Having being named Best Folk Act two years ago on the basis of her debt album, beating such luminaries and feted figures as the godlike Christy Moore and Lankum, expectations are high for Aoife Scott’s second album. Well that high water mark has easily been matched on her second, ‘Homebird’.
The Black surname has long been a guarantee of quality, with her mother Frances Black and aunt Mary Black, being regarded as leading lights in Irish music over the last few decades. Cousins Roisin O, and Danny O’Reilly of the Coronas are currently also cutting a swathe in the scene at the moment.
It’s an album that covers a lot of ground. Love, struggle, both personal and political, sit easily side by side, in an album that rewards repeated play with layers of meaning, and instrumentation each time.
Produced by country legend and Grammy award winner, Ron Block, It leaves Aoife’s vocal front and centre above her stellar band and a guest list, including some already mentioned family members, Sierra Hull, and Eamonn De Barra, to name a few.
Showing she no slouch at songwriting, the album opener, ‘Another Reason’, is a co-write with her talented partner in music and life, Andy Meaney, and it’s a song of hope and love and is likely to be covered by many in the future.
Don’t judge the day before the night. Measure in your mind all the things that make you smile, You’re another reason for the sun to shine. You’re another reason for the sun to shine.
‘Ireland’s Hour of Need’ is a wish and a call to heroes of the past to come and help the Island out of the mess bankers and politicians have made of it.
The title track again leaves Aoife’s voice high in the mix with little instrumentation needed to adorn such a simple, yet beautiful song.
‘Tangled’ is a highlight for me, on an album, filled with high caliber material. Written at a time of depression and writer’s block, this will have resonance with the many people who can empathise with the dark days described.
Now I know some days that, Feel like the lowest, That that day is not the end of this run. Had to learn to stay in the moment It’s harder when all is said and done. I’m tangled and I’m twisted. All knots and in ties Talked myself into some complicated lies.
‘Building up and tearing England Down’, is a paean from the pen of Dominic Behan, to those who sought a living in England, and the trials and tribulations they faced. This mix of old and contemporary songs is a constant delight.
‘The Dublin Saunter’ is a love song to Aoife’s Dublin and likely to do for the capital, what ‘All along the Wild Atlantic Way’, did for, well, The wild Atlantic Way! Surely only a matter of time before Bord Failte come calling!
The album’s constant mix of old and contemporary songs, and it a high compliment to the new songs that they blend seamlessly in the luxuriant aural stroll of the album.
This is one of the delights of this album, the differing colours and hues of Aoife’s voice. So joyful and full of rapture, to sweep the listener along on a euphoric tide on ‘Dublin Saunter’, and yet so bereft of hope in a world weary vocal on ‘Tangled’, that we can only wish for brighter days for the protagonist. That is the mark of a truly great singer, someone who can transport her audience, and take them on a poignant and affecting journey, so they can empathise with the character in the song. Aoife Scott inhabits the complex emotions of each character, and presents a rich tableaux of life.
I have had the added bonus of hearing several of these songs live, and in that setting, they fly. Aoife possess a hugely endearing personality, despite protestations of stage fright, she is a natural live. Her voice carries the the upbeat songs, and inhabits and lives the ballads. It’s only January, but I can confidently predict, we will be seeing this album on the best lists of 2020!