It’s 2022, more than a decade later, and 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.

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.

Feature photo by Fionn Hennessy Hayes