Rona Mac (she/her) is a trailblazer for expression within music. She is a queer Singer-Songwriter creating lo-fi Alt-Indie with Folk and Americana influences, crafted in her caravan home-studio in west Wales. Her music comes raw and unfiltered, aching with the kind of nostalgia found in rural, rugged places. Primarily a guitarist, she weaves satisfying riffs with hooky melodies, using lyrics to reach out to people and make them feel. She strives to build texture, space, depth and grit beneath seemingly simple songs.
Despite music composition and performance being prominent in her life from a young age, her solo project began in 2020 and she has since released a DIY debut album ‘Sheelah’ and EP ‘Shades Of Ham’, learning and adoring the process of music production as a way to bring her songs to their full potential, exhibiting her captivating talent with music production.
Running up to releasing her E.P ‘Shades of Ham’ in 2022, Rona released single ‘Polidics’ which challenged her rugged sound by fusing it with a new, dance-able zest. Tom Robinson (Radio6) said it “takes her home-production to a new level”. This track was described by Adam Walton (RadioWales2021) as a “Late contender for song of the year”.
He goes on to say “Rona Mac just effortlessly made her own sound by simply daring to be herself…Very, very, very special”. This track was one of many to be featured on Bethan Elfyns WalesMixtape, as well as freshonthenet’s Eclectic Picks. She then released a second single ‘Smoke’, working with PlusMusicPR and CanvasMusicDistribution to achieve coverage in ClashMagazine, MusicCrowns and a track-by-track in AtwoodMagazine. It also garnered many editorial playlists spots across Spotify and Youtube such as ‘New Music Friday’, ‘Lost In The Woods’ and ‘The Most Beautiful Songs In The World’. This builds on successes from debut album ‘Sheelah’, with one track reaching 1⁄2 million plays on Spotify alone, resulting in 32’000 monthly listeners.
Vicki Blight interviewed her about her EP on the TheEveningShow (RadioWales) as she was getting a lot of airplay across RadioWales and 6, as well as Amazing Radio with 927 airplays so far. Her latest single ‘Pennies’ was played on Radio 1’s Chillest Show, with features in Notion, Lock, Vents, and others. In 2022, she has performed at BBC6 Music Festival, BoomTown, Hub Festival Cardiff, FOCUS Wales, Kendall Calling, Laugharne Festival and more. This builds on gigs from 2021, such as Swn Festival, Half Moon Putney, and Great Escape Festival. Funded by PRS foundation Women Make Music and Help Musicians UK, she will be releasing a new album in 2023, as well as collaborations with artists Dan Bettridge, Minas and Wil Owen.
“So much has happened in just two years, and I have worked tirelessly to create music that feels real to me, in hope that it might feel real to other people. My next album is very dear to my heart, and I strive to push at my boundaries to make something that I am truly proud of”