Paula Ryan announces new album

Paula Ryan announces new album

In her new album Let Me Fly, Paula Ryan, compelling singer/songwriter originally from Tipperary in Southern Ireland, brings us a superb collection of original, powerful and insightful songs, inspired by the lyricism and musical passion of her Irish Gaelic roots & driven by the funky rhythmic influences and unusual instruments of music from other cultures.

This is a solo album in the true sense in that as well as writing all except one of the songs, amazingly Paula has single-handedly crafted all the wonderful arrangements and performs them on a fascinating variety of instruments including Marimba, Bazouki, Guitar, Bodhran, Saxophone, Tin Whistle, Djembe and Darabuka to accompany her lead vocals augmented by glorious harmonies.

Paula draws her inspiration for her songs from a wide variety of sources ranging from the joyful curiosity of the children of Tanzania with whom Paula made music in 2010 captured in the opening track, ‘A Thousand Smiling Faces’, to the bravery of modern day heroes and heroines reflected in the title track of the album – ‘Let Me Fly’ – a tribute to aviator Amy Johnson. Paula strives not to be confined by the boundaries of any particular musical style or genre and seeks to continually expand her musical horizons.

She also accepts no limits in terms of topics which can, and indeed should be tackled by the songwriter, from the sublime to the ridiculous, it’s all just waiting to be put in a song! What is remarkable about this album is that one can find the most gentle sweet love song such as ‘The Funny One’ alongside the stark lament-like ‘Don’t Cry’, the most enthralling story song such as ‘Honest John’ and the most fun loving party song such as ‘Havin’ The Craic!’ – all equally well written, sensitively performed and beautifully arranged.

Just as with many of the greatest songwriters (Springsteen, Mitchell, Dylan, Cohen, Morrison etc….), Paula has the ability to capture real life moments and experiences with imaginative melody and ingenious lyrics, and the character to empathise and to impart her viewpoint in song in a way which strikes a chord with the listener and ‘makes something magical happen’ for audience and singer alike.

Artist’s website: http://paularyan.co