Acts of Light

Acts of Light is the fourth solo studio album by Irish singer Hilary Woods, released on 3 November 2023 through Sacred Bones Records. Woods worked on the album for two years, writing, producing and mixing it herself. It received positive reviews from critics.

Background
Woods wrote, recorded, produced and mixed the album herself over a period of two years, which marks a shift from her previous work into drone-based compositions. It also contains field recordings made in Spain and Ireland, contributions from the Galway City Chamber Choir and Palestrina Choir, and strings by Norwegian musician Jo Berger Myhre.

Critical reception
Acts of Light received a score of 77 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on five critics' reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reception. Marcy Donelson of AllMusic called it "compellingly constructed minimalist music", "gloomy yet suspenseful" and "definitely music for dourer days, although there's also an alluring elegance in play that can make it feel more mysterious than dispiriting". The Wire felt that "listened in sequence, the nine cuts are like chapters of a hike through a black pine forest, where the air is sharp and time stands still. A sense of foreboding makes way for desolation, ultimately unearthing liminal pockets of awe".

Kate Crudgington of The Line of Best Fit described the tracks as "nine shadowy fugues that flicker and fascinate the senses, gripping listeners with her instinctive, ominous sounds" but concluded that it is still "a hopeful record, rooted in intense feeling, nostalgia and desire to connect the past with the present". Clash's Nick Roseblade found it to be "an album to play when the curtains are pulled, and the rain is lashing at the windows. It's an album to get lost in and to find the pockets of light that punctuate the sublime melodies and dank instrumentation. It feels like Hilary is just getting started and we're not out of the woods yet". Uncut stated that "it all seems to emerge from some vast, long-abandoned cistern, though the astonishing degree of detail contained in 'Awakening' and 'Vigil' rewards listeners willing to be fully immersed".