By Colleen Taylor
It’s always going to be a good week when one of your favorite artists releases a new single. This week, it was Róisín O with her latest track, “Warn Me of Silence.” With this new song, released April 28, Róisín O proves her bravery, just like her creativity, knows no bounds. “Warn Me of Silence” sends a gorgeously choreographed and politicized message.
From her first release, Róisín O’s solo career has been vigorously inquisitive, seeking out influences from pop, rock, Americana, new age and even Afro genres to set her folk music songwriting on fire. I’ve been in love with O’s debut album “Secret Life of Blue” (2012) for a couple years now, and her two recent 2016 releases, “Give it Up” and “Better this Way” are each, in their respective style, stunning. What distinguishes her most recent release is an escalating sense of drama. The song’s style circles back to her 2015 release, “If You Got Love,” in which O’s folksy vocals pair with electro-rock backing instrumentation. The same perfect formula of “opposites attract” makes “Warn Me of Silence” another great original from Mary Black’s daughter. Her ethereal, mystical singing voice weaves with grounded, rooted beats that make “Warn Me of Silence” a really enigmatic listening experience.
Róisín O.
This single song captures the drama of an entire musical production. Part of that has to do with Róisín O’s range and part of it has to do with her creative vision. She moves seamlessly from high, feminine pitches to deep, soulful low notes in an instant. At the same time, the metaphors of her lyrics demand the mind engage with the ears. The chorus reads: “They warn me of silence / To protect from the violence / Yet here we are. / Now my knees bleed from falling / And my hands burn from crawling.” These are not ordinary lyrics like those in “If You Got Love.” This is a coded message. The allusion continues: “Let the rain fall down on defiant faces / Standing as one with one voice…This wall of silence won’t hold them back now it’s time, time.”
Perhaps it’s the literary critic in me, but I can’t help but pair these lyrics about silence, walls and defiance with the political context of O’s release date. April 28, the release of “Warn Me of Silence,” comes shortly after the news out of Tuam about child remains, as well as a number of political, feminist protests in Ireland by young women and men of O’s generation. The song, like this generation, refuses to be silent on political issues of sexual and gendered human rights. The defiant faces join and speak with one voice—never to be deterred by that “wall of silence.” “It’s time,” Róisín O choruses—time to speak out, to be brave, despite the danger involved. Silence is what makes your knees bleed and hands burn, not speaking out. On the contrary, it’s standing together in defiance for what’s right that brings the relief of rainfall.
There are “monsters,” the song says, but “heroes” too. An obvious yet perfect metaphor that soars with hope at the same time it makes a critique of social injustice in Ireland. The first two times I listened to “Warn Me of Silence,” I was simply excited to have new music from Róisín O. I let myself get lost in the drumbeats, her high notes, the beauty of the folk and electro genres working together. But the third time, my ears perked at what I realized were loaded, coded words. This isn’t just a great song, it’s an anthem. O may be molding herself into a Bob Dylan figure for young Ireland. I can only applaud her musical vision and her lyrical bravery. I didn’t think it was possible, but as of April 28, 2017, I’m an even bigger fan of Róisín O than I was before.
