Irish Singer-songwriter Ultan Conlon’s new record ‘There’s a Waltz’ finds him decamping to Los Angeles and engaging Sean Watkins from Nickle Creek and Watkins Family Hour as a producer on his fourth solo outing.
Conlon’s music is personal and based on his own difficult experiences. ‘In the Blink of an Eye’ deals with the feelings and emotions Conlon experienced after the death of his father when he was aged thirteen.
While firmly rooted in the Irish traditional genre, working with Watkins who also adds various stringed instruments, brings a sparser sound than some of Conlon’s previous works which enhances the emotional impact of his songwriting.
The contemporary issues of digital anxiety are explored in ‘World from a Window’; a song that took inspiration from Conlon noticing his cat gazing out the window all day at birds and himself emulating the cat by scrolling through social media all day.
On the whole, ‘There’s a Waltz’ is an album that has a reflective feel to it – even at times introspective. It is fair to say that it requires a few listens to fully appreciate Conlon’s layered and deep lyrics, but it will be time well spent.