Music Review // Devin Reardon "Ireland Song"

https://open.spotify.com/album/5xJCp4cfcx7Cn3TaADxyWC?highlight=spotify:track:3wlLyOyBiwhLVB0nKHJoHS

There has been debate among those who make music and those who write about it as to whether or not "singer/songwriter" is a genre.  Sure, you can be a singer and a songwriter and make music that sounds like The Doors, for example, but I think we all kind of relate that idea with a single person taking a single instrument (usually a guitar) and playing it to create a song.   It's like when Bob Dylan went through the phase of just setting up shop anywhere with an acoustic guitar and playing his songs.  And I see this song by Devin Reardon in that way.   It's got that stripped down feeling to it.

With the soft acoustics this song reminds me a bit of Jack Johnson but also of Elliott Smith.   It's funny how when you hear someone with an acoustic guitar and voice your mind always goes back to the same sources.   That probably also depends upon your age, what kind of music you listen to, etc. so for you, these influences might be different because maybe you didn't watch that "Curious George" movie a hundred times and follow the label Kill Rock Stars.   But there is something very primal about breaking it down to just a guitar and a voice and regardless of who your mind goes back to when thinking about that, there is always someone there and it's always nice to hear.

When you see the title "Ireland Song" though it makes you wonder what the song is about.  Is it an anthem?  If you're Irish or not does that matter?  And I think there are two important lines in this song which define it, for me.   First off, I really enjoy the lyric: "Sat down long enough to shake off some of the doubt"  This just makes me feel like sometimes you have to take a moment and reflect to help reassure yourself and that's okay.   And the second line, which goes with that, is: "Finally started to live for myself today" and I find that to be important because we all only get one shot at life and it's ours so we might as well take it.   

For me, there is something familiar and just natural about hearing a voice sing along with an acoustic guitar.  If you're a musician and you put out the most complicated arrangements of music, I still like to think about what they might sound like in this basic, most true form.   Then when your song is also about rising up and being yourself, that just makes me feel even better because sometimes we need that motivation to get through the day.  And listening to this song to help us doesn't make us weak, it can only make us stronger.