IT IS one of the finest Irish albums of 2021, the fruits of a collaboration between one of our best singer-songwriters and one of our most exciting emerging talents.
Mick Flannery and Susan O’Neill’s In The Game - a concept album charting the long disintegration of a relationship, as a man and a woman fall out of love and into acrimony - which Hotpress rightly called “a stunning and cathartic offering from a duo who seem to have figured out how bottle pure magic”. The album has also been shortlisted for the RTE Folk Awards in the Best Fok album category.
Galway will be able to see Mick and Susan perform that album live at two shows at the Róisín Dubh on Friday November 19 at 8pm and Saturday 20 at 2pm.
The songs on In The Game are, by turns, funny, heartbreaking, bitter, and above all, deeply poignant. Musically they range from Celtic-Soul (‘Love You Like I Love You’ ), to Americana (‘Are We Free, ‘Blue River’ ), to country flourishes and indie-folk (‘Play With The Mind’ ), while throughout are piano motifs with mini-classical flourishes (‘Miss Me When I’m Gone’ ).Incorporating another's voice
Both Mick and Susan inhabit the characters fully, be it the caustic exchanges of ‘Are We Free’ or the remorse of the fight in ‘Lonely Wins’.
“The fact they are duets, and have to incorporate another's voice, gives you another set of tools to play with,” Mick told me earlier this year about writing duets for the album. “You have to ask, ‘Where does that voice come in?’ and ‘How do I give it sense to what the other person is singing?’.
He is also full of praise for Susan and admits her approach to songwriting is rubbing off on him.“She is very willing to leave air in the song, for the music to seep through,” he said, “to allow the atmosphere to breathe without the lyrics over the top. I found that approach very worth stealing. I want to try that moment myself, and allow the listener to reflect on what is going on.”
A great album, two terrific talents. It should be two great shows at the Róisín.
Tickets are available via www.roisindubh.net
