Aoife O’ Donovan “In The Magic Hour” Album Review
There is a sensation of almost living out of the context of time as the first track of singer-songwriter Aoife (pronounced eee-fah…get it right people) O’Donovan’s latest record hits. As ‘Stanley Park’ enters through your ear canal, the rewinding of tape is the first thing you hear, setting the stage for the warmth that engulfs the sound of the track. A certain amiability and sincerity is engrained into the singer’s voice, it draws you in and carries the weight of her often revealing, instrospective lyrics and delivered with a sense of heart and intensity.
But she lifts us back up from the tape drenched sublime and melancholia vibe of the first track with the piano driven folk-pop-rock hybrid nature of the title track. Her voice lifts you up and there is an energy and marching movement to the instrumentation within the song. “I wish I was young again” proclaims the singer. A song perhaps embedded in the notion that in certain moments, in that magic hour, there is a chance you can be (or feel) those thoughts and sentiments that live on the outside corners of your mind. The moments, the nostalgia, and the faith that give us hope for the future and brighter times, away from the hustle and bustle of the day and where the light and dark merge and change duties. Bright, in the way that the sun reflects a yellowed-orange hue off the horizon just moments before descending into its bed below the trees and ocean line.
The co-penned “Hornets” (with I’m With Her band mate Sarah Jarosz) weaves a tapestry of gorgeous harmony in vocals and drifting fiddle, all while being held together with the ever present sound of a small bodied Martin acoustic and prompts a knee weak feeling (as the song’s lyrics state). But those harmonies, man, they get me every time.
“Donal Og” again manages to extract that underlying feeling of old, timelessness and early morning gray after a rain in it’s instrumentation. Emerald island evocation, and a vocal that drones almost like the stretched skin of a bagpipe expanding and contracting. Slow and floating like a creeping fog over a field lined in stone walls. Spooky and lingering, the evocative nature sticks with you long after you listen. Despite the gloomy and relaxed feeling, cloudy almost, there is a tension build in to the listening of the track. Again, pulling you in to listen even closer, close your eyes, and feel the music. She has an uncanny way of doing that, evoking moods in such a delicate manner that is so affecting.
The star of the show for me is always O’ Donovan’s voice. She has a chill inducing vocal that shines throughout the entire record, haunting you with each word and phrase she spins within the loom of her storied songs. Evocative and siren-like, smoke tinged but tender and inviting. There is a curiosity and tempting nature to her honeyed voice. It dances elegantly above simple, but fitting arrangements. A romance seeps into the cracks of each strum of the acoustic guitar or fiddle cry and while O’Donovan has a range that is enviable to most, she elevates and opens it only at moments when it is most needed and for full impact. Beauty embodied and realized in audible format, simple as that.
The songs of O’Donovan have a fleeting, quick glance into the soul of a person feeling to them. You are getting a brief glimpse, a capture of moments in time that are often times whispered in nature, they force you to truly listen to the music…something I oblige to abide without any pause. “In The Magic Hour” is an incredibly strong follow-up to an already phenomenal solo release from the songwriter on 2013’s “Fossils”. Just further buttressing Aoife as a solo artist, collaborator, and supporting musician/singer to be appreciated and envied for her ability to compose complex, and multi-layered pieces from seemingly unembellished, simple parts. A voice, a guitar, some additional pieces and a whole lot of magic moments. O’Donovan shines as bright as the golden sun in the magic hour on this latest release. Divine.
Don’t take my word for it, listen to “In The Magic Hour” for yourself and catch O’ Donovan on tour this year (back in Cambridge at The Sinclair on April 13th). Be it with another act or as a solo artist, she is one of the finest songsmiths and singers doing the grind today.
