The Deepest Breath

2020’s Solas an Lae saw Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin striking away from his Skipper’s Alley roots in the company of Ultan O’Brien (reviewed in March 2021, #165). Now he sets out his stall as a songwriter on his solo debut, The Deepest Breath.

Ó Ceannabháin puts his dark, baritone voice to varied and evocatively pointed use, exploiting traditional and sean nós approaches, bending and blending them to straddle past and present, as in the searing title-track and ‘Anáil na hOíche’ (Night Breathing) and ‘Bánshoilse’ (First Light), the brace of dream-like reveries that bookend proceedings. Perpetual traditional ballad ‘Róisín Dubh’ is treated to a piercing a cappella confessional, the stirring ‘Only the Earth’ features the haunting sound of whales singing. Ó Ceannabháin doubles up on concertina, clarinet and flute (the jaunty ‘Monaghan Jig’ with Conor Lyon’s dancing bodhrán), and there’s fine support from O’Brien’s fiddle, as well as John Francis Flynn and Ian Kinsella’s guitars, alongside telling vocal contributions from Ó Ceannabháin’s sister-siblings, having fun in the two-part ‘Cat Agus Gealach’, its serenading feline giving way to a wordless paean to the moon where sean nós meets scat singing. Kaitlin Cullen-Verhauz’s ethereal vocals halo the Christy Moore-worthy ‘Dublin City Fever Dream’. Synthesizers add to Alex Borwick’s subtle and effective production.