MacEagon Voyce

This piece, “Transom,” arose during the pandemic, and it's the first track on a forthcoming EP called 'Meridian' -- a record about the pains of trying to be true.

As a child I had a debilitating stutter and it became impossible to trust my voice. Singing was the only way to cheat it, but even then, I was bullied and forced to turn inwards. In time, a rift emerged between myself and the image of myself, and they grew in tandem until I could no longer tell them apart. I regard the other as Moon Man.

"Transom" is the beginning of the reckoning, peering through the window above the door into a room that feels familiar but isn't quite right. Expressed in flourishes across the piano, it's the realization that I was playing a supporting role of my own life.

The piano, of course, can be another musical workaround for the stutterer. It was my first instrument. My mom started teaching me when I was four, and though I took a regrettable and extended break, I’m happy to be spending time with it once again.

I'm releasing "Transom" in honor of Piano Day, the holiday inaugurated by the pianist Nils Frahm in 2015. It's the 88th day of each year -- one day for each key on the piano -- and today is that day.

I hope you enjoy 🌻
M. Voyce

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Transom

As a child MacEagon had a debilitating stutter. He was a hopeless bearer of his own last name. Over time, it became difficult to trust his voice, but through singing, he found a way to sidestep his speech. 

He studied vocal performance & composition at Carleton College, singing his way through his stutter while beginning to find solace in the written word, transitioning into a career as a music journalist (Vice, Nerdist). For many years he hid his voice behind his pen, until he interviewed the stuttering composer Alvin Lucier.

That conversation was the beginning of a long, slow embrace of a painful & defining part of himself. Eventually, he found his way back to his voice & his own music. Drawing from brooding melody makers like Angel Olsen & Thom Yorke, as well as prodigious vocalists like Jeff Buckley & Joe Cocker, the Minnesota-born & London-based singer-songwriter layers his powerful four-octave voice & poignant lyrics atop melancholic piano-laced folk rock.