Killarney-born Brendan O’Shea, like his good friend Mark Geary, has spent the majority of his songwriting life in New York, and the smells and sounds of the Big Apple ooze through the cracks on his second album, albeit with a slightly Irish flavour – in particular, his very Irish ability to turn ‘through’ into ‘true’. That’s not to say this album belongs to that bizarre hybrid demographic of Irish Americans: thankfully, there’s little of the ‘Céad Míle Fáilte, buddy’ demeanour here. This is very much a modern, urban album about trying to find your place in the world.
Recorded in New York, Chicago and Dublin, with a band made up of musicians from all three territories (including Mark Geary, Ann Scott and Karl Odlum), Be Here Still is not a Friday night album. Reflective rather than showy, this is introspective, and yet soul-searching has rarely sounded this warm and inclusive, if not necessarily immediate. However, spend some quality time with this album and its earthy emotion will wash over you and win you over.
The abum opener ‘Tired Eyes’ rests its weary bones on your shoulders but simultaneously gives you a friendly squeeze. The title-track’s sublime choral effect creeps up on you and melts your heart before you even realise it’s there, while the gorgeously life-affirming ‘Pull Your Socks Up’ is about not feeling sorry for yourself, giving yourself a stern talking to and getting your arse in gear. The heart-breaking ‘Halos (Song For Elliott)’ is presumably dedicated to the late Elliott Smith and is a fitting tribute to the incredible New York songwriter, while ‘No Mystery’ possesses the kind of timeless songwriting mastery of which Smith himself would have been proud.
O’Shea is making a rare return home in March for a quick jaunt around the country. On evidence of this, he’ll be well worth catching.