Dotts OโConnorโs new single โFail We Mayโ arrives like a steadying and warm hand on the shoulder. The track is rooted in the now-famous Andrew Weatherall story, where a simple exchange with a fisherman led to being struck with the mesmerizing resilient mantra, โFail we may, but sail we must.โ OโConnor takes that idea and translates it into something that has been earned through experience rather than stitched onto a greeting card.
Recorded live at The Meadow studio in Wicklow with Brian Dillon on piano, Paul Kenny on drums, and Ken McCabe adding bass and soft electronic textures, the song brings the best of experience.
It opens with delicate, shimmering guitar strums, a kind of folk calm that settles in before you even realize. The voice enters thick and steady, unhurried, like someone telling you the truth without needing to raise their voice. โTired legs and heavy feet, and still we try, there is no defeat,โ he sings, sounding neither defeated nor triumphant, just humane and honest. The arrangement grows gradually, almost imperceptibly, until the sound begins to bloom with subtle percussion, swelling immersion, and the Irish folksy tune comes onto us with the sound of pipes that drifts in like mist rolling off a hill.
The songโs bridge lifts the floor beneath you, music rising like a shoreline tide, surrounding but never overwhelming. It invites the listener inside the swell rather than pushing them back with grandeur.
โFail We Mayโ meets you where you are and walks with you for a time to remind for the rest of the walk. Listen to Dotts OโConnorโs new single on Spotify.
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Review by: Naomi Joan