Cormac O Caoimh‘s ‘Where The World Begins‘ is a hugely personal album. Featuring several guest musicians and backing vocals by Aoife Regan, the Cork-based singer-songwriter wrote every song with his autistic son in mind, covering themes of parenthood, autism and love; some are very directly related, others more loosely so, some full of heartbreak, others full of joy.
It opens with My Little Buddha, a song very much a love letter to his son (“Stop/Just for a minute/You’ve got your finger on it/All you want right now/You have, it’s now … You only carry charm/You don’t get lost in it … And I’m privileged to see you in it”). Slower and more orchestrated, A Good Place For You addresses the concerns of parents as to what will become of their children after they have passed (“my whole purpose of being is/Being with you now/Will there be a good place for you when we’re gone?), one all the more intense for those with children unable to live independently.
The title repeated as a mantra, Stay Calm bubbles along on a simple riff before the backing vocals and keys flood in, contemplating the struggles that may come with autism (“I’ve been celebrating Small Victories/I’ve been glossing over Big defeats I’ve been trying to change …I’m human I’ll blame myself for doing things/Differently/Tomorrow will be better”). A jazzy flavour to the vibes, When Someone Says It Must Be Hard touches on how expressions of sympathy can be misguided in not understanding the nature of unconditional caring, that it’s not a duty or a burden (“There are times it’s nice to hear it/But only from People who I don’t mind hearing from/They don’t know you/Like I know you/They don’t love you/Like I love you”).
At the same time, it’s hard to deny there are times when parents of a child with such a condition that affects how they see the world and interact with other people don’t wish for a less challenging time, a feeling embodied in the plangent piano-led and strings-swathed dreamy Jealousy where he sings “I’m ashamed to admit it/I’m jealous of your family/And the things you take for granted …a spontaneous trip/A stroll down town/A meal at a restaurant/A football match/A kickaround…Kids excelling at school/A night out with your spouse”.
But then comes the musically whimsical Upside Up, where those negatives become positives and disarmingly precious (“Your special essence just refreshes/And fills my restlessness with blesses…You teach suspiciousness a lesson…You turned my world upside/Up”), a theme extended into the chiming balladeering melody of There Is A World (“There is a world/That you let me in/That I love being in…All that you taught me/All that you teach me/All that you taught me/All that you teach me/Your world is better than ours”).
The smoky cosmic drifting Aliens with its synthesised strings (“It’s ok/If you need time/If you need space/Life moves on/It’s ok/Travel through time/Travel through space… This old world It wasn’t built for you/Foreign to you/We’re passing through/Like aliens”) heads the album towards its final moments, the electric piano and Latin dance rhythm of There Must Be A Catch sustaining the glass half full positivity (“The good days outnumber the bad/The time for thinking talking about sad times has past … The bricks that hit still sting about but my skin’s sealed with a shield”) and while the cold comes, the fire still burns, the keyboards-backed, strings and echoing backing vocals title track bringing it to a close as a gradually building anthem with the unbreakable bond of parent and child in the simple affirmation “You’ve got me/Blood, bone and skin/You’ve got me/Where the world begins”. Atmospheric and, at times, dreamlike, striking a chord with anyone who shares his experience and hopefully opening the hearts and minds of those who don’t.
Where The World Begins is deeply personal and quite wonderful.
Order via Bandcamp: https://cormaco.bandcamp.com/album/where-the-world-begins-2