Oisin Leech

If you’re not already following Irish folk, then the name Oisin Leech may have come out of nowhere this Spring, but the songwriter’s been a staple of the scene, with The Lost Brothers and in more indie circles with 747s. For his solo debut Leech connects with a compatriot from across the water, with Steve Gunn producing Cold Sea and appearing on every track in some capacity. Should you need more endorsement than Gunn’s involvement, the record also finds M. Ward and Tony Garnier (Bob Dylan Band) among a litany of Irish music’s best. The album is as overcast and open as the cliffs that adorn the cover. It’s also one of the warmest, most inviting albums I’ve heard in some time, a quality that Gunn and Leech sought to cultivate during its recording in a converted schoolhouse in Donegal, nestled in the Irish Countryside.

The record is confessional, calm, the kind of album that taps into the golden hour glow and makes it manifest over nine tracks. Leech’s songs soothe as they swim through the mind — a modern day bard whose playwright’s spirit lends a sense of depth and shading to his craft and characters. It’s often easy to let a recording become busy, to stack sound upon sound even when the song doesn’t call for it. Leech and Gunn have no interest in this model, leaving the songs spare, but sonorous, an album of sweet relief for a parched world.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.