Belfast-based folk singer-songwriter Michael McCullagh AKA Meb Jon Sol has been on something of a far-reaching musical expedition since his Colenso Parade days. A far cry musically from the starry-eyed indie pop of the latter – now defunct – Omagh five-piece, McCullagh’s debut solo album bears the lyrical and thematic imprint of wisdom and experience throughout, each track underpinned by the inner workings of wanderlust or quixotic wondering.
Preceded by “yeo!”-generating singles ‘Leave All Your Troubles With Me‘ and ‘Captain of this Ship‘, Southpaw Niños strikes a keen balance between self-reflection and knowingly cavalier abandon, McCullagh’s quasi-mystical, eager tales of the open road and distant lands tempered with wonderful, trad-inflected tales of longing such as ‘Angie, Where Did Your Love Go?’ and ‘I Am Yours’.
Read McCullagh’s five-installment Thin Air column, documenting much of his travels here (see Related Posts at the bottom for the other links).
Southpaw Niños will be launched at Belfast’s Voodoo on Wednesday, October 22. Stream the album below.
