New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Hot on the heels of her last single 'Sutherland Avenue', Greece's rising alternative-folk star,
Irene Skylakaki is ready to unveil her fourth studio album, Souvenir. The album follows the release of a number of highly successful singles including the aforementioned 'Sutherland Avenue', 'Dreamy', 'Mary Smiles' and the album's namesake, 'Souvenir', all of which have received a fantastic reception from fans and press alike.
With three albums and a number of EP's in her discography, Irene is a seasoned connoisseur when it comes to making music. Her songs are known for their deeply personal and emotionally revealing lyrics, intertwined with experimental and ever-evolving elements, the focus track from Souvenir is no exception. A smooth alt-folk single, 'Thank You. For Good Science', incorporates some subtle rock elements thanks to the gentle electric guitar riffs which give the track a strangely eerie feel, especially when paired with Irene's soothing, soft and exquisitely whisper-like vocals.
The instrumental to 'Thank You. For Good Science' is equally as intriguing as its lyrics. By adhering to the simple, spacious approach to instrumentation which has been a consistent theme in Irene's recent works, the track boasts a unique sonic atmosphere that's minimalistic, otherworldly and really allows for Irene's vocals to shine through as the primary focus. Despite this being Irene's fourth full-length album, the young singer-songwriter views the creation process of 'Thank You. For Good Science' and the Souvenir album to be closer to that of a first album than a fourth, largely due to the freedom and care-free nature she applied to herself and the songwriting throughout.
Here,
Irene Skylakaki explains the road to creating her album, Souvenir: "A few years ago, I met Andres Mesa who was working at the studio of Phil Manzanera as a sound engineer at the time. He was familiar with my music and we started recording songs without a specific plan - sometimes this spontaneity creates a unique creative freedom which was the case in this collaboration. The recordings of the demos took place at Phil Manzanera's Gallery studio which was the most precious experience. Andres's fresh outlook on production was a driving power in the creation of the album.
We had a lot of musicians and friends contributing their talent over the years and the album lacks homogeneity in sound but is connected through a deeper cause: recording individual songs that we are happy with irrespective of their style. During the lockdown, I had to leave London and come back to Athens, so I worked on a few songs remotely with Scottish musician, friend, and producer Iain
Gordon Smith. This was also a different experience and I'm really happy with the outcome. Overall while this is my fourth album, it feels more like my first one, as my involvement in every little detail was much deeper. I believe it's a good music 'photograph' of where I stand at the moment and I'm excited to share it."
Irene Skylakaki's album Souvenir is a dynamic, deeply personal and emotional journey spread across eleven masterfully produced and skillfully written songs. Her haunting, angelic vocals against the backdrop of gentle synths and soft percussive beats create a sound and mood unlike any other. Through her incredibly skilled penmanship and instrumentation choices, Irene cleverly manages to create music that is much like physical art; captivating, three-dimensional and up for interpretation.
Irene Skylakaki is an Athens-based singer/songwriter, who started her career in London, UK.
Her lyrics, autobiographical and oftentimes disarmingly personal, combine with catchy folk-rock melodies, forming songs that allow her to connect with her audience and give back some of the joy and healing that music has brought into her life over the years.
To date, Irene has released three studio albums: Wrong Direction (2012), Before Dawn (2014) and Matterless (2018), which was produced by Danton Supple (Coldplay, U2, Morrissey, Patti Smith, Ed Harcourt) and features musicians such as Richard Jupp (Elbow).
Irene's debut single In the Light reached the top of the Greek iTunes charts and her songs have been featured in TV commercials, as well as film soundtracks. She has performed as a supporting act for artists such as Macy Gray,
Jessie Ware, Beirut, Daughter, Cass McCombs,
Toploader and Archive.
Previous festival performances include the Rockwave, En Lefko Festival, Swanbourne and Release Festival, and in 2012 she was one of the youngest artists ever to perform at the Athens Concert Hall Garden.
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