Following on from their album Tá Go Maith, Rónán Ó’Snódaigh and Myles O’Reilly have returned with further reflections on The Beautiful Road.
Both artists have consistently demonstrated an uncanny ability to listen deeply to the sonic elements of their environment that lie beneath and ultimately inform the music. This appreciation for the minutiae of life and land shine forth on The Beautiful Road. In a world as busy as ours, there’s an unspoken anxiety in the prospect of slowing down. In that space to breathe, what will we discover about ourselves? Will we like it?
The Beautiful Road invites us to find the fissures between the frenzies and listen without apprehension. Listen for the quiet lilting on King of the Kingdom (Rí A’Ríocht) and the birdsong on The Beautiful Road, the appreciation of which is further exemplified in the form of mimicking synths as the song approaches its end.
The Beautiful Road is a testament to care. O’Reilly and Ó’Snódaigh have created an album that is bursting with consideration and contemplation without ever veering too far towards rigid fastidiousness. Each song demonstrates a profound understanding of the importance of space that when presented together offers a reminder to be hopeful and thoughtful.
A different way of living, a softer, slower way, is not something beyond the realms of comprehension. It softly hums beneath the frequencies we know. The Beautiful Road asks us to hear this hum, grow to know it and want, on behalf of the collective, to amplify it.
Rónán Ó Snodaigh + Myles O’Reilly – The Beautiful Road
Words: Julie Landers
