Robin James Hurt’s new album “A Song, A Story Told” feels like warm and human devotion put to a personal work of art. Recorded at home on 4 and 8-track cassette, the album buzzes like a living, breathing thing, a handmade rarity in today’s digital age.
A co-write with Tony Floyd Kenna, Poet and songwriter from Dublin, Slik is the culmination of two artistic hemispheres coming together. That balance, power, and poetry, brute strength and tenderness, is the spirit of the record.
The moment “Hey Mary (Play A Song For Me)” starts up, you’re right on the vibrant streets of Dublin, where music and memories are shared. A nod to street performers and a salute to the legendary Máire Úna Ní Beaghlaoich, it’s an affectionate appreciation of that communal magic, music. Then there is “Where Are They Now,” a song full of introspection and storytelling, one that drips with nostalgia while imploring us to think about how time shapes us.
The album’s title track, “A Song, A Story Told,” is what you might get if someone sang a lullaby to a child from one generation to the next, fragile, timeless, and authentic. And “Room Full Of Music” then socks in the rhythm, a groove-inflected invitation to dance and remember that grabs the album’s pulse of life and joy.
Throughout its 10 tracks and 36 minutes, “Robin” contains the same lineage that found him trading songs with titans such as Sinéad O’Connor, Ronnie Drew, and Finbar Furey, artists who deal in grit, melody, and storytelling. This album is a living document of Irish soul and global humanity, resounding through tape hiss and heartstrings alike.
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