- Culture
- 23 Nov 21
In the past week, Mick Flannery also announced his biggest headline show to date, at the Iveagh Gardens, July 7th 2022.
Mick Flannery and Susan O’Neill have unveiled an official video for new single 'Are we Free?', taken from their highly acclaimed collaboration album In the Game.
The Christopher Luke-filmed video was partly curated on location at The Cork Opera House in October, where they started their tour to a capacity audience as Ireland re-opened its live music sector.
Continuing their collaboration with West Cork director Christopher Luke, the clip showcases Mick Flannery and Susan O'Neill's electrifying energy on stage whilst introducing yet another solid offering from the album.
Speaking about the video, Susan says: "'Are we Free?' is a song in the album where the characters are at some of their worst in a fight. It was fun to perform a song in this way.”
Also performed on The Late Late Show last month, ‘Are we Free?” has spent the past three weeks on the Shazam charts, as well as the Spotify viral top 50 in Ireland.
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Currently in the midst of a sold-out Irish tour in support of the release, Mick and Susan came back last month from an extensive US tour, where they were personally invited by Phoebe Bridgers as her special guests when she played Philadelphia's Mann Centre.
Describing her feelings for In the Game, Phoebe simply said 'I love this F****** record'.
"On In The Game, Flannery and O’Neill rely on emotionally immediate storytelling to chart the heady beginnings and visceral lows of two fictional musicians," Tanis Smither wrote for Hot Press.
"They follow motifs that are frequently tapped by the folk community, but instead of veering into tropes, In The Game is refreshing and delightfully unpretentious. Whether on the seductive, bluesy ‘Trouble’ or the heartbreaking album closer ‘Ghost’ — a vocal standout from Flannery, who delivers a stunning falsetto — Flannery and O'Neill entirely avoid the formulaic. It helps that the narrative isn’t necessarily unspooled sequentially. It doesn’t need to be: love isn't a linear thing."
"Flannery – a stalwart of the singer-songwriter scene – gives O’Neill an equal amount of the spotlight on In The Game, and rightly so," Smither added. "A relative newcomer, she is currently Ireland’s best-kept secret. Her wonderfully adaptable, whiskey-warm voice is a trump card on the album, lifting it beautifully here and grounding it impressively there."
‘Chain Reaction’, the lead single from the duet album, won ‘Best Original Song’ at this past week's RTÉ Radio 1 Folk awards held at Vicar Street. In the Game was also nominated for ‘Best Album’.
In the past week, Mick Flannery also announced his biggest headline show to date, taking place at the Iveagh Gardens on July 7th 2022. Playing with a full band, Mick will take to the stage with old favourites, some new songs, and tracks from In The Game with Susan. Tickets from €40 on sale through Ticketmaster.ie this Friday, November 26, at 9am.
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Watch the official video for 'Are we Free?' below:
Revisit Mick Flannery and Susan O'Neill's Hot Press September cover story here.