Something about Irish folk music has an immediate catching timbre. People down the street were hollering asking if I was playing Irish folk music this week, to which I said, sort of. I guess it's the big vocals, unique instruments, optimistic sort of melodies.
My preconceptions of the genre make me expect tracks like "Farewell to Dublin," heavy nostalgia, some treacle, and a lot really singing about the good-ol'-days. Which are certainly not now, those days. From what I understand of Ulysses, there's a love-hate relationship with this sort of Irish sentimentality. What really caught my ear and felt like a transition to a Kneecap or something is in "Let the People Sing" and "Joe McDonnell" when they're really cooking, and even with those high melodies make it clear that: yes this is a protest album, fuck the British, fuck empire, they're the real terrorists. Hell yeah. And to make it really Irish: I'm going on a hunger strike, not that any of you guys even care. Bravo, bravo. Happy St. Patty's week everyone.
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