Sarah Irvine has the most soothing, beautiful, ethereal voice. I am reminded of Laura Marling, Sandy Denny, Lisa Hannigan, Aoife O’Donovan. They come to mind in that order. There is a sense of calm, gentility and other-worldliness – combining the earthiness of an autumn evening with the stillness of dusk. It’s an album that makes me want to curl up with a blanket, a good book to just be still and soothed by her voice.
‘Painted Light’ offers ten collaborative tracks, chronicling love, grief and change – in particular the change that comes with motherhood. It is an album that shamelessly and courageously celebrates new motherhood – while acknowledging the challenges and the feminine wisdom passed down the matrilinear line. It’s hardly surprising them to learn that ‘Painted Light’ was conceived in the gaps offered by her daughter’s daytime naps – those brief but energising pauses in domestic chaos which would serve as an invisible collaborator throughout Sarah’s creative process.
Opening with ‘Bright Star’ and we’re in for a treat. Undoubtedly a dedication to her little girl who features on the album cover, and who’s little voice we hear near the end (the ‘little composer’), to ‘Modern Girl’ in the middle – a song that any and every woman juggling parenting with career, domesticity and other family responsibilities can identify with.
‘Painted Light’ sails through a spectrum of emotion – love, grief, loss, joy, reflection. It’s many themes and moods echo the shifting light of day and the seasons – the passage of time, impossible to grasp – just as the light plays tricks with us all.
The album is certainly not contained to the experiences of motherhood – spanning years and continents. Tracks such as ‘Florence’ and ‘Grandmother Dear’ present legacy and hope.
Irvine herself says her intention is to offer ‘connection with other mothers and parents, hoping it serves as a gentle honest mirror, accompanying the listener, as their own process or change discovery blooms to the colourful shades of the wholly, holy and ordinary world.’
Supported by Creative Scotland, this album beautifully captures the tension of creating art within the tight margins of everyday life, during a time when Irvine was composing, writing, arranging and recording while immersed in the overwhelmingly reality of becoming a new mum and full time caregiver. Ironically, that sines through and therein it both truth and beauty.
Collaborating with Dan Abrahams, Moteh Parrott and Graham Young of Camber Studios, she is keen to credit their part in the arrangements and execution of these ten tracks that combined to create a work of art – ‘Painted Light’.