KNEECAP’s album is one of the most explicitly political of the year, but the Irish trio formed by Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí decides to close it on a remarkably personal tone: ‘Irish Goodbye’ is the farewell to a deceased mother who has left things to say, as suggested by phrases like “this is every little thing that I didn’t get to say to you” or “You left a letter I didn’t get a chance to respond”, adding a dimension of guilt to the story.
‘Irish Goodbye’ is a song built on hip-hop drums, melancholic piano notes and synthesizers that evoke nighttime car rides, at some points obtaining textures similar to Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Streets of Philadelphia’ (1993).
Performed mostly in Irish, which does not diminish the emotional power of the song in any way, for those who do not understand the language, today’s Song Of The Day includes an emotional verse in English by Kae Tempest, the essential British spoken word artist, resulting in an absolutely beautiful song overall.
Typically Irish imagery – “Botanic”, “Bally Owen”, “concertina”, pubs – roots the theme in a specific culture, perhaps functioning as an anchor of stability within a life marked precisely by the opposite.
And although the farewell to a loved one is as universal as the expressions of “eternal love” present in the lyrics, the story is more complex than it seems, addressing a life marked by mental health difficulties, with possible allusions to self-harm or suicide. In this context, Tempest assumes the role of giving voice to those most difficult and painful aspects of that person’s existence, perhaps not always easy for the child to face.
