https://youtu.be/IrGhxv_v7CE

“There is no point in holding your cards close to your chest, or hiding your various selves… This is just a document in time…”

Ríoghnach Connolly and Stuart McCallum are the creative heart of The Breath. They make an unlikely couple. Ríoghnach, known for her work with Afro Celt Sound System and Honeyfeet is a daughter of Armagh who has made Manchester her home. She has a gift for singing, a remarkable voice, a deep elegiac sensibility and a puckish, mischievous character. Stuart, by contrast, is a Mancunian urbanite who’s worked with Cinematic Orchestra and is given to dry understatement and calm confidence. Both seem poised on the brink of revelation.

Let the Cards Fall is the second album by The Breath. It offers a continuous renewal of hope, catharsis and remembrance, and, as the title suggests, a new willingness to let go. Whereas the songs on their 2016 debut Carry Your Kin were honed over a number of years, Let the Cards Fall is a more organic affair. “All the material has been written on two local gigs, three days in Hull, a basement in Ramsgate and a garden in Reigate,” says Stuart, the guitarist/composer. It was a deliberate decision. For Stuart and Ríoghnach, writing is spontaneous and the words and music come quickly. It is part of what makes their music so special. On Let The Cards Fall they opted to put the songs front and centre, stripping away some of the layers and bombast from Carry Your Kin in search of a softer, more organic palate. They choose to work quickly and hone closer to the creative spark which is at the heart of their music. To Let the Cards Fall.
The Breath - Let The Cards Fall
Photo credit: Duncan Elliott

Like many of The Breath’s songs, ‘Let It Calm You Down’ was created in the amount of time it took to play. The group were on home turf at Manchester’s famed haunt, Matt and Phred’s when Stuart struck u.......
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