Les SalAmandas Honour Forgiveness and Comfort on Debut Single “Now Is The Time”

Photo by Jason Lee

By Hannah Quearney

Ruminations play a game of divide and conquer. While it’s often irrational to pore over a future that doesn’t exist yet, that unforgiving pull is often irresistible and we simply cannot help it. I’m not going to tell you to not think bad thoughts or to drink water or something; the future is boundless, something far too difficult to conceptualise, and that is both liberating and fucking terrifying.

It’s inescapable, but what for?

At what cost?

I’m not too sure how you feel, but I think Les SalAmandas have the solution.

Emerging from the cultural hotbed of West Cork, Ballydehob native Julie O’Sullivan and French musician Colyne Laverriere’s debut single “Now Is The Time” provides us with several home truths that probe at our inability to forgive ourselves.

Commenting on this sentiment, O’Sullivan notes that, “The world throws some horrible things at us from time to time. Life can be hard and unfair, but it can also be beautiful. To see the beauty, you have to forgive the world. And to forgive the world you have to forgive yourself.”

Laverriere adds, “I think the message we tried to share through the lyrics is that we never know what will happen in the future and we should enjoy life as much as we can, seize the moment, no matter what happened in the past, and make the most out of it.”

Its nectared refrain—“Now is the time for forgetting / Now is the time for regrets / Now is the time to forgive them / Now is the time to progress”—is frank and honest, which is immediately softened by the gentlest of acoustic instrumentals. It floats and lulls under the buoyancy of O’Sullivan and Laverriere’s endearing vocals. As their first single tucks you in and sings you to sleep, the pair are currently recording their debut album with award-winning producer Daniel Ledwell.

Listen to “Now Is The Time” below.