Maria Kelly ft. Ailbhe Reddy - 'Threads'
Maria Kelly teams up with Ailbhe Reddy for achingly beautiful single, 'Threads'.
In their solo careers, Maria Kelly and Ailbhe Reddy are both incredible singer-songwriters who inject unabashed honesty into their storytelling. Both artists draw on their raw, personal experiences of love, lust and heartbreak with a conviction that leaves their listeners greedily wanting more.
While both artists sit comfortably on the indie folk spectrum, their sounds are notably different. Kelly takes on the many qualities of ice in her music; she brings a shivering chill to her songs, the longing, lonely,melting, ache in her vocal, her words, her delicate arrangements. Bleak, beautiful.
Reddy is fire, this huge blast of confidence. Her words and vocal delivery burn with a bluntness and a roaring strength. There's often a jovial refusal to let anything get her down in her music, even when confronting heartbreaking unwanted feelings, or healing from hurt and confronting past mistakes in her lyrics. Reddy is unstoppable.
'Threads' sees Reddy tame some of her wilder inclinations and stand besides Kelly's vocal in a more vulnerable, ethereal, controlled setting. Their differing vocal tones compliment each other perfectly, soaring out from a nostalgia-drenched sample on the intro/ outro and the flawless, cinematic arrangements in between.
'Threads' throws its listener into a startling sea of emotion, and as each slow-rolling, yet constant wave of exquisite melancholy washes over its listener, it hurts. It's almost too much to bear. But in the most beautiful, extraordinary, breathtaking of ways.
These women are exceptional.
Words of
Karla Harris