Good morning with our Middle of the Week Song – the stunning Irish Goodbye by Bernard Butler.
Irish Goodbye is Bernard’s new single, released yesterday, November 10.
I feel in love with the song the first time I heard it live, if memory serves me at Arena Live at Irish Embassy London for RTÉ 100, the 100th anniversary of the Irish National, June 11 2026.
It’s a beautiful, unique, luminous song. The album version is different, not just voice and guitar. Equally stunning.
I got into playing the guitar intro, and singing the lyrics, since I hear it a few months ago.
The whole song, music, lyrics, vocals, is extraordinary.
The Hofner Galaxy hanging from a shoestring like strap on the video got my heart too. Well done and congratulations, Mr. Butler. Hope to see you here soon.
After two sold out intimate solo concerts at The Green Note, in London, January 2027, Bernard Butler is in tour for the first in years with a band May and June 2027:
May 26: Bristol, The Lantern May 27: Portsmouth – Wedgewood Rooms May 28: London – Bush Hall June 1: Leeds – Brudenell Social Club June 2: Newcastle – The Cluny June 3: Manchester – The Deaf Institute
The Age of Everything, Johnny Marr’s fifth solo studio album came out a week ago.
It’s the first album in a very long time I felt like writing about. Even more surprising, because it’s the first of Johnny’s solo albums I fully click and resonate with.
I danced to it from beginning to end. Sang along to it. Picked up the guitar and strummed something out of pure joy. Played air drums again.
The Age of Everything made me to want to write pop, catchy songs and have a band again.
I like everything on the album. The music, the voice, the production, the mix, the lyrics, the backing vocals – they are absolutely stunning – the cover, the fact that if not all, many or most of the guitars Johnny plays were gone on his Christie’s auction held September 17.
I like that as Johnny put it “Sharp, fast and dynamic, filled with ideas and possibilities.” Particularly the full of possibilities part.
The songs on The Age Of Everything were written in London – you can feel the city bursting through them – developed on the road on tour on the East Coast of North America – there’s a certain East Coast flavour too – and recorded in Manchester at Crazy Face Factory – Johnny’s custom build studio and creative space.
The Age Of Everything is a fresh, danceable, guitar driven with great drums and bass, elegant, pop album with a big sound. Not exactly a wall of sound, more of an expansive fell-good vibe of sound.
There are very audible guitar nudges and lines to Johnny’s trademark guitar playing in The Smiths. Particularly in It’s Time, Ophelia, In And Out of Love, But they are layered with other guitars, and instruments transforming them into their own thing.
My favourite song from the album is the final one, All in a Life.
I deliberately wanted my words about The Age of Everything to be published after the official release. I wanted to let it wrap me, feel it, absorb it. Give it time. The Age of Everything is not an album for a day, or week, or a month. I suspect it’s an album I will be returning to often.
Which fits the idea behind the album, that in the age of everything is immediately available. Which can be overwhelming, and asking for an immediate response. There’s endless benefits of technology, but there’s also value in taking our time.
The Age of Everything Tracklist: 1. Spin 2. Beyond the Rain 3. It’s Time 4. How Come 5. Ophelia 6. That Feeling 7. In and Out of Love 8. Just Once More 9. Fire with Fire 10. All in a Life
Personnel: Johnny Marr: vocals, guitars, songwriting, production James Doviak,: guitar, keyboards, co-writing, production Iwan Gronow: bass Jack Mitchell: drums Meredith Sheldon: backing vocals Nile Marr: backing vocals Claudius Mittendorfer: mix Frank Arkwright: mastering
Recorded at Crazy Face Factory, Manchester; and Mastered at Abbey Road Studios, London.
The Age of Everything is released by New Voodoo Limited/BMG
My radio show Amazing Songs & Other Delights #99 – The Luminous edition edition is broadcasted Monday 21 and 28 September, 3-4pm (London time) on Yé Yé Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).
After a pause and repeat shows I’m back to new editions.
As soon as I became aware Johnny Marr was having an auction of his guitars, amps, and memorabilia at Christie’s 17 September I knew how the snow begun. Spin is taken from Johnny’s upcoming album The Age of Everything.
The last song, Bernard Butler singing The Irish Goodbye – one of his new songs live from the Irish Embassy in London for RTE (the Iris national broadcaster) 100th anniversary – was also decided.
The other songs, aside from Lucinda Williams version of The Beatles’ While My Guitar Gently Weeps that I have played before – appeared from different sources and fitted the programme flow and imaginary.
There’s a second Johnny Marr presence. He plays the guitars on Meredith Sheldon’s Once We Were Dust album which I found through his Instagram.
The guitars, or most of them, Johnny plays on Spin and Diamonds Like are no longer his, have changed hands at the auction.
The songs vary in gente, in age, in being from lost albums, or just released. Together they form a diverse tapestry I like.
Tracklist: 01: Johnny Marr – Spin 02: Velcro Dog – The Gonzo Futurist Manifesto 03: The Pineapple Thief – God Knows 04: Susanna Hoffs – Casablanca 05: Bikini Body – Leipzig (ft. Ben Katzman) 06: Meredith Sheldon – Diamonds Like 07: Soft Science – Spinning 08: Cesária Evora – Sonsente 09: Filipe Karlsson – Rota 10: The Go – Secular Century Man 11: Lucinda Williams – While My Guitar Gently Weeps 12: Garcia – Quando Não Estás 13: Railcard – Flannelette 14: Yoko Ono – Never Say Goodbye (2026 Remaster) 15: Ex_Re – Radio Station 16: Prince – I Am You 17: Bernard Butler – The Irish Goodbye (live at RTE 100)
words: Paulo Carmona (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro) photos: Vítor Neves
Modern Nature performed as a trio, with Jack Cooper on vocals and guitar, Jim Wallis on drums, and Tara Cunningham on guitar and vocals. And for anyone who thinks a band operating within alternative rock / indie pop rock, in contemplative, nostalgic worlds and a slow-motion cadence, might deliver monotonous or dull concerts, they are completely mistaken.
Modern Nature are an excellent example of the opposite. With simple lines, without any kind of embellishing effects on the instruments, and an almost static stage presence, they gain in subtlety, in melodic richness, in soft worlds and warm breezes. The voices of Jack and Tara complement each other perfectly and draw us into a sweet, comforting calm, almost hypnotic. The drumming of Jim Wallis is magnificent, always exactly where it needs to be, carrying the melodies like a cradle rocked by maternal, steady hands.
They came to present their most recent work, The Heat Warps, and of course a range of tracks representative of their essence. From Pharaoh, Things, and Radio, with which they opened, through Jetty, Performance, Liverpool, and December, they maintained the audience in perfect alignment, with masterful control and a shared sense of sonic richness and delight.
After a demanding and intense week, it was exactly what I needed to reconnect with the universe, serenely.
