Rónán Ó Snodaigh: Tá Go Maith review – Apt soundscape for these times

This expansive collection of new songs from Kíla's Rónán Ó Snodaigh is a delicate snapshot in time, giving pause for reflection and thanks for life's unfathomable gifts. The quiet of the pandemic has put paid to the touring and all that goes with life in a busy live band. Ó Snodaigh's measured response to this dramatic change in circumstance makes itself heard through a series of interconnected meditations on the grace he's felt bestowed on him over many years.

Tá’n t’Áth Liom illustrates this overarching sentiment with humility: Ó Snodaigh’s acoustic guitar interweaving its quietly insistent, repeating patterns around producer, Myles O’Reilly’s Moog synthesiser: the pair creating an unexpectedly apt soundscape for the times we live in. Rónán’s sheer joy in the Irish language with all its soft vowels and softer consonants is palpable throughout this curative collection.

Ar Ár Son is an anchor point, an open-armed acknowledgement of our reliance on one another, gently easing its way into the ether on the back of a quietly percussive force.

A generous offering from an artist still searching, still thirsting for deeper meaning amid the confusion of strange times.