How often do we say goodbye to someone without saying a word? How often do we find it hard to let go? Lover, the new single by Odhran Murphy, seems to be written from that uncomfortable silence that remains when there is no more to say, but everything is still there. With a guitar as a soft base, this song, a prelude to his long-awaited EP, settles in without haste, as if it knew it was going to stay. Lover thus emerges as an honest, melancholic and deeply human calling card.
Hailing from Armagh, Northern Ireland, Murphy's music cannot be separated from its roots. There is something of the rain, the open landscapes, the silent houses and the long distances in his singing. You can tell it sounds like his homeland: honest, unadorned, with room for you to breathe (and remember). And although the song is about a relationship that broke up, beyond being a lament, it is a reflection. A letting go, though not entirely. There are verses that sound like farewells but also tenderness and beautiful memories.
After conquering TikTok with Limitless Love, a ballad that went viral almost by accident and today accumulates millions of listens on Spotify, Odhran Murphy established himself as one of the most promising new voices in contemporary folk. But far from repeating himself, Lover demonstrates that his growth was not a stroke of luck but the result of a unique sensibility.
There are influences; you can feel the echoes of artists like Ed Sheeran, but Odhran already has his own language. And it shows in the honesty of his lyrics, in the way he narrates from the wound, and in the way he lets emotion speak louder than any studio resource. Lover is, in short, a song for those who linger a while longer in the memory before moving on and those who need to understand what hurts. And Odhran, with his emotional voice, gives us the space to do so.