Album Review: AE MAK, Folk Songs for Mama & Papa

The debut album from Dundalk's Aoife McCann – aka AE MAK – is a gorgeously fragile deep dive into the furthest realms of outsider pop. Showcasing McCann’s dulcet theatrical vocals – she sounds like a soprano serenading the end of the world – tracks such as opener ‘We Came From Stars’ hover equidistant from the spooky goth-pop of Billie Eilish and the forthright wispiness of peak Cocteau Twins, whilst lit up with a very Irish sense of keening angst.

Folk Songs For Mama & Papa is a big record stitched together from small moments of wonder and joy. A strident piano pushes early highlight ‘Last Night You Cried To Bach’, as McCann’s multi-tracked vocals conjure images of impossible love, expressed as a headlong leap off a cliff into the mysterious waves below.

These stripped-down moments bring awe and melancholy and showcase her ability to blend the confessional with the cathartic. On the cooing ‘Love Free’, for instance, McCann pledges to “bring the stars” to an important person in her life as a sudden synth groove intrudes, while she steps stridently into power ballad heaven with the purgatorial ‘Famous’.

A provocatively heartfelt collection concludes with ‘For Kelly’ – a love song that wears its feelings front and centre – and which fades into the dusk in languid swirls of melody, as a crunching, metallic riff kicks in. It’s a thrillingly ghostly ending to a haunting album.

7/10