Single Review: Ailbhe Reddy - 'Nothing To Doubt'
Ailbhe Reddy returns with her stunning new single ‘Nothing to Doubt'.
Over the past year or so Ailbhe Reddy has become one of my most fondly spoken about singer-songwriters. Despite her deeply personal and thoughtfully crafted lyrics, she is also an enigma. To the "sounds like" and "for fans of" bloggers, she is a nightmare. To me, she is perfect.
Whether deliberately or not, Reddy is making music that refuses to be pigeon-holed. When you hear her voice, you instantly know it is her, there's no immediate comparison (or eventual comparison, trust me, I've tried!). When you listen to her songs, you don't get distracted by familiar melodies and start singing the lyrics to another song, then end up getting annoyed because you can't remember who sung the song you're now singing! It's all her.
Produced by Willie Weeks, 'Nothing To Doubt' is another achingly beautiful song built out of bittersweet reflection. Reddy's indie folk roots are still present, and I hope they always will be. But there's a new electronic presence which adds a hazy, hypnotic feel to the track which provides a beautiful nostalgia, without becoming too dreamy that the listener feel less present. The cinematic touches to the song add an overwhelming tenderness, and I love the way Reddy brings a sophistication to her music without feeling dated.
The conversational aspect of her songs are very personal and her vulnerability makes her brave. Reddy lets her listener into her love life and there's no ambiguous, "I am hurt and I miss you ,but I'm going to be generic and not give away any parts of myself because I don't want to grow as a person and just want to wallow for 3 minutes" kind of vibe that a lot of songs come with. Reddy owns her stories, grows with her stories, delivers them with maturity, and the appeal to her songs extend much further than her ability to create wholly affecting tunes. Beyond the way she wears sombre so beautifully, and on occasion, jovially.
'Nothing To Doubt' fill the spaces of past silences and in that respect, it is a rallying cry to those of us who live inside of our own heads and often fail to communicate effectively, especially in romatic relationships. Reddy knows we can often be our own worst enemies, and also, that hindsight is rarely ever on our side. Just like a good book you don't want to finish reading, there's always a sense of longing for more when an Ailbhe Reddy song ends. But hey, that's what the repeat button is for...
Words of Karla Harris