Bizarre, avant-garde punk must be hard to make alone. It’s a kind of music that mixes impulse with repetition, and benefits from the input of multiple band members. Each contributor offers their own unique element, resulting in a musical, chaotic chemical reaction. Certain niche Candian acts like Luge and Baby Labour have discovered this recipe.
But bizarre, avante-garde punk music is also perfect to make alone — if you’re freaky enough. David MacDonald is one of these solo mad-scientists of punk-rock, mixing musical chemicals on his own with his new act, Special Delivery.
Who is Special Delivery? is two songs, “DFCF” and “War Pigs II,” that make it clear MacDonald’s creativity thrives even without a band to bounce ideas off of. He’s able to fit noisey nonsense into structure. The songs have changing tempos, discordant guitars that meet catchy bass lines, and there’s even some sax improv thrown in. It’s very Captain Beefheart, but it’s also very unique.
MacDonald is based in Toronto, having moved from Scotland to Canada in 2019. Before becoming Special Delivery, he played multiple instruments in Buffet Lunch, Jack Lee Band, and False Bliss. MacDonald says Special Delivery is meant to “bring together strands of previous bands, desires and experiences.” MacDonald mixes these ideas using the same creative flair of an art punk band with a full line-up. Special Delivery is finding its own chemicals and its own tools, and using them to make very cool artistic punk.
