"Homeward Hie" & "Sunshine" by Rob Halligan

Featured Article

"Homeward Hie" & "Sunshine" by Rob Halligan

Review

Rob Halligan fans will have felt blessed over the past week with two separate releases which I hope you won't mind my telling you about in a combined review.

The (slightly) earlier of the two, "Homeward Hie" represents a new direction for Rob, being his first released instrumental & in addition to the majority of the instruments played by its composer, Ewan Cameron adds whistles to this very celtic tune. I imagine that given its title if fits into his ‘Always Heading Home' project & indeed apparently its genesis lies in an intended interlude for another song which then evolved into a standalone piece evocative of heading into the west & the sunset & finding oneself in a land a natural beauty & sense of belonging.

The second song, released on Friday, however has different emotional overtones & history. "Sunshine" dates back a good couple of decades and this reworked version featuring Rob & piano and vocals and Andreas W Andersson providing soprano saxophone from Sweden has been created for the nineteenth anniversary of 9/11 as it was Rob's Dad's favourite of his songs & as you may well know, his father lost his life on that day.

With such extra layers of meaning & emotion (the majority of which I imagine apply most emphatically to Rob himself), it is difficult to be too objective about the song itself: so many tracks gain so much more meaning in the context of how they affect us remind us of things and people: in fact I could argue that all good music, all our favourite songs, have such power over us due to evocation of memories in addition to their basic content.  Equally, I can't really comment on the track without holding in my mind why Rob has released it & the poignancy of the context.

You can see why his Dad loved this tender ballad, perched on a wire between sadness & positivity. The sax and the plangent piano simply emphasise the poignancy & I defy you to listen without a degree of moistness to your eyes.

  Web      Social media   

  Share

Related articles

This is quite a weird one.. which suits me fine. Today I'll be telling you about the new Rob Halligan single called "Small World".

 [1 image]

I'm much obliged to Rob Halligan who has been in touch with me to ask me to pass onto readers of "Hot Music Live" the details of Motofest 2021: ...

 [1 image]

Although his spirituality informs & enriches virtually all his work, in April 2019 Rob Halligan released a very explicitly sacred collection of ...

 [1 image]

Fresh out today is a live album of the special lockdown gig which Rob Halligan played at Coventry Cathedral with the help of Ewan Cameron and ...

 [1 image]

Today marks the release of the new Rob Halligan single entitled "Bigger Than Me", a swift follow up to his ‘Christmas Time' EP and as it's ...

 [1 image]

Rob Halligan is another of our local musicians who could certainly be described as "prolific" in terms of just how much excellent music they are ...

 [1 image]

There is not a huge lot I can offer in reviewing terms regarding Stylusboy's new release of an acoustic version of "Fourteen Days" since I wrote ...

 [1 image]

As I've said before, I'm obliged that Duck Thieves provide their own self description for the aid of potential audience members & reviewers: while ...

 [2 images]