Songs We Love: Aoife O'Donovan, 'Magic Hour'

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Aoife O'Donovan's new album, In The Magic Hour, is on its way Jan. 22, 2016. Joanna Chattman/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Joanna Chattman/Courtesy of the artist

Aoife O'Donovan's new album, In The Magic Hour, is on its way Jan. 22, 2016.

Joanna Chattman/Courtesy of the artist

With a bit of grit threading through her unforgettable voice, Aoife O'Donovan and her new song "Magic Hour" have begun a compelling conversation about choices and consequences.

The magic hour is that moment of the day when everything seems possible and life pretends to be a tiny bit easier than it actually is. For some, it might be early mornings, when the day stretches ahead, fresh and new; for others, it's that golden hour right before sunset, when all of a day's hard edges are just a bit blurred. Maybe, though, the magic hour is something more substantial than just a moment or two of a day — maybe it's the event that changes a life, guiding it from one path onto another. Quite possibly, it's the choice you made that shaped the course of your existence in a way you never imagined.

As O'Donovan's forceful, piano-driven folk-rock song reminds us, every choice we make has a unique set of consequences. If we're lucky, there's someone or something that might hold a hand out to us, offering to share the burden of repercussion; but there are times, we've got to bear the weight on our own. Coming to terms and accepting that responsibility – maybe that, O'Donovan seems to say, is the real magic hour.

In The Magic Hour is out in January 2016 on Yep Roc.