‘Her voice is a superb mix of china cup fragility and steely strength” (The Irish Times, 2010. )
Over a decade later, this contradiction is still true of Pauline Scanlon’s voice. In fact, the pairing of opposites seems a true fit for this West Kerry native. Her voice comes from an ancient place but is always fresh. She is uniquely Irish yet universally understood, apparently traditional yet subversive at every turn. Perhaps now, it is the steely strength that comes to the fore in both her activism and her determination to constantly evolve as an artist.
While the word fragile may once have been used to describe her voice, fragile is something Scanlon herself is not. She is a stalwart of the Irish creative music scene, a singer’s singer, a fearless artist who has brought with her all of her experiences and collaborations along the road to her current destination, The Unquiet.
Her new album, The Unquiet, released March 2022, is a piece of art possessed of an old soul, but thoroughly modern and of its time. It is an album that will shift expectations and stand undefined by genre.
Pauline will play An Taibhdhearc this Friday January 6 at 8pm.
Get your tickets at www.eventbrite.ie
