The New York singer, songwriter, and producer Sean Kennedy's fifth LP, he places that first line toward the beginning of "Eighteen," a song on his new album, "The Person in the Mirror," recently released, as if flipping through old photographs: Each verse is a faded memory suddenly swifter and brighter than Kennedy ever managed to appreciate. Kennedy warmly welcomes his listeners with a personal reflection on time, change, and the bittersweet process of aging.
"Eighteen" is the emotional keystone of the album. With a sound that's dramatic and close, Kennedy sustains the invitation in so many of these songs to sit around with you for a while, telling his stories quietly enough that the listener must lean in. His voice is soft and emotional, yet remains clear without becoming muddled. Lyrics stick in your head long after the song has ended, appealing to anyone who's ever reflected on who they used to be and marveled over where they are.
The production shimmers in Kennedy's signature style, subdued, melodious, and full of discreet depth. There is a sad beauty to how he bridges it all through murky melancholy and warmth, setting the listener in the snug comfort of shared experience. The underground hooks and cinematic layers of the track may make it a quietly anthemic, not in loudness, necessarily, but in its emotional impact.
"Eighteen" finds Sean Kennedy at it again, somehow turning egoism into art. It's a meditation on identity, memory, and acceptance. As the curtains open on "The Person in the Mirror", this opening chapter serves as a prelude to an album that is at once profoundly human and timelessly honest. It is that of an artist genuinely looking within.
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