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Hush is Irish singer Pauline Scanlon’s second album. Red Colour Sun coming out in 2004. Scanlon has an airy, breathy soprano voice that floats like mist alone a shoreline. This compilation of songs selected by Scanlon range from Irish folk songs (“The Flower of Magherally O”) to an immigrant song (“The Green Fields of Canada”) to an American Appalachian song (“Rain and Snow.”) Scanlon has gathered a first-rate group of accompanying musicians including Donogh Hennessy who played guitar with Lu'nasa (Lu'nasa: The Kinnitty Sessions 2004).

Scanlon’s voice virtually whispers to the listener on track two, “The Lambs on the Green Hills.” She is telling a story and you want to hear it through to the end. The highlight of the CD is track three, “The Demon Lover,” a duet with Darrell Scott, about two lovers who steal away to die at sea. Hennessy’s vocal phrasing and instrumentals with Scanlon’s poignant delivery bring pathos to the lover’s plight.

The double bass and guitar accompaniment on “Farewell My Love, Remember Me” are especially well done, and the rhythmic music of “Little Brother of My Heart,” about a brother lost during a war, plus vocals tell moving stories. Lyrics come through clear and incisive.

“Rain and Snow” is an American song about a woman telling of the bad treatment she receives from her husband, “see him sitting in the shade counting every dime I made now I’m broke and so hungry too”  In the song “The Boys of Barr Na Stra’ide”, the singer longs for the days when the village boys “hunted for the wren” and the storyteller is left to “ sing their deeds”

Pauline Scanlon has a unique voice that doesn’t boom out and overwhelm the listener, instead, she asks the listener to hear a story, one on one, and that is inviting, indeed.

Copyright 2006 Marie Asner
Submitted 8/9/06