Sarah O'Gorman - Been Here a Little Long
Info: Hailing from Co. Carlow, and currently living in Berlin, Irish folk artist Sarah O'Gorman today releases her debut EP, Concrete Rain."You have to follow where you soul leads,” Sarah says of the 4-song EP, which was produced by Red Snapper founding member, David Ayers, at his studio in Sarah's hometown, Carlow, Ireland."And sometimes it leads you home…"
Certainly the Berlin-based singer-songwriter, with the soulful voice and expressive lyrics, is finding increasing joy in the adventure not only of song writing but also of performing and recording.
"Making 'Concrete Rain' happened almost by accident. I'd written some new songs, and on a visit home, by chance arranged to go in the studio with David, initially for one day—which quickly turned into a week. I thought, wow, this is really beautiful. The tracks felt like they wanted to come to life."
Opening with 'Been Here A Little Long' (above video) you are immediately enthralled with O'Gorman's lush velveteen vocals and swept under her spell. The mix of acoustic and electric blues guitar create a mellow yet powerfully soulful mood right across the track, which reaches a hair-raising climax with its gospel finale.
A joyful contrast comes along on second track 'What Is The Use of This Love If Not Healing', with an intro that recalls Steely Dan's 'Do It Again', we are treated to a late 60's retro-blast of psychedelic soul with O'Gorman infusing her love of poetry and spoken-word into the track. Her vocals once again are sublime, perfect in fact, if this song doesn't fill you with all of the happiness in the world you may be dead inside.
Wisps of Americana and old world folk come on third track 'There's More To The Eye', one of the EP's more sombre and reflective moments, but nonetheless a highly enjoyable and invigorating experience for the listener.
And oh what an absolute delight we have as we reach the end of Concrete Rain with its title track, as if it weren't enough to have been brought on a journey through folk, soul, blues and gospel, Sarah O'Gorman throws some lovely jazz intros into the mix. It's a dead-ringer for early 70's funk and soul, with the music nodding its head to Curtis Mayfield and the vocals painting a scarily clear picture of said decade.
Concrete Rain is a breath of fresh air, it fills so much of a void in not only Irish music, but even internationally. There is a distinct paucity of bone fide soul music which grabs you and makes you feel moved inside, on her debut EP Sarah O'Gorman achieves this and so much more across its four tracks, which for me combine to make one of the stellar music releases of 2017.
Concrete Rain will be launched tonight at the Carlow Arts Festival, event page here https://www.facebook.com/events/1852203121698623/
Look / Like / Listen & Follow:
Website: https://sarahogorman.co/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahogormanmusic/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/sarahogorman ***
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahSOGorman
***Updated tracks to follow
