Mo Léan, by Róis - The Hidden Track

A New Voice in Irish Music:

I was recently recommended to listen to Mo Léan, an album released last year that was nominated for the RTÉ Choice Music Prize for Best Irish Album of 2024. Mo Léan is the work of Rois (Rose Connolly), a young artist from Fermanagh who draws inspiration from long-forgotten Irish traditions, breathing new life into them through her music. She blends folk and jazz harmonies with electronic music, as well as traditional sean-nós singing.

Echoes of the Past: Reviving Caoineadh

At its core, Mo Léan explores Irish death traditions—particularly caoineadh (or keening). This lost art was a form of vocal lament present in Gaelic cultures. Typically, women would gather around the body during a wake and mourn the deceased. Through keening, they expressed their grief, told stories, and shared deep emotions. Over time, however, this practice came to be viewed as pagan and was frowned upon by the Church. As Connolly explains:

“It died out with a combination of our colonisation, the Catholic Church, and the famine, and became a completely lost tradition.¹”

Caoine, the album’s first single, reinterprets one of the only three known recordings of keening in existence. Keening was considered a sacred and deeply personal practice, and women rarely allowed themselves to be recorded. The track opens with a sample from one of these rare recordings, taken from the album Songs of Aran. Rois then begins her own interpretation, singing over a sparse, minimalist synth arrangement. It’s a powerful, haunting rendition that brings new energy to an ancient art form. In Citi, she also revisits another keening recording—this one by Cití Ní Ghallchóir from the early 1950s—offering her own moving version.

Atmospheric Minimalism and Vocal Power

Overall, her music is profoundly emotional. The instrumentation—mainly electronic with the exception of a bass—is stripped down, allowing her voice to take center stage. At times, it evokes comparisons to Björk. Rois’s voice is intense, guiding us on an introspective journey—like wandering through a misty bog valley, feeling the air, hearing a voice carried by the wind. Between tracks, short interludes punctuate the experience: bells ringing the Angelus, grounding the listener in a time and place.

Just before the final track, a radiophonic message plays with dark irony: “Hello and welcome to the death notices. We are sorry to inform you but there will be no death notices this morning.” The album closes with Feel Love, a more danceable track that builds toward a cathartic climax. The repeated mantra—“I’m happy now, I’m happy now…”—contrasts with the tense, almost anxious tone of the music beneath it, creating a striking emotional duality.

Recognition or Not, Rois Is One to Watch

In the end, Mo Léan didn’t win the RTÉ Choice Music Prize for Best Irish Album of 2024. Perhaps Rois’s brilliant work isn’t quite mainstream enough for such recognition. Still, her music is well worth discovering. If you enjoy electronic music with a dark or gothic edge, I strongly recommend giving this album a listen.