Christy Moore once described himself as “a bringer of news” – and he’s never shirked from reminding us where we’re really at. Sadly, the news hasn’t got much better recently.

As a result, there’s a generally wistful, sometimes downbeat feel, to much of Flying Into Mystery the cumulative effect of which is to confront us with the increasingly fraught issues of the day.

Name-checking Greta Thunberg, ‘Clock Winds Down’, written by Jim Page – who wrote the Moving Hearts classic ‘Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Russian Roulette’ – is a powerful,  apocalyptic summary of the global mess we’ve made with our unremitting greed and indifference.

With climate change constantly in the air, several other songs come with the smell of the countryside off them. There is a reverence for the wonders of nature too, not least on a fine rendition of Gary Moore’s ‘Johnny Boy’. In the same vein, the title-track (written by Tony Boylan and Wally Page), the Tuohy-Connaughton song ‘Gasun’ and Christy’s own take on ‘Myra’s Caboose’ all hit the mark.

Ricky Lynch’s ‘December 1942’ is a chilling tale of the Holocaust, and Christy’s cover of Dylan’s ‘I Pity The Poor Immigrant’ could hardly be more relevant, with its forlorn, trademark Moore vocal. The Bard of Hibbing crops up again in ‘Zozimus And Zimmerman’, which applies a 'Lisdoonvarna'-stylee to a vivid portrait of a Dylan gig in Dublin that makes you wish you were there.

Christy’s voice is sturdily expressive throughout. And he still has that unerring instinct for a telling song. A Christy Moore album is never less than provocative. But this is one is more than that. We want this album. But we surely need it even more. Flying Into Mystery is a great record – and a genuine contender for Album of the Year.

9/10

Flying Into Mystery is available here.