The Breath

23 Feb 2025

Philharmonic Hall

The Breath is Manchester-based guitarist Stuart McCallum and singer/flautist Ríoghnach Connolly. An unlikely pairing, they met on the city’s gig circuit in the late noughties and their connection was immediate. They formed The Breath, a singer-songwriter duo presenting their contemporary take on alt-folk.

For them, it’s all about the song. Connolly is a storyteller and their exquisitely crafted, honest, personal, heartfelt songs are as likely to touch on childhood summers and first love as cultural dislocation, post-colonial injustices and grief. But it’s Ríoghnach’s impassioned delivery and extraordinary stop-you-in-your-tracks voice, coupled with Stuart’s understated brilliance, that is so engaging.

Since 2016, they’ve explored big, textured, kaleidoscopic sound, and acoustic roots too, and now their latest release, Land Of My Other, features gorgeous, acoustic-minded music. Songs that soothe, stir, exalt, and touch emotional chords that will bring tears of joy.