R U A I R I Delivered a Diaphanous Vignette of Mourning in His Indie Art Folk Single, ‘I Hold Your Ghost’ –

Tender is the metaphysical touch of I Hold Your Ghost, the title single from R U A I R I’s recently unveiled debut album. The melancholic indie art folk melodicism lingers like breath on glass, haunting the psyche as the lyrics drift like spectres through the chill of reverb that envelopes the ambiently cinematic progressions. It is poetry transposed into sound, a diaphanous vignette of what it means to mourn with soul, and a statement of intent from one of Dublin’s most lyrically profound new voices in 2025.

What makes I Hold Your Ghost so affecting is not only the lyrical fragility but the way the sonic architecture wraps itself around grief until it becomes strangely beautiful. It is a hymn for anyone who has felt absence turn tangible, for those who find solace in letting sorrow breathe rather than burying it.

Written during the isolation of the 2020 lockdown, the album that carries this single was brought to life in a characteristically unconventional way. After sketching demos in the famed Windmill Lane studios, R U A I R I retreated home to record the final cuts himself, shaping a record that thrives on intimacy. With I Hold Your Ghost, he confirmed his place as an artist capable of turning confinement and loss into timeless resonance.

I Hold Your Ghost is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast