A loud and rumbling buzz filled the music industry this spring after Angie McMahon completed a series of performances at SXSW. 

In fact, the 25-year-old Australian’s concerts were so recognizably awesome and ground-breaking that she was actually named the festival’s prize winner for a developing non-American act. And SXSW’s judges praised McMahon for songs that were written and performed across a dynamic spectrum, noting that her music “shifts between gravelly intimacy and pounding rock.”

That spectrum is further explored in McMahon’s debut album ‘Salt.’ As critic Kayleigh Hughes writes for the music news website Consequence of Sound, the “beautiful and bruising” debut album showcases a different side of McMahon. Instead of a young woman with commanding control of the musical push and pull of her vocals and instrumentation, we’re served a snapshot of a bright, introspective woman who’s overwhelmed by an uncertain future yet ready to take on challenges.

That strength was on full display when Art&Seek caught up with McMahon at Dallas’ Top Ten Records in Oak Cliff for a performance of her breakout smash, “Keeping Time.”