‘Out of Control’ is a duet between the established and the relatively new. Paddy Casey has a career dating back to the late 1990’s, the highlight being 2003’s ‘Living’ album which is one of the best selling albums of all time in Ireland. He has supported bands as big as U2 and Pearl Jam. Hayden, on the other hand, only came to light via Ireland’s version of The Voice, where she was a finalist in the first series, and it was a surprise she didn’t win, given her consistently high level of performance throughout the series. Since then she has been trying to establish herself as a singer-songwriter. A high profile collaboration like this will hopefully help with that process.
First things first, this is a terrific song and plaudits must go to Casey and Hayden in the very first instance for co-writing such a good song, full of longing and melancholy with no shortage of hook as well in the wistful chorus. It reminds me very much of Damien Rice in his pomp, the fact that it is a duet just brings the comparison of his work with Lisa Hannigan even more to the fore. But the comparison is a double-edged sword, because what the song lacks is some contrast vocally. On paper Casey and Hayden’s vocals would seem like the perfect match, but for me that is the slight problem. Their voices are almost too alike, meaning that when they sing together, it sounds like a double track, but without the smoothness of a genuine double-tracked vocal. For me it makes the production a tad clunky in parts. In the absence of natural variation of vocal tone I would have expected more harmony work.
But let’s not take anything away from what is a quality song, sung and performed well, which should only serve to reinforce Casey’s credentials and establish Hayden’s.
‘Out of Control‘ is available now at iTunes
