Field Guide’s alter-ego, Dylan McDonald, doesn’t wear his heart on his sleeve. No, instead, he hangs it out on the clothesline where it weathers a sunny day, a windy day, a chilly day, exposed for all to see. His lyrics read like a diary, with something revealed, or maybe everything revealed, scant mysteries, just the ebb and flow of life. The music, too, is simple, open, undressed. Nothing to hide here, folks, but plenty to hear, plenty to feel.

McDonald’s been touring since high school, including as guitarist for Micheal Bernard Fitzgerald and also with his own band The Middle Coast. He released his first EP in 2020, and continues to let the music flow, let it all hang out. He often writes in his kitchen - no wonder there is an aura of content domesticity in many of the uncluttered songs, a matter of factness as plain as hanging your skivvies out to dry. Just some words and melodies and few instruments, hanging out free in the breeze like a heart on a clothesline.

- Mary-Lynn Wardle