The Unquiet by Pauline Scanlon
All my life as a singer, I have been drawn to old songs. In them I find solidarity with the ghosts of people I have never met and yet share fragments of feelings with. Somewhere in the empathy that is shared between singer, listener, and ghostly forms, I find strands of myself that didn’t originate in my own heart but have found their way in there all the same. They belong to someone or somewhere else, yet I feel them as deeply as if they were mine.
With this album I seek to represent the realities of modern-era women through traditional song. I am intentionally redirecting these songs away from the traditional narrative, turning them to face the modern era, to reflect a new social outlook, and I am imagining the present as I sing them.
’The Unquiet' is based on the life of my late mother, Eileen Scanlon, and her contemporaries in Irish society. I include myself in this. The songs are not literal in that they do not reflect specific events in my mother’s life. They do, however, have a resonance and a purpose in reflecting her lived experience and that of modern-era women in Ireland, through my perspective.
I made the album for my daughter, Kitty, that she may know her grandmother, what she was like, the bright, loving, funny and powerful force of nature that she was, so she will always know what her grandmother and many other Irish women lived through.
I dedicate these songs to my sisters in arms, to those who suffer and protest, working tirelessly to make Ireland a country that I hope my daughter can enjoy; an equal place, kind, inclusive, free of shame, and liberated from all institutions and instruments of oppression.
Tracklist
| 1. | Sambó Éara | 3:40 |
| 2. | The Well Below The Valley-0 | 5:38 |
| 3. | As I Roved Out | 5:12 |
| 4. | The Two Magicians | 4:43 |
| 5. | Lady Leroy | 5:12 |
| 6. | Cé a Chuirfidh Tú Liom | 3:20 |
| 7. | Felton Lonnin | 4:30 |
| 8. | The Bird In The Bush | 3:33 |
| 9. | The Unquiet Grave | 6:36 |
| 10. | Oró Sé do Bheatha Bhaile | 2:01 |
Credits
Produced by John Reynolds
Recorded by John Reynolds at New Air Studios
Mixed by John Reynolds and Tim Oliver
Mastered by John Reynolds
Additional recording track 3 by Seanóg Graham
Additional recording track 4 by Donogh Hennessy
Additional recording track 9 by Aidan O’Rourke
Cover Design, Illustration & Layout: Sarah Moloney
www.paulinescanlon.net
Sambó Éara - Pauline Scanlon - lead vocals / Nicola Joyce - harmony vocals / Graham Kearns - electric guitar / Chris Pemberton - keyboards & synths / John Reynolds - drums / Clare Kenny - bass
Trad Arr: Scanlon/Reynolds/Kearns
The Well Below The Valley-O featuring Barry Kerr - Pauline Scanlon - lead vocals / Barry Kerr - lead vocals, acoustic guitar, flute & pipes / Graham Kearns - electric guitar & bass / Chris Pemberton - keyboards & synths / John Reynolds - drums
Trad Arr: Scanlon/Reynolds/Kerr
As I Roved Out featuring Loinnir McAliskey - Pauline Scanlon - lead vocals / Loinnir McAliskey - lead vocals / Nicola Joyce - harmony vocals / Graham Kearns - electric guitar & bass / Chris Pemberton - keyboards & synths / John Reynolds - drums
Trad Arr: Scanlon/Reynolds/McAliskey
The Two Magicians - Pauline Scanlon - lead vocals / Nicola Joyce - harmony vocals / Graham Kearns - electric guitar & bass / Chris Pemberton - keyboards & synths / John Reynolds - drums
Trad Arr: Scanlon / Reynolds / Kearns
Lady Leroy - Pauline Scanlon - lead vocals / Nicola Joyce - harmony vocals / Graham Kearns - electric guitar / Chris Pemberton - keyboards & synths / John Reynolds - drums / Clare Kenny - bass
Trad Arr: Scanlon/Reynolds/Kearns
Cé A Chuirfidh Tú Liom? Featuring Bernie Pháid - Pauline Scanlon - lead vocals / Bernie Pháid - lead vocals / Graham Kearns - electric guitar & bass / Chris Pemberton - keyboards & synths / John Reynolds - drums
Trad Arr: Scanlon/Reynolds Ní Mhuircheartaigh
Felton Lonnin - Pauline Scanlon - lead vocals / Nicola Joyce - harmony vocals / Graham Kearns - electric guitar & bass / Chris Pemberton - keyboards & synths / John Reynolds - drums
Trad Arr: Scanlon/Reynolds/Kearns
The Bird In The Bush - Pauline Scanlon - lead vocals / Nicola Joyce - harmony vocals / Graham Kearns - electric guitar / Chris Pemberton - keyboards & synths / John Reynolds - drums / Clare Kenny – bass
Trad Arr: Scanlon/Reynolds/Kearns
The Unquiet Grave featuring Damien Dempsey - Pauline Scanlon - lead vocals / Damien Dempsey lead vocals / Graham Kearns - electric guitar / Chris Pemberton - keyboards & synths / Aidan O’ Rourke - fiddle
Trad Arr: Scanlon/Reynolds/Dempsey
Óró Sé Do Bheatha Bhaile - Pauline Scanlon - lead vocals / Nicola Joyce - harmony vocals / Graham Kearns - electric Guitar & bass / Chris Pemberton - keyboards & synths / John Reynolds – drums
Trad Arr: Scanlon/Reynolds/Kearns
