Irish artist Eoin Shannon collides with spiritual connection and gritty reality in new Southern Rock single "The Closer You Are To God." Collaborating with the musical muscle of Tom Savage, who formed and sings on the music, Eoin delivers more of a fireside confessional than a typical studio song. Crafted from the raw energy of Classic Rock, the swampy pull of Red Dirt rock and roll, and heart-wrenching, soulful blues track tell a story.
Eoin explains that spiritual closeness is a paradox. The closer you get to divinity, the more vulnerable you become to spiritual forces of darkness. A raw, powerful perspective on the internal battles most are quick to avoid, but Eoin confronts them unapologetically, viscerally, and with a very human touch. Shannon possesses a poet's sensibility for lyric writing and a freer, wild streak in his phrasing, evoking his music heroes like Jim Croce, Kate Wolf, and Johnny Cash, while bringing his own psychological fascinations into the picture. Verse for verse, it's the spiritual equivalent of ripping a diary right out of someone's soul. There's tension, faith, and there's fire.
The song simmers and then explodes at all the right moments. Tom Savage's instrumentation straddles the line between old-timey and raw, combining into a backdrop that is both ready to be the soundtrack to your southern road trip or a dark night of the soul. Eoin Shannon might be from Cork, Ireland, but "The Closer You Are To God" feels like it could have been conceived on either side of the Atlantic. It is a dirt road to Heaven being traveled with a guitar, a prayer, and promo marks of battle. This is a friendly reminder that when you start looking for the light, get ready for the shadows to take notice. Eoin delivers a profoundly reflective piece of Americana from an artist who not only pens lyrics but lives them.