Song of Co-Aklan

Released2021

Recorded2019

StudioLondon

Song of Co-Aklan
Studio album by Cathal Coughlan
Released	2021
Recorded	2019
Studio	London
Cathal Coughlan chronology
Rancho Tetrahedron (2010) Song of Co-Aklan (2021)

Song of Co-Aklan is the sixth and final solo album by the Irish singer / songwriter Cathal Coughlan. It was recorded in London just before the COVID-19 pandemic ^[1] and released in 2021.

Coughlan started writing the album in 2016, and the song 'The Lobster's Dream, had originally had been written for a W.B. Yeats commemoration show at the National Concert Hall, Dublin in 2015. In a detailed, open and comprehensive interview with John Robb^[2], Coughlan discusses how he writes songs, saying that that when songwriting he is led by the music, and the words, except maybe a title, come later. He refers to a "Co-Aklan re-brand", "rampant untruths", and that the album has a theme of identity and identities, and he refers to his own identity as a 'stateless person' and his relationship with Ireland. When concluding about his lyrics he says ''they wouldn't be songs if I knew exactly what they're about'. He shares that his longterm veganism influenced some of the songs about animals. And finally in the interview, Coughlan revealed to Robb that he'd left a few songs off 'Song of Co-Aklan' that he might put onto an EP in the future.

The album received good reviews on its release^[3] and is considered the peak of his solo career. ^[4] Some reviewers have written about the concept of the album and that the lyrics had been written from the point of view of Coughlan's alter-ego Co Aklan.^[5] According to critic Neil Hodge's review he describes this as how the listener is drawn in "from the opening bars of the albums title track....into the world of Co Aklan [with] perfectly obtuse lyrics with a deeper meaning, alongside Coughlan’s welcoming dynamic vocal."^[5]