The Weight Of The Woods

About

At time, <i>The Weight of the Woods</i> feels nearly too close, too candid; Dermot Kennedy’s lyrics are the stuff of text messages you wish you never sent, the thoughts you can’t hush at 3 am, the spoke-too-soon declarations of forever. The lyrics may speak to complicated, intricate relationships and life lesson, but he’s willing to crack his heart open and offer up the stuff of it for the sake of understanding. He doesn’t need more than a piano, a guitar, and his voice to share that universal truth. Whether he’s growing hoarse from pushing himself on the high note, experimenting with electronic beat, or pushing the limit of his acoustic guitar’s steel string, Kennedy remains consistent: It is <i>very</i> easy to believe every single word he sing, no matter how epic or sparse the production behind him. With his third studio album, the Irish singer-songwriter trades the digital toolkit and studio setup he recently favored on 2022’s <i>Sonder</i> for little more than a piano, guitar, occasional percussion, and a strong backing choir. The instrumentation shift, intimate and raw, is a perfect fit for the emotional rollercoaster of <i>The Weight of the Woods</i>, as the notoriously guarded Kennedy delivers his most revealing balladry yet. Life, death, faith, and love are clearly on his mind, and a fatalistic intensity ebbs and flows throughout <i>The Weight of the Woods</i>. “Funeral” channels Brill Building grandeur as he sings of a love reborn (“We held a funeral for heartache/We buried trouble in the grass/We didn’t bother buying roses/’Cause we ain’t ever going back”). “Refuge” states his devotion plain, but hardly plainly (“If we never make it/At least we can say we died trying”); “Turnstile” lays bare his desperate longing (“Don’t wanna know this life without you/I’m not strong enough”), while “The Only Time I Prayed” confronts his doubts in a higher power (“It’s funny how the dark can make us all believers”). .

via Apple Music

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