Davie Furey - Haunted Streets
The Irish are well-known worldwide for their storytelling abilities. No wonder there is such a vast amount of creativity of all kinds. The music is one of the fields known all around the globe. There are good songwriters, there are great ones and then there are songwriters extraordinaire. Davie Furey belongs to the latter. His knack for telling a story through song and his ability to engage a crowd have won him support slots with the likes of Damien Dempsey, Josh Ritter, John Spillane and Luka Bloom. He's released a few singles in recent years and now he returns with his highly anticipated new album Haunted Streets. This follows up his debut album Easy Come Easy Go from 2015. The plans for an Ireland, UK, German and US 2020 tour had to be shelved due Covid-19 restrictions but rescheduling of these dates is currently underway
Haunted Streets opens on a highly atmospheric note with Flames on the River.Even the title wakes the listener's imagination up. It's inspired by President Donald Trumps’ destruction of America and subsequent response from those inspiring kids who were caught up in the school shooting in Florida. Furey's warm vocal stands above like the beacon of light. The rhytm is upbeat and it even intensifies when the drums join in. Just when you think there can't be any more surprises, there is a change yet again in the chorus in a proper rock style. The vocal continues to echo, creating long-lasting impact on the listener. Furey's vocal is of that familiar kind that brings calm when you need it the most. Perfect voice for the late night radio show, don't you think?
Secret Light, featuring the vocal of EllyD, continue the late night mood. Farewell Returning Blues slows the tempo down and turns our attention to the matters of the heart. Gentle piano leads the way through the track that is another example of Furey's storytelling ability. Lines such as "you are everything I want to keep and all I want to burn" will hit you with the full force. Listening to this track may break your heart, given the nostalgic tone of the vocal and the arrangement, bring regrets or just memories. That's an unmistakable sign of a good song and the songwriter's capability to achieve any kind of emotional response.
Just Like The Wind seems to be taken straight away from the movie about the Wild West. Like every song on the album, it's strongly playing with the imagination and in this case you see the dusty roads, horses, bandits fighting the sheriffs or the indians. The foot-stomping rhytm and the confident vocal delivery will get you hooked.
Who Am I is the lead single from the album and we're in the deep corners of the mind again. All songs are open for interpretations because the songwriter's intention is one thing yet the reception is very subjective matter. In this case we got a very strong impression the songs tries to spread the joy and gratitude for having a child in your life, judging for example by the line "I can't receive what it is you bring"
We reviewed The Final Frontier here when it came out as a single. It flows on the same atmospheric waveling as the rest of the collection, Clare Sands' fiddle literally adds fire to the ice. It compliments the song in an impressive fashion.
Magic of the Ocean is a warning that if we, humans, are going to treat the nature the way we do, it's going to destroy us and that's not going to take long to do so.
"the magic of the ocean is ours to protect"
Closing track, The Music Man, belongs among those that will resonate strongly with anybody no matter which style of the previous offerings you prefer. The melody is lighthearted yet the powerful lyrics carry a deeper message than meets the eye. There's gratitude, there's nostalgia, there's sadness. Fitting tribute to an important person in Furey's life. What adds even more meaning to this song is the fact that the person Furey wrote the song about, knew about it while he was alive. Isn't that a wonderful gesture? That shows you yet again what songs are capable of, they can serve you well and be your companion in all that life brings.
The balance between the deeper, thoughtful songs and the the dynamic rock numbers on the album is ideal, it enables us to get to know both sides of Davie Furey.