The Breath

Ríoghnach Connolly and Stuart McCallum are the creative heart of The Breath. And for them, it’s all about the song. Connolly writes the only way she knows how; a stream of poetic consciousness giving rise to honest, personal, heartfelt songs as likely to touch on childhood summers and first love as cultural dislocation, post-colonial injustices and grief. But it’s her deeply soulful, utterly engaging, stop-you-in-your-tracks voice —whether delicate and hushed or powerful and gutsy— coupled with Stuart’s understated brilliance and their exquisitely crafted songs, that give The Breath such emotional depth. ‘Let the Cards Fall’ —with pianist John Ellis, bassist Sam Vicary and drummer Luke Flowers —is the follow-up to their 2016 breakthrough album, ‘Carry Your Kin’. A bewitching collection of songs allowed to mature and breathe without losing the widescreen, multi-textured kaleidoscope of sound that marked their debut, while refining their trademark Manchester take on alt-folk. Released on Real World Records, September 2018