Track of the Day: Jamie Duffy, 'Resonance'

Hot on the heels of releasing his debut EP, On A Wing, Jamie Duffy is poised to break through the scene at breakneck speed.

'Resonance', the second track, is a cinematic piece of music that truly stops you in your tracks. Opening with an eerie piano fill, the offering unfolds a wash of heavy-on-the-heart strings in the foreground. The darker undertones are overlapped with hope-inducing melodies that make 'Resonance' such a treat for the ears and head.

“To me, the piece represents the intensity of being thrown into the music industry unexpectedly, and the drama and peril within that experience,” Duffy says. “In many ways this song is a musical output for me to vent frustration and at times anger at seeing my own music being misused, misunderstood and misrepresented, especially in the online world, and these strong emotions all come together to create a cinematic, flowing and dramatic piece of music.”

By turns, majestic and tender, 'Resonance' harnesses a unique sonic intensity largely unmatched by Duffy's peers. It's a little bit of Ludwig Göransson (who helmed the Oppenheimer soundtrack) mixed with Yann Tiersen.

As if it couldn't get any more cinematic, Duffy has released a self-directed music video, shot by Peter Johnston and James Poston, to accompany the track. The camera centres on an aristocratic lady (Fionnuala Murray) at the dinner table who irrigates her downward spiral with glasses of red wine, continually replenished by a servent in a hare mask, like those medieval reed faces that beekeepers wore In brief glimpses, we pan to Duffy at the piano who provides the soundtrack the lady's self-destruction. It's wholly transfixing, but don't take my word for it - check it out below!

Jamie Duffy will bring his debut On A Wing on the road this September across Ireland, the UK and EU, which kicks off on 5 September in Cavan. See here for tickets.