Dermot Kennedy - Without Fear Album (2019) Review

It's been a long time since I feel really moved by all songs in one whole album. This album by Dermot Kennedy is one of them.

Dermot Kennedy - Without Fear Album

I've been knowing Dermot since around 2016 when he was performing his own rendition of Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud. It was a great cover. I was thinking that his voice is really good and I believed that this singer will go somewhere. Fast forward 4 years later, here I am writing his debut studio album, Without Fear, that released last year.

1. An Evening I Will Not Forget

This slow-tempo song portrays a guy that is "feeling deep blue". He's in love with one girl. But, the girl that he loved was in other guy's arm. In one evening, this girl came to him with her broken heart. He's trying to make her forget about what happened. He unpreparedly told his feeling to the girl. She ran away. Another one way love, but he still in love with her no matter what.

2. All My Friends

This song is about looking back to the past. This nostalgia feeling is triggered by realizing that sometimes we can't keep someone in our live, regardless how hard we've tried. Dermot reflects how different live would've been if he can be together with someone that used to be with him.

3. Power Over Me

This song shows how powerful Dermot's voice is. Strong drum is one of features in this song that makes you shakes your head. Lyrically, this songs tell how it feels to be in spell of a girl that we love. in a good way. Unfortunately, the girl didn't know that he made a lot of impacts to the guy. The guy wants her to know that she got a power over him.

4. What have I Done

Oh, God! This is beautiful song. One of my favorite song in this album. A song about a thought of a guy that he would better of alone. Now that he has found his soulmate, he is in love this time. My favorite part of this song is the bridge: "Ever since the other night, I've been//Thinking 'bout the way you smile golden//Wanna move inside of your light." This part always got me.

5. Moments Passed

The uniqueness of this song is the loop of Dermot's vocal in the intro and outro. He never say about the lyric of this part. My interpretation of this song is sometimes our love doesn't guarantee the one who we love will love us back. If this happened, instead of drowned in sorrowfulness, it be better to just be grateful that we can feel how great to fall in love is. Move on without resentment.

6. The Corner

You've been in love with a girl. Instead with you, this girl has been lived out her love with another guy. How do you feel if you knew that the only thing that guy gave her is coldness? You know that you can offer her 'the corner' to keep her from the cold, but she's too afraid with it. This song is about that feeling. "Let me keep you from the cold," Dermot said.

7. Lost

As the title suggest, this song is about someone that has been lost. Until one day, someone came to his/her life. Then life made them apart. It's because life is full of uncertainty. We can try to plan something. In the end, the only sure thing is we can learn from it. That can happen with love as well. Sometimes love we deserve is love we never find. Through this song, Dermot tried to reminisce the one that helped him.

8. Rome

This song is musically simple. Piano is the main instrument you can hear. Don't make this simplicity fool you, though. Dermot will take you experience a nostalgic ride of past love with this song. We can feel the happiness of the best time with our loved one. Midnight drive together with Rome below us? A song we always sing together? Do you remember all of that? And then we feel bitterness because now we're not together. You know that you're still in love and wanna be there again.

9. Outnumbered

Have you ever fell in love with someone but distance makes you apart? Then you never have a courage to tell her what you feel. You know that this girl's soul is really unique, made of chaos and art, that you can't forget. You can see the girl's beauty that she can't see. When something when wrong, you only can console her that whenever she feel outnumbered, you'll be out there somewhere. This song successfully describe about that. Musically, this is a relatively instrument-rich song. I believe everyone will like Dermot's rasping voice and the song beat here.

10. Dancing Under Red Skies

This song always give me a surprise feeling, no matter how many times I heard it. The violin at the chorus and the bridge part, added with back vocal, always give me a peaceful feeling. You can agree more with me if you dive into the lyrics. The song is about a lightheartedness when your love is reciprocated. Everything just feels right. Nobody, I repeat, nobody ever got your soul right like she could. She can play your part, even when you're dealing with darknesses.

11. Outgrow

This song is about decision in life. Sometimes you have two options in life and you can't just compromise them to be together: your own dream and your love life. You want to choose the love life but you're too afraid that the one you love will outgrow you and ruin your dream. And then you choose your dream and you realize that this decision let you down. That's life.

12. Redemption

I know I've done a wrong things. I know I've lied before. But they are all in the past. Now that I'm a better person, would you let me to make a redemption to you? Would you let me to never leave you again? That's what Dermot tried to say through this song.

13. Without Fear

This whole album is named after this song. It successfully lives up to my expectation. This song is really quite and slow tempo in the first half, but wait until the second part. The violin will take you somewhere. The lyrics doesn't disappoint either. You can feel how beautiful the lyrics is. It tells about a heart that has been hollowing for a long time. Suddenly you see a girl stepped in. You feel like she's heaven-sent, because she can make your empty heart can feel love again. Dermot wants us to fight for it without fear.

Beautiful lyric, lovely voice, and attractive beat are the main recipe for this album. And it works. I'll never get enough of listening this album. I can tell that Dermot write this album with his whole heart. The way he sing it, I can feel the way he feels. I hope one day I can watch him live.