With a hushed voice and gentle instrumentation, Slow Skies' Realign is an alt-pop record with soft electronic undertones. In her everyday life, Slow Skies is known as Dubliner Karen Sheridan and, while she's spent the last few years grafting away performing at Irish music festivals, Realign feeds off a different energy that finds strength in restraint.
Songs like Fire and Shut Your Eyes are built from the steely determination of someone who refuses to be broken down by love. Intuitive and bravely fragile, Sheridan's style doesn't stray too far from the path that Tipperary singer Gemma Hayes wanders down.
With appearances from I Have a Tribe's Pat O'Leary on piano, Meltybrains' Michael Quinn on drums, Joe Furlong from James Vincent McMorrow's band on bass, Danny Snow from Villagers on double bass, Overhead, The Albatross violinist Lia Wright and cellist Matt Rafter, who occasionally performs with Hozier, Realign is a carefully made and very structured record.
Filled with love and hope, Realign will not only recentre and declutter your thoughts and worries, it's a reminder that new starts start with a deep breath. Breathe in, breathe out, Realign.
