IN 2013, after two and a half years of marriage, Rachel Ries found herself touring a record around the world, accompanied by a stack of divorce papers in a pocket of her suitcase. She had taken a leap into the unknown.
In the six years since, under the stage-name Her Crooked Heart, she has brought her music around the world, and her next stop is Galway, to play the upstairs bar of the Róisín Dubh on Wednesday June 26 at 8pm.
Ries' music has been showered with critical acclaim. No Depression has praised her "clear voice, imbued with, at various turns, strength and fragility"; Exclaim! said the "adventurous and compelling instrumental arrangements of her sweetly poetic material" sets her apart from her peers; while the New Jersey Star-Ledger said her songs have a "dark magic" that is "mesmerising". Maverick compared to her David Bowie and Florence + The Machine.
In May, Ries, a multi-instrumentalist, singer, producer, and choir director, released her new album, To Love To Leave To Live, which is made up of cyclical narratives and intertwining histories. It featured the musicians Siri Undlin, Adelyn Strei, and Hilary James - who will also accompany Ries on her Irish tour - on classical and electric guitar, piano, vintage synths, cello, woodwinds, and drum triggers.
The most recent single from the album is 'Windswept'. "The song is an invitation to come to a stop and gaze out upon the strange/beautiful/peaceful terrain that’s always there," said Ries, "once you slow down and close your eyes long enough to see it."
Tickets are available from www.roisindubh.net; the Ticket Desk at OMG@Zhivago, Shop Street; and The Róisín Dubh.
