30. November 2025
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Media Review

Roddy McKinnon – Tourist on the moon

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Roddy McKinnon - Tourist on the moon

Roddy McKinnon - Tourist on the moon
4.4

Rating

 4.4/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Lovely storytelling
  • Very harmonic album
  • Nice instrumental elements

I love to present you upcoming artists and those, which I haven’t covered yet. Roddy McKinnon is one of them. He is doing singer-songwriter style songs with folk and indie elements. On 5th September 2025, he released his third solo album overall, Tourist on the moon. Here is my review.

 

Roddy McKinnon – About The Artist

1966-born Rody McKinnon is a Scottish artist, who is originally from Glasgow. Nowadays, he is living in France. He played in multiple rock and punk bands, before he decided to go solo in 2020. After he released the album Raw Love in 2018, alongside George Leitenberger, he released his debut album Lucky & Damned in 2020. In 2024, he added his sophomore album Time’s a Dog. The title was inspired after he was bitten by a dog – and cancer has been found during the healing process.

 

Roddy McKinnon – Tourist on the moon – Track by Track

The twelve track album lasts 36 minutes.

1. Paint me a rose

Paint me a rose is in fact the only song of the album I could find before album release. Roddy McKinnon released it just a couple of days before album release on his YouTube channel. The song is a typical singer-songwriter track, majorly presented by a strumming guitar and the piano, which are leading the melodic side of the track. After this three minutes listen, you already feel being inside the musical world of Roddy McKinnon.

2. Joshua Greene

The songs on Tourist on the moon are majorly rather short. The song about Joshua Greene. He was the photographer of Marilyn Monroe, who was his babysitter originally. These are exactly the stories of this song. Roddy McKinnon tells them gently and in a lovely way.

3. Vertebrae

The next song, Vertebrae, is also shorter than three minute track. The style is very similar to Joshua Greene. Tourist on the moon is a storytelling album – and this is where the album the album is great at.

4. Tourist on the moon

The title track takes a little more time and lasts 3:47 minutes. Don’t play tourist on the moon, McKinnon repeatedly states in the chorus. The song has a beautiful, dreaming atmosphere.

5. Dear planet blue

Dear planet blue is a rather short episode of he album. The repetition of the key phrase and the very gentle touch of the album overall turns this track into an almost meditative part of Tourist of the moon. Its character also leads to a high level of memorability of the song.

6. Beach house in the sun

From the moon to planet Earth to a Beach house in the sun – Roddy McKinnon indeed takes you to very different situations. This song has a warming, summer-alike, joyful character. And is thus one of my favorites.

7. The boy who doesn’t eat

The seventh song of the album starts in the characteristic sound of it. However, the song does become more virtuous and and experimental in the later parts. This leads to a somehow frightening, but also very interesting and complex listen. Thus, I really like it.

8. Madeleine

Madeleine is an indie-folk track, which works with a lot of reverb. The guitar lines remind me of Iberian music. Again, even though Tourist on the moon does have a common general style, Roddy McKinnon also adds some interesting and new elements in the songs. Apart from the good stories, this is a key element to keep the album interesting and entertaining.

9. O stone Street

Don’t miss O stone Street. This track just lasts some 100 seconds. And honestly, together with a rather mousy style, the song does not leave a that strong mark. The last part comes with an interesting instrumental part, though.

10. Twinkling

It’s already the last three songs of Tourist on the moon. Twinkling has spoken, narrative parts, which leads to a special atmosphere. However, these alter with sung section. A very interesting plot makes you listen to this song. Nonetheless, I would not put it on the top of my list of songs of the record.

11. Dancing shoes

Dancing shoes – this sounds like rhythm, happiness, fun. You don’t get too much of that in Roddy McKinnon’s story about that topic. Therefor, he is taking you into another well-told story. And I appreciate that.

12. Despite me and everything

The final act of this album just takes a little more than two minutes. Despite me and everything has a rather intense character, especially on the vocal side. The final words of the records are Despite you, I won’t leave you. A harmonic way to close the storybook of Tourist on the moon.

 

Roddy McKinnon – Tourist on the moon – Spotify

Here is the album on Spotify:

 

Roddy McKinnon – Tourist on the moon – My View

Roddy McKinnon is a lovely storyteller. Tourist on the moon is his book of lovely stories. Nonetheless, there are some interesting instrumental elements, which prevent you from taking these songs too easy. If you listen to him, you will have a good time with his 2025 record. It’s not a very top notch one, but a really good listen.

Favorite Song: Beach house in the sun

 

Flyctory.com in Glasgow

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