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 the ...

, which led to it being hidden from him.

Career

Origin and ''Broken Chanter'' LP

MacGregor was the principal songwriter of

Kid Canaveral Kid Canaveral was a Scottish alternative pop band that formed in St Andrews in Fife, Scotland, but are now based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Since 2007 the band have released a number of well received singles, an E.P. and an album on their own label ...

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 (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o 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 ...

, MacGregor travelled to

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

with drummer

Audrey Tait Audrey Tait (born 1987) is a Scottish musician and music producer from Rutherglen, Scotland. She is known for being the drummer in three Glaswegian bands, the experimental hip-hop group Hector Bizerk, Broken Chanter, and the rock band Franz Ferdi ...

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 Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese fo ...

, 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, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, MacGregor spent the many lockdowns recording and releasing ambient and instrumental EPs for

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

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.

Discography

Albums

*''Broken Chanter'' (2019) *''Catastrophe Hits'' (2021) 7 SCO; #10 UK Vinyl; #16 UK Indie; #29 UK Physical

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)

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)