Megan O’Neill Releases New Album, ‘Getting Comfortable With Uncertainty’ 

Almost a year to the day after Megan released ‘Devil You Know’, a single I described as a game changer for her, I have been looking forward to the release of her second full length album. Since then, she has released many of the tracks featured on the new album, all to critical acclaim.

With each release my anticipation has grown; ‘Ireland’ is an incredible love letter to her home and if you ever get the chance to see Megan sing it live, is a real goosebumps moment on the record. ‘Fire With Fire’, a song written with fellow Irish singer songwriter Orla Gartland, is a gutsy song about the unfortunate hostility that can come from other women in the music industry with a message that it doesn’t have to be that way and a brilliant video featuring many women from the music industry sending this important message. It’s also brilliant to see ‘Underrated’, a song she wrote with long time friends and collaborators The Dunwells eight years ago, get an album release, it’s always a memorable moment from her live sets.

Over the last year, Megan has also released two stunning covers, one of which gets a deserved bonus slot on the new album. Christmas saw the release of her version of ‘Fairytale of New York’, a stunning and beautifully original take on a really well known and loved song that brought a whole new level of sensitivity to a song which normally feels like bawdy banter. ‘Time in a Bottle’ , another wonderfully conceived version of a loved classic gets a beautiful rendition. Jim Croce’s haunting love song is stripped back and Megan’s voice against a piano backdrop is mesmerising. It’s been the perfect preface to the new album in so far that it has had enormous success in Ireland and has been used as the theme  to Netflix original series ‘Firefly Lane’. It really could not be a better appetiser to the main course that is this super new album. The former isn’t on the album but the latter makes an appearance.

“This album was much more personal for me than any of my previous releases. I suppose I’m that bit older (and none the wiser!) – I feel that the more I learn about life the less I actually know about anything. That is where the title came from (Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty). I’ve had a lot of change in my life in the past two years and I’ve felt pretty battered by the whole process to be honest. But I do believe that all those tough times bring about growth – in a way that contentment and comfort never will. So I’m learning to just get comfortable with the uncertainty of life – it’s always going to change.”

With 12 original songs and the brilliant ‘Time in a Bottle’ cover, this new album represents Megan’s first new album since her brilliant 2018 debut and for me shows a huge development as an artist. It feels assured, confident and the album that I had hoped she was capable of. Recorded with her friends, mentors and collaborators The Dunwells she says:

“Writing and recording these songs was so cathartic. Joe and Dave were amazing and really pushed me outside my comfort zone when we were in the studio. We threw around ideas and they were always up for trying anything and everything, which really allowed me the creative freedom to explore. I couldn’t have made this record with anyone else.”

Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty’  brings a harmonic blend of modern pop, a little alt rock and some Americana. It comfortably straddles these genres without planting its creative foot in any particular place. The Dunwells provide excellent backing vocals throughout and allow Megan’s wonderful voice to take centre stage. I really can’t wait to see it played live. The story telling is apparent throughout the album and means that this is a record that just gets better and better the more you listen to it. I implore you to listen.