Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Presenting oneself in the raw, the utter abandonment of masks and paraphernalia, is to be open to the elements, other human criticism and witticisms and the looks of derision, yet ultimately it is arguably the most natural and compelling action to undertake. In art, music, poetry, the conquering of metaphorical mountains are always more appreciated when the artist allows the mask to be gently placed down beside them and the truth of their face and emotions to be revealed.

In Eleanor McEvoy’s rich Irish voice that feeling of nakedness, of exposure and stark reality is powerful and abiding, it conjures up images of all that is ancestral and spiritually defended, it is not the anguish of a primal scream in the dark, it is the realisation that to be open does not equate to being defenceless.

Being defenceless is not a state you can accuse Eleanor McEvoy of being, powerful, insightful and musically challenging yes but never defenceless, for in her music, as well as in the latest album Naked Music, comes a strong sense of self, of understanding that has patiently been cultivated and refined, allowed to breathe and make good on the deal between the song-writer and the observer of human nature. Naked Music arguably frames that sense of self without overstating the importance of the picture presented, the huge punch thrown is not obscured by the cover of a leather glove; neither is the soul tarnished by the remains of a gilded frame.

In tracks such as Whisper A Prayer To The Moon, Please Heart You’re Killing Me, Half Out of Habit and Isn’t It A Little Late, Ms. McEvoy presents to the listener songs of deep cultured understanding and timeless grace without the need for the sense of the overblown or smug superior attitude the listener might find in other artists attempting the same appearance but to whom it only finds a fading façade; the naked and the raw in reality a suit of chainmail armour and welded tight against the breastbone and heart.

Ms. McEvoy’s latest offering is passionate and rare, a moment of re-birth perhaps, certainly an album of discerning taste. Naked Music may see Eleanor McEvoy exposed and open but it is one that is achieved with undisguised and unvarnished style.

Ian D. Hall