Conor Furlong makes his way through life One Day At A Time in his glorious and gorgeous new ballad — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Taken from the Irish singer-songwriter’s recently released sixth album A Richard Linklater Film, One Day At A Time is a magnificently moody work of shape-shifting beauty and elegance. Building from a wistful, gently glowing folk-pop nostalgia into a lushly soaring and sweeping anthem, the track inhabits the same musical universe as similar works from U2, Coldplay, Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev. Lyrically, however, it has a far more down-to-earth address, as Furlong paints a portrait of small-town existence, dividing the populace into those who leave to chase their dreams and those who give them up and stay behind:
“One day at a time
Hold on for dear life
But you always wait in line
As you see them pass you by
Leaving this old town
One last look back now
Every memory that you have
Stays with you until the end
I’ll miss you always
And though you are gone
You’re here in my song
I’m closing my eyes
And holding you tight.”
“This song was the result of a production/arrangement approach that I sometimes like to take,” Furlong says. “In this case, I pretended as if the David Bowie of Hunky Dory had worked with The Beatles circa Abbey Road, and this song was on Side 2 of that album. So there’s acoustic guitars, strings, and plenty of melody.”
As for A Richard Linklater film, it was inspired by three main elements, Furlong says. “Firstly, I was listening to a lot of The Beatles’ early work (from 1962 to 1965) and I was struck by the efficiency of their songwriting and how much they managed to pack into songs that were often only around two minutes long. Whilst my new album doesn’t sound like The Beatles, the goal of writing and arranging songs in which every second is justified (and if there’s something that doesn’t need to be there, it’s edited out) was definitely at the forefront of my mind. That being said, there’s a song on the album called Until The Rain Turns Into Light, which is around eight minutes long and is an Arcade Fire meets Led Zeppelin epic. So, whatcha gonna do, I’m a bundle of conflicting ideas.
“The second musical inspiration was that I was listening to a playlist of ’90s music that I had created and I wanted to try and make an album that was a little bit like a playlist, in which every track is killer and essential and could be a single. Having said that, the album still had to feel and sound like an album, which even the best playlists never do. There was a third factor that inspired the album. As you can probably tell by the album’s title, I’m a big fan of Richard Linklater’s films. I wanted to try and make an album that could sound as if it were the songs from a Linklater film soundtrack, both tonally and musically.”
Linklater is in good company. Although Furlong’s music is influenced by artists such as R.E.M., Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, A-ha, The Beach Boys, AIR, The Monkees and Phil Spector, he also draws inspiration from non-musical sources. Painters like Monet, Miro, Dali, Hundertwasser, Van Gogh and others have made him want to create songs that complement their extraordinary visuals. Similarly, he loves the films of Alfred Hitchcock and the soundtracks of Bernard Herrmann — particularly Vertigo, which he cites as a major emotional (if not stylistic) influence.
The prolific solo artist from Dublin has released five album since 2019, earning praise and respect each step along the way. Earlier this year, he released his first compilation, fittingly entitled 2019-2023.
Watch the video for One Day At A Time above, check out A Richard Linklater Film below, and join Conor Furlong on his website, Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Twitter.
