Fiach Moriarty - The Revolution
Info: Dublin singer-songwriter Fiach Moriarty released his second album, The Revolution, earlier this year, the follow up to his well-received 2010 debut, So I, since the release he has shared the stage with legendary Kinks guitarist Ray Davies and counts The Zombies' Chris White amongst his fans. Fiach's second record, The Revolution tackles subjects such as The 1916 Easter Rising, World
War 1 and Los San Patricios (the Irish brigade in the 19th century Mexican Army) and debuted in the Irish charts at number 29. The record was produced by former Edwyn Collins collaborators Simon Quigley and Peter Meighan and features a guest appearance from Meteor award winner Wallis Bird.
The Revolution opens with it's self-titled track and first single (above), a peaceful call to arms and encouragement for us to lose our apathy when we are overwhelmed by the multiple wrongs we observe in the world around us. 'Mount Street Bridge' tells the story of a scene from the Easter Rising of 1916, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and the impact the violence had on the normal citizens of the city at the time. Two of Moriarty's strengths are evident here, both his knack of converting story to lyric and his vocals which are both calm-inducing and passionate as required.
Fiach Moriarty - 'Don't Want To Let You Down'
I quite enjoyed third track 'Confession', there's a slightly menacing tone, for want of a better word, to the determined acoustic plucking and vocals which are almost theatrical as Moriarty drives home his message which I interpret to be a welcome farewell to a certain organisation that held sway on this island for quite some time! On 'The Mother' the music veers into traditional 60's folk territory, in my opinion this is when Moriarty is at his strongest, I prefer the stripped down tracks on this album, the blend of acoustic and electric guitars and gentle percussion giving it a bit of a Nick Drake vibe.
Another highlight is 'Oil and Water' with award-winning Wexford songwriter Wallis Bird, again you can hear everything in isolation, tender piano playing, both singers vocals, solo and in duet, there's a nice clarity to the music which, like 'The Mother', I found most enjoyable. The Revolution closes with perhaps the most indie sounding track on the album, 'Won't Lay Down' follows the trajectory of a quiet opening reaching toward a resounding finale. Fiach Moriarty has a lot going for him, he is an intelligent songwriter who can turn topics he is passionate about into rhyme with ease, add to that a great voice and musicianship and it's unsurprising how well both his debut and sophomore albums have been received.
From my own perspective I wasn't crazy about a couple of the songs that were a bit more on the pop side of things such as 'Don't Want To Let You Down' (although I did enjoy the live version in the above video), and the track which followed it 'Raindrops'. If Fiach were writing this album for me alone I would prefer the consistency of his more folk-leaning tracks to carry through the whole album and the type of electric guitar playing we hear towards the end of 'Nightingale'. That said I enjoyed the vast majority of The Revolution and it's clear that there's a charm and musical authenticity about Moriarty's song-writing and he's the type of musician whose output you want to observe over a long period of time with interest.
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