November Medicine is the record that pulled Nealo out of the basement. It was hard won, dragged out of himself during a particularly difficult period in his life. While his debut album was a celebration of learning to love and contribute to the neglected city he was born into, his sophomore LP taught him how to love himself, how to celebrate himself. Across nine songs and four voice notes, Nealo lays everything out. With a voice that’s smoked a million cigarettes and screamed through a hundred hardcore shows he offers up himself, the end of his ten year relationship, his depression and his determination to heal. His honesty is severe and his tone is warm.
Collaboration is at the heart of this record, and feels like a guiding philosophy for the Nealo project. We hear his spirit repair as friends lend a voice, a word and a shoulder. Morgana enters first in ‘Forest’, counting steps to get through the winter. Jehnova’s bars on ‘Tears You Cry’ sound like a soothing friend, tired from picking up the pieces but ever reliable “Everything connected on a level based on frequency”. Rebel Phoenix’s raw and reassuring tones promise new seasons beginning until a burst of joy in the form of ‘Cereal’, the song which wears itself the lightest, feels as though the gang is back together, “looking for a miracle”.
November Medicine, which begins in the basement, ends in the urban expanse of Blanch. Only Human, the final track, is the weather vane on the top of the highest house in the suburbs. It promises love in all forms; for oneself, for family, for the graves and for the children. This is more than a record, it is a reckoning with what it means to be a father, a son, a friend, an ex husband and a good person. What is always there, beneath the shouts and intricate wordplay is a desire to rebuild, to grow further towards the sun. There seems to be a promise; that Nealo will continue to take his November Medicine.
Progressive and filled with heart, November Medicine is unlike any other.
Nealo is a rapper cut from a different cloth.The former hardcore punk frontman quit his job as a trainee solicitor to spend his days walking dogs in Europe’s biggest urban park and writing lyrics that would, before long, set him on the path to becoming one of Ireland’s biggest hip-hop artists.Emigration, break-ups, drug and alcohol use, the loss of friends and the death of loved ones have all been an integral part of Ireland, and of the wider world, for generations. In Nealo’s hands, they are not just lyrical themes, but also catalysts on his path to becoming the man, and the artist, that he is today.
“I was born on the first day of spring. From an early age I knew that I felt things deeply. I took losses harder than others, and carried them with me. I thought about losing people from very young. I didn’t have a morbid fascination or anything, but more so a hyper emotional reaction to everything around me. The music I listened to was always a little sadder, or a little angrier. I always carried a little too much emotion into every relationship, for better and worse,” says Nealo.
