Sean’s new single ‘Foinse’ has less fortunate in mind

Local musician and actor Sean McDonnell released his third single on October 17, as a follow-on from his last single, ‘On The Pier,” released early in the summer.

Sean is a busy man, as he combines appearances on stage at Mullingar Arts Centre with studying hard at school, and his music.

His newest single is called ‘Foinse’, Irish for spring or source. It comes from Sean’s thoughts on those who are starving or less fortunate than others.

Sean said: “A sound engineer that I know worked on this with me. I recorded it and he mixed all the tracks for me, but the lyrics come from all the people in the world who are starving, homeless, or poor, or really just have less than I have.

“I did this in recognition of their pain and how I felt the need to help them. Originally, I wanted to write a song in Irish, and then I wasn’t sure how good my Irish skills are, so I said I would just focus on one word in Irish.

“The style of the music is ambient folk, mostly guitar and vocals, with a bit of piano and bass in the chorus.”

When asked what artist he would envision playing this type of song, Sean said: “I would probably say John Denver in terms of the acoustic guitar, but also a bit of Hozier in the lyrics.

“Hozier has really intricate lyrics, and this song kind of stemmed from that, but he has a lot of songs in Irish, or have Irish words in them.”