Album number three from seriously talented Irish alt-folk duo.
The inevitable hurdles of a long distance relationships are complex and unpredictable – and those challenges must face musical relationships also. Irish duo Colm O’Connell and Rory McDaid have recorded two albums to date and this is their third. O’Connell is based in Dublin and McDaid in Madrid and that geographical separation must affect their creativity – but maybe Covid has created in musicians an ability to circumvent these difficulties.
‘The Age Of Self Help‘ is a timely collection where the duo have created a “celebration of personal resilience in a world that doesn’t care.” They add “the great irony of the digital era is that it has never been harder to hear or be heard – this is The Age Of Self Help”.
We’re in Sparklehorse/Mercury Rev alt-folk territory here and their intriguing soundscapes are brilliantly enhanced by production duties from Marcus Paquin (Arcade Fire, The National, The Weather Station) in Quebec, Canada. Over the course of ten wonderful songs, they create intriguing and mesmeric lyrics over electronic/Americana sounds reminiscent of Eels and Beck. It’s also, importantly, very much their own sound.
We open on one of their recent singles ‘Life In The Beautiful’ with its opening of city sound effects, acoustic guitar strumming and keyboard tinkling – before a catchy tune opens up with a dystopian stance on the negative aspects of the world we live in. The title is repeated over and over – and this really works to enhance the feel of this corker of an opener.
Next up is the strongest track on the album – ‘Just A Man’. The lyrics question everything we hold dear – relationships, health, our life – and the great tune is aided immensely by some solid piano work from Cork pianist Florrie McCarthy. It’s a song that urges to be played over again and again and is quite superb. Paquin’s most effective work on the album. Track 3 is ‘Circle Closed’ – a piano dominated song with a powerful drumbeat, looking at a difficult childhood from an adult perspective. The duo’s voices perfectly complement each other and this is another winner. ‘Honest Heart‘ is a catchy ode to humility and yet another piano player is featured – here the bar room piano of Niall O’Hoisin. It’s another exceptionally well produced track with the arrangements of so many instruments combining together to sterling effect.
There’s a dreamy warmth to so many of these songs and the songwriting is as strong as it could be. Beautiful piano and strings dominate the powerful ‘Bicycle‘ and it’s take on nurturing our children. The jazzy ‘Big Dipper’ has piano, finger clicks and percussion around a unique take on relationships; it features brilliant guitar work from Trevor Murray and trumpeting from Bill Blackmore. This is a really accomplished album – it’s original and refreshing to hear such a polished album with musicians in three countries working as though they’re in the same room. It has a stunning cover photo as well. Sheer class.
