Album Review: Sinead O’Connor – How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?
3 min read
Iconic and controversial Irish musician Sinead O’Connor is making a worthy comeback this month with her first album in 5 years. Though it seems easy to forget the incredible music that has been bestowed on us by O’Connor in a career that has spanned some 25 years simply because of the headlines that the star often gets for her ongoing troubles, the singer-songwriters latest record is enough to quieten even the harshest of critics as it unravels a tracklisting of utter brilliance.
How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? is O’Connor’s 9th studio album and first since 2007’s, Theology.
The comeback opens with 4th and Vine, a rickety jig that sounds more island living than what we are familiar with when it comes to a Sinead O’Connor release. It is fair to say it’s not the best track on the album although the opener does contain some lovely harmonies that are sprawled throughout its duration.
Reason With Me is a moving follower that takes balladry to a new level. O’Connors whispery vocals perch themselves above a melody of gently played piano keys as she pleads for reasoning while capturing the essence of the irish musician’s songwriting genius in a mere weighty minutes.
Old Lady adds a rocky edge to the opening segment of the record with some meaty guitar-work and O’Connor taking on a more harder vocal role before the harmony heavy Take Off Your Shoes sees the singer in her element as she protests ‘you’re running out of batteries’ in defiance and angst in a well composed, instrumentally driven number.
Filling in the track-listing is the singers latest single The Wolf Is Getting Married, a commercial and radio friendly introduction to the present day Sinead O’Connor and a track that not only slots in perfectly to the musician’s ever expanding catalogue but also a number that brings us all up to speed with the standards of this musical great with speed and sense of longevity.
Further down the record the instrumentally minimalistic Very Far From Home provides the record with a swaying ballad overflowing with vocal inflections and heart-aching lyrical reassurance.
Falling into a career that has been turbulent at times as well as reaching the towering peaks of international adoration, How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? brings life back into a quarter of a century long career that, although a little lifeless over the past few years, deservedly shines a light onto one of music’s brightest and gifted singer-songwriters.
Emotionally breathtaking, lyrically expressive and heartrendingly honest, How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? is a beautiful record from one of music’s most misunderstood and delicate roses and one that will be firmly set on my current iPod playlist for a long time to come.
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