthly magazine based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections. A DVD magazine under the ''Uncut'' brand was published quarterly from 2005 to 2006 ...
awarding it 8/10 and commenting "''Songwriter David MacGregor’s particular skill is in camouflaging rage, heartbreak, and despair as uplifting earworms.
horus of Doubtshows a band on top of their game…at its best it’s agit-pop with heart.''" ''Chorus of Doubt'' reached #99 in the Scottish Album Chart and #48 in the UK Download Chart in its week of release.
In September 2024, ''Chorus of Doubt'' was announced on the Longlist of 20 for the 2024
Scottish Album of the Year Award.
Discography
Albums
*''Broken Chanter'' (6 September 2019)
*''Catastrophe Hits'' (29 October 2021)
7 SCO; #10 UK Vinyl; #16 UK Indie; #5 UK Indie Breakers; #29 UK Physical* ''Chorus of Doubt '' (5 April 2024)
99 SCO; #48 UK Download
Singles
*''Wholesale'' (2019)
*''Should We Be Dancing?'' (2019)
*''Beside Ourselves'' (2020)
*''Extinction Event Souvenir T-Shirt'' (2021)
*''Dancing Skeletons'' (2021)
*''Allow Yourself'' (2022)
*''So Long! (I'm Not Around)'' (2022)
*''You’ve Got To Stop Worrying All The Time'' (2024)
*''The Rain Doesn’t Only Fall on You'' (2024)
*''Gloom Bop'' (2024)
EPs
*''Don't Move to Denmark'' (2020)
*''Ambient 1: Music for Airing Cupboards'' (2020)
*''Ambient 2: Taking Mount Florida (By Strategy)'' (2020)
*''Ambient 3: Here Come The Warm Regrets'' (2020)
*''Ambient 4: Another Green Whirl'' (2020)
*''Ambient 5: The Shut It Assembly'' (2020)
*''Inside Broadcast – RenTV Session'' (2021)
*''Horse Island'' (2022)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broken Chanter
Scottish musicians
Scottish male guitarists
Scottish pop musicians
21st-century Scottish male singers
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)