- Music
- 09 May 25
Album Review: VARO, The World That I Knew
Superb collaborative effort from French-Italian duo. 8.5/10
In the midst of the pandemic in 2020, VARO – Lucie Azconaga and Consuelo Nerea Breschi – set out to create a project that would reflect the fraught global situation, using songs that existed long before the album’s inception.
A collaborative effort nearly five years in the making, The World That I Knew sees VARO tapping a fleet of Irish trad mainstays, among them Lankum’s Ian Lynch and Cormac Mac Diarmada, Junior Brother, John Francis Flynn, Lemoncello and more.
Led by Azconaga and Breschi, each song boasts its own distinct ecosystem. ‘Green Grows The Laurel’, which features trad crooner John Francis Flynn, is laid out in glittering repose, resisting major-chord resolutions at each turn. Junior Brother, meanwhile, accents ‘Skibbereen’ with his glow-in-the-dark vocals and rustic six-string musings.
Taken together, these 10 tracks ferment brilliantly, with exceptional virtuosity and raw folk inflections. This dynamic is captured and amplified in spades by the unmistakable production chops of John ‘Spud’ Murphy. By turns harrowing and uplifting, The World That I Knew is a well-wrought mammoth of stirring harmonies, doomsaying drones and stunning countermelodies.
A tour de force that demands repeat listening.
8.5/10
RELATED
- Music
- 29 Aug 25
Album Review: Bryan Adams, Roll With The Punches
- Music
- 29 Aug 25
Album Review: Ron Sexsmith, Hangover Terrace
- Music
- 29 Aug 25
Album Review: Nova Twins, Parasites & Butterflies
RELATED
- Music
- 28 Aug 25
Album Review: The Hives, The Hives Forever Forever The Hives
- Music
- 28 Aug 25
Album Review: Blood Orange, Essex Honey
- Music
- 28 Aug 25
Album Review: Margo Price, Hard Headed Woman
- Music
- 28 Aug 25
Album Review: CMAT, EURO-COUNTRY
- Music
- 25 Aug 25
50 years ago today: Bruce Springsteen released Born To Run
- Music
- 22 Aug 25