Talented singer’s debut offers window into formative years

Maria Kelly’s music is defined by its sincerity; ever since she first announced herself on the Irish alt-folk scene in 2016 with the release of two beguiling singles – Black & Blue and Stitches.  And in the eight singles and two EPs that preceded her latest project, the Westport-born singer-songwriter held nothing back lyrically.

Her work has discussed personal trauma and mental health struggles with a maturity and poise that very few artists ever achieve and the delicate, finely crafted songs that make up her early catalogue have afforded her a powerful foundation.

That said, Maria’s soon-to-be-released, debut, full-length LP sees her reach a new level.

The Sum of the In-Between is out this Friday, October 15, and it marks the completion of two years’ writing and recording. It is as personal and melodic as ever, but the quality of production and song writing on the record is unquestionable and makes it a good early shout for a Choice Prize nomination.

An album that deals largely with acceptance, both of oneself and of the environment around us, this body of work feels more hopeful and uplifting than some of Maria’s more melancholic material of the past.

“It feels like a separate thing,” she says of the LP. “I feel like I kind of bookmarked my EPs at some stage. I think I started writing this just as I left college so it’s kind of a culmination of the last three years. It definitely feels like a step up for me – I feel much older in this part of my life and the things I’m writing about are quite different.

“I don’t think it’s specifically about Covid. That time period definitely gave me space to think of an in-between time which is partly where the title came out of.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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