ELEANOR MCEVOY
Friday 29th September
8pm (doors 7.45)

Tickets €20.

Eleanor McEvoy returns to Sirius Arts Centre with her new album Naked Music, which was recorded alone in the studio to create an intimate collection of her music at its most raw - one instrument, one voice, performed live.
Best known for her songs Sophie, Harbour, The Secret of Living and of course Only A Woman’s Heart, Eleanor’s new album features exclusive artwork by the famed painter Chris Gollon. Eleanor will be presenting her new show “Naked…Live”.
The seeds for Eleanor and Chris’ artist collaboration were sown after Eleanor bought Chris’ painting ‘Champagne Sheila’ after spotting it in a London gallery. Before leaving, Eleanor left some of her music for Chris and his agent to listen to. Cut to Norwich in February 2015 and Chris Gollon’s national touring exhibition “Incarnation, Mary and Women from the Bible” in the beautiful Norman Cathedral has just opened with the artist in attendance. Eleanor visits the exhibition, lunches with Chris and David and squeezes them both into her sold-out ‘ALONE’ club show at the city’s The Bicycle Shop venue. The outcome: heaps of chat, mutual respect and admiration and a wish to find some way of working together.
As a body of work, Eleanor’s recordings acquired the name ‘Naked Music’, which would give a better focus to the two artists’ desire for mutual expression. Being offered this title, and with some song suggestions, Chris was so taken with the songs he completed four paintings in response - two on the ‘Naked’ theme, and two others related to song titles and lyrics. The first ‘Dreaming of Leaving’ was written by Eleanor and Lloyd Cole. The other ‘Lubbock Woman’, a downtrodden cameo, is a song by West Texan legend Terry Allen. The paintings were such a hit, that all four talked their way into the Naked Music CD artwork.
The images, the CD artwork, sat in pride of place in the Metropolis Studio and exerted some influence on the mastering and final track order. To recognise the Dalai Lama's 80th birthday in July 2015, the Art of Peace Foundation commissioned producer Rupert Hine to produce the album Songs for Tibet II including Eleanor amongst others, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Elbow, Howard Jones and Bob Geldof.
“… once Eleanor McEvoy launched into her fiery set, accompanied by nothing more than her guitar, fiddle and glass-shattering vocal cords, we knew we were in for a fearsome night of music…A lone performer plying a singular trade with considerable élan.” - Siobhan Long, Irish Times

"McEvoy’s voice has a depth of expression born from living the songs rather than just singing them. It’s a genuine privilege to be on the outside looking in.” - Jackie Hayden, Hot Press

“McEvoy has the skills of a first rate songwriter. She gives her songs fully fledged melodies, not just a repeated phrase or two”. New York Times

“McEvoy restricts her lyrics to the simplest of sentiments and marries these universal aphorisms to sturdy hooks that she sings in a lovely voice”. Washington Post .