Pauline Scanlon

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"Her voice is a superb mix of china cup fragility and steely resilience" The Irish Times.

Though only 27 years old, this vocalist and songwriter galvanized the Irish music scene with her stunning album, Red Colour Sun (recorded with Donogh Hennessy and Producer John Reynolds). Deeply immersed in the tradition yet completely aware of the edgier developments in contemporary alternative music, Scanlon is capable of making the oldest ballads sound immediate and fresh while granting newer material a timeless resonance. She was nominated in the best Folk/Trad category in the 2004 Meteor Awards. As featured vocalist with the Sharon Shannon Band for three years, and as a solo artist, Scanlon has entranced audiences the world over with her distinctly delicate intensity. Pauline Scanlon brings her unmistakable breathy and intimate vocal style to her second Compass release, Hush. Produced by former Lunasa guitarist, Donogh Hennesy, and recorded at the Compass Sound Stage in Nashville, Hush is an album immersed in Irish tradition, but exquisitely melds folk and bluegrass to create an effortless blend. With Hush, Scanlon, once vocalist for the Sharon Shannon band, the Woodchoppers, exemplifies her worldly knowledge of different musical styles and showcases her ability and willingness to cross traditional boundaries. Scanlon is backed up on Hush by a remarkable core band whose backgrounds range from country to bluegrass to jazz and includes the legendary Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Danny Thompson on bass, jazz pianist John R. Burr, and session wizard Kenny Malone on drums. As a session singer and backing vocalist, Pauline has been performing with a wide range of artists ifrom singer songwriters John Spillane and Damien Dempsey to Cape Breton Fiddlers Roseanne MacKenzie and Howie MacDonald. In 2009 Scanlon along with fellow West Kerry chanteuse Éilís Kenndy formed the vocal duo Lumiere and subsequently got signed to SONY records in Ireland. They released their self-titled debut album in September of that year to widespread critical acclaim. Together, they offer a distinctly feminine sound and feel, where voice is the primary instrument and Ireland as motherland is re-imagined. With Lumiere, the song and its delivery are the primary focus, technical concerns gives way to feeling as song and singer effortlessly merge. Pauline Scanlon is part of a tradition of Irish female voices, all personal interpreters of their physical and spiritual landscape, she has three critically received albums to her credit as well as extensive touring experience all over the globe.