There is something refreshingly unvarnished about The Last Witch in Ireland, the debut solo album from Castletownroche songwriter Ronan Duggan. Recorded entirely live in Youghal, County Cork, every song is presented without click tracks, overdubs, or studio effects. What remains is simply a man, a guitar, and a collection of stories rooted deep in Ireland’s landscapes, folklore, and collective memory. It’s like stumbling into a fireside gathering where myths, history, and local recollections are passed down from one generation to the next.
Drawing inspiration from folk masters such as Bert Jansch, Jackson C. Frank, Richard Thompson, and Townes Van Zandt, Duggan embraces narrative above all else. His songs unfold patiently, allowing places and characters to breathe rather than rushing toward easy conclusions. The album carries the weight of old Ireland in its bones, as it explores how stories linger in the land long after the people who lived them are gone.
Opening track “The Boats of Eir on Arran Mor” immediately establishes that atmosphere. Gentle, flowing acoustic guitar patterns ripple forward alongside deeper strums, creating an almost hypnotic effect. For several minutes, the piece feels nearly instrumental before Duggan’s thick, gravelly voice finally emerges from the mist. His descriptions of silence, dark skies, and desolation transform the landscape into a living character. As the song unfolds across nearly six minutes, its yearning grows stronger, painting Arranmore as both a physical place and an emotional state.
“Morning’s Dreaming” offers a more intimate moment. The guitar work remains understated but intricate, shifting subtly between phrases while Duggan delivers the lyrics with the cadence of a storyteller drifting away, desiring a break in the sky that keeps pouring, for some sun. What’s so intriguing is that he sings of his “lady” who has been lying somewhere for four days and who he longs to be with since he left her there. Whether the song conveys this metaphorically or that he is grieving a partner’s demise is unresolved, all the more reason it is so intriguing.
The album’s centrepiece arrives with the eight-minute title track, “The Last Witch in Ireland.” Inspired by the tragic story of Bridget Cleary, who was accused of being a changeling and killed by her husband and relatives in 1895, the song unfolds with solemn dignity. Over soft acoustic strums, Duggan sings slowly and deeply of the tragedy with emotional profundity.
Across The Last Witch in Ireland, Ronan Duggan proves himself a compelling storyteller and keeper of forgotten tales. It is an album built on honesty, patience, and reverence for the stories hidden in Ireland’s fields, coastlines, and shadows. In an age obsessed with immediacy, Duggan reminds listeners that some stories are worth sitting with awhile.
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Review by: Naomi Joan