Imelda May

“Twas 11 past the hour/darkness in the air/lay down on wildflowers/the moonlight didn’t care/give me your heart/I’ll hold it with mine/so you can feel free my love/free for a while” With a tale-telling flourish, against a musical backdrop recalling the romance noir of a lost David Lynch soundtrack, her voice seeming to reach down into your very heart, Imelda May opens her new album with characteristic poetic vividness. This is 11 Past The Hour, the title track to the Dublin-born singer, songwriter, poet and producer’s sixth record. It’s the curtain-raising sound of an artist diving deep into her true self, her Irish roots, her love of storytelling. It’s a woman singing from her soul like her life, and that of her lover, depended on it. “Dance with me darlin’/dance with me darlin’/forget the world/I’ll hold you in my arms as we twirl around.” In the wake of a year when everyone has been isolated and atomised, such sentiments of intense connectivity feel nuclear-powered. Here, then, comes the music of Imelda May to pull us out, embrace us, save us.