New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Sharon Corr is ready to surprise us, with an album quite unlike what we expected. The dark horse but in many ways a huge driving force of The
Corrs - the violinist, pianist, vocalist and frequently the writer - Sharon kept her profile low….a svelte, soignée mystery.
During the Dundalk band's 15-year career, their mellifluous, galvanic blend of Celtic rock-pop saw them sell a staggering 45 million albums. They toured arenas and stadia across the globe, unleashed a string of hugely successful singles - What Can I Do?, Runaway, So Young, Radio, Breathless - and were universally adored, not least for the girls' siren-like beauty.
By 2005, the
Corrs had moved away from pop and returned to their roots; final album Home covered traditional Irish songs, taken from their mother's songbook. In 2009, now married and with two children, Sharon, not able to stay away from her passion, was already writing and recording her first solo album
Dream of You. As a harmoniser, could Sharon write solely for herself? 'With The Corrs, I was always aware that I wasn't writing a song for my own voice, and I had to discover how to do that. It took
Dream of You to find my own sound.' Her first single It's Not a Dream, released in 2010, was immediately A-listed on BBC
Radio 2. The album also featured a hauntingly beautiful collaboration with the legendary
Jeff Beck on Mna na hEireann.
Truly driven, Sharon took her courage in both hands and toured the album alone from 2011 to 2013, playing Europe, Australia, Asia and both North and South America. And something astonishing happened; she felt her true identity as an artist and performer emerge and blossom centre stage "To really inhabit front of stage took a bit of time,' she's said. 'My first gig as a solo artist was the Isle of Wight festival.
Total palpitations. But once I was up there… I came alive. I felt totally and utterly myself.'
'When The
Corrs stopped, I knew I had so much more to do. I never wanted to stop singing, writing and performing, and achieving more as a musician. I was eager to pursue my own journey to find out what I would become musically on my own, because it's a very different journey on your own - especially taking centre stage. But I love it up there. It's like magic.'
Making plans for the new album, and with her newly discovered identity, Sharon wanted to test herself more, to take the vulnerability further. Having penned songs alone in the past, she brought in select co-writers, pushing her to open up brand new angles. Recorded in Los Angeles, The Same Sun is produced by the legendary Mitchell Froom (Crowded House,
Pearl Jam, Sheryl Crow) and the stripped-back, clean, organic sound takes much of its influence from late 60s-early 70s Laurel Canyon, and singer/songwriters like
Joni Mitchell and Carole King. Solo, there's an immediacy, an honesty and emotional vulnerability to the lyrics that is uniquely Sharon.
Swoonsome opener Raindrops adds Bacharach-style arrangements to a bittersweet
Neil Sedaka sentiment and winsome accordion, a certain sadness on a rain-washed street. First single Take A Minute, co-written with Froom, could be
Karen Carpenter, even
Dusty Springfield - Sharon sings of regret about leaving, and a promise to return. It could be a song to a lover; in fact, it's dedicated to her husband and children, whom she hates to leave on tour. 'When I go, I'll be back before you notice…' As she says, 'It can be the tiniest moment but when you're leaving, ah, you want to stretch that moment - make it the longest minute ever.'
We Could Be Lovers is an immense track, understated American indie perfection co-written with Don Mescal, Sharon eloquent as
Aimee Mann on a song that examines that heady draw of unfaithfulness. Observes Sharon, 'It's as easy for a woman as for a man. I'm fascinated by that awful goddamn pull.' The title track, one of Sharon's favourites on the record, was inspired by her visit to Tanzania with the charity Oxfam (for whom she is patron) 'it was probably one of the most profound experiences of my life, from a point of both joy and sorrow'.
Dark and grazed - stripped back to just Sharon on vocal, violin and piano - Edge of Nowhere reveals the subtle depths of loneliness an artist on the road experiences - knowing this is the right thing, it's what you must do, what you need to do......but is it? Commenting on this, she shakes her head. 'Where is home? Is it inside you, or is it a physical place? As a musician, sometimes you feel so much on the outside looking in and if so…then my home is on the outside.'
In contrast, Full Circle, driven by an addictive drumbeat, ringing guitar and Froom's piano, is an explosion of joy in the fulfilment of what she's doing: 'You've come full circle / Look at you now / Come full circle, done it somehow and you're living for the moment, living for the moment right now…'. The Runaround is a rueful, sunny-sounding satire on the rise and painful fall of the Celtic Tiger, while You Say is an indictment of someone - you know the kind - with a huge ego and no self-esteem who always needs you to pick up the pieces when they crash and burn - yet again! Tender, frustrated, delicate, Sharon's vocal is edgy and acute as Alanis Morissette.
Christmas Night is a deft and tender piano lullaby to missing - people, loves. It's a suitable closer to a collection mixing jubilation, playfulness and very poignant introspection. 'I believe in dreams and following them, and going for the impossible,'
Sharon Corr once said. And if you try, even the impossible becomes real.
