Kieran Lancini is an Australian who relocated to the UK in 2006. For "Hail Mary" he has teamed up with a fellow antipodean and when you can call on Nashville based Phil Barton, one of the closing acts of the last Country Music Week, then there is a chance you might come up with something special and indeed he has.
Finding inspiration in the darkest weeks of the Covid crisis Kieran has come up with a song that encapsulates the universal need for some help when things seem insurmountable.
Kieran paints a couple of little vignettes, the first played out over a gently strummed guitar tells the plight of a young mother with seemingly everything stacked against her
"She's waiting tables doing her best - trying to see the light out of this mess
With bills to pay and kids to feed she's down on her knees she's begging "please".
The second story tells the tale of someone receiving a cancer diagnosis
"He's getting new that he don't want to hear - if they don't act now he's got less than a year
Gonna take all they can but he's gonna fight - as he wipes away the tears from his wifes eye"
The answer is a plea, the "Hail Mary" of the title where it is realised that
"Sometimes we all need a miracle - just to make it through it all"
The arrival of the second chorus sees the supporting band appear taking the song in a Coldplayish direction, as it builds to its finale. The band however don't quite have the personnel to reach the big finish they are aiming for but its a pretty good attempt and it does not detract to much from the overall success of the song.
It is Kieran's vocals that are the star of the show here, suitably earnest when describing folk down on their luck and finding the big power vocal required to carry off the "Hail Mary" chorus.
‘Hail Mary’ is available to pre-order and pre-save. Release: Thursday 8th April.