The Iris-native BRIARS ensemble redefines the art of telling a story through song with their newest single, "Words." It's all a kind of emotional pilgrimage, joining traditional folk textures with a modern, indie sensibility that feels simultaneously new and ancient. "Words" affirms that some truths are beyond words and that sometimes music is the only language that will do. When that tipping point comes on this track, you'll know why this isn't just a band writing songs; they're shaping the sound of rock.
It starts the track with gentle reserve vocals that sound like a confession and gentle guitar lines that move like a gust through tall grass. A rawness here feels so human, a song almost sitting next to you, telling a story you'd forgotten you'd lived through. But don't take the soft start for subtlety; "Words" is a grower. Just as the sing-along threatens the three-minute threshold (2:58, being precise), it explodes into something utterly surprising power-lurching indie-trad territory. It's the sort of shift that changes the song and transforms you. Fiddle lines slice up with violent beauty; rhythms swell, and suddenly, you're no longer listening but feeling.
At the core, from Mick Grace and Paul O'Shea, the writing duo at the helm of both BRIARS. But what ultimately makes "Words" so enchanting is that they've opened the door to some of the finest musicians in Ireland, and each of them is leaving behind a set of fingerprints of their lineages in roots music. The result is a tapestry of sounds, rich and other, from familiar to surprise. BRIARS not only mix genres; they talk to them. You can hear echoes of Ireland's windswept cliffs and candlelit pubs but also lost late-night drive soundtracks of alternative youth. It's music that respects tradition without being limited by it.
It starts the track with gentle reserve vocals that sound like a confession and gentle guitar lines that move like a gust through tall grass. A rawness here feels so human, a song almost sitting next to you, telling a story you'd forgotten you'd lived through. But don't take the soft start for subtlety; "Words" is a grower. Just as the sing-along threatens the three-minute threshold (2:58, being precise), it explodes into something utterly surprising power-lurching indie-trad territory. It's the sort of shift that changes the song and transforms you. Fiddle lines slice up with violent beauty; rhythms swell, and suddenly, you're no longer listening but feeling.
At the core, from Mick Grace and Paul O'Shea, the writing duo at the helm of both BRIARS. But what ultimately makes "Words" so enchanting is that they've opened the door to some of the finest musicians in Ireland, and each of them is leaving behind a set of fingerprints of their lineages in roots music. The result is a tapestry of sounds, rich and other, from familiar to surprise. BRIARS not only mix genres; they talk to them. You can hear echoes of Ireland's windswept cliffs and candlelit pubs but also lost late-night drive soundtracks of alternative youth. It's music that respects tradition without being limited by it.
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