Music from the Heart

Irish singer songwriter Padraig Jack releases his second album These Shores on Isle of Song Records. This is the follow-up to his successful debut Making Sand which was released on Good Deeds in 2020, was named RTÉ Album of the Week, and also received a nomination for an RTÉ Folk Award for Best Original Song for the track ‘Making Sand’.

Padraig Jack (O Flaithearta) was born into a musical family from the Aran islands. His dad is the songwriter Barry Ronan and he is the nephew of the Irish poet and Aosdána member Mary O’Malley. A native of Aran which has produced writers Liam O Flaithearta, Máirtín Ó Direáin and Breandán Ó hEithir, Padraig is proudly bilingual both as a conversationalist and a songwriter. These Shores features ten tracks in Irish and English further demonstrating his singular bilingual poetic and musical sensibilities.

These Shores has contributions from family and friends as well as some Irish music legends. Padraig has included a song penned by his dad Barry Ronan, and siblings Cathal and Aisling, uncle Seamus and cousin Ronan also provide musical input. Padraig has collaborated with his neighbours, and former winners of The All-Ireland Talent Show, The Mulkerrin Brothers who lend their voices to the track ‘Oíche Gheal’, while Connemara singer Gráinne Ní Mháille sings harmony on Irish language track ‘Díolta go hIfreann’, a song about the Covid lockdown.

The opening track, which is also the title track, is a celebration of the Celtic culture, laced with nostalgy and ever-present pride. You feel the breeze on your skin and hear the waves crashing on the shore. And of course, as a bilingual artist, the verse in Irish (as Gaeilge) adds a special depth to the track. Warm authenthicity. Your soul flies away with the lyrics. Away to the mythical land.

Jack's vocal in "Little" is consoling, reassuring, healing.The line "Maybe next time I'll be sure it's not you, it's me" sounds almost apologetic, as if the singer realized his own wrong doing.The notes go straight into the heart of the listener, take all the troubles away.

"Father to Son" is an upbeat yet touching advice of a parent to his offspring. You feel the emotions within the words throughout. "Be someone you can be proud of"

"What is Love" has a haunting darkness within. In contrast, the lyrics are entirely positive about all the good things life in love can bring.

The whole dynamic completely shifts when Padraig Jack sings a song entirely as Gaeilge. "Diolta Go hlfreann" is a prime example of that. And also, a prime example of the fact  that music is a universal language, a magical force that touches the hearts and you don't need to understand the lyrics.

"Atone" speaks of many issues we all face nowadays, such as "everyone is talking, no one is listening."  Probably the most lively track on the album yet the lyrics are thought-provoking and it's almost scary how spot on this is. After all, isn't that a songwriter's duty to observe and react?

"It Could Be Home" sounds like a reaction to the housing crisis in Ireland combined with the troubles faced by refugees. " I am not welcome here, I am not wanted there..."