Irish singer-songwriter Radie Peat has a voice that can captivate a room around the smallest of sounds. You may already know some of her music from the band Lankum, but Radie has now branched out into a solo project. Fusing the essence of folk music with some haunting sound design, her debut single ‘Still I Love Him’ is a practice of less is more. Radie’s voice has a traditional Irish twang and a deep poetic resonance that cuts through the acoustic guitar and electric guitar reverb like a knife through tension. The track has an unusual backing vocal arrangement that switches additional vocal “aahs” on and off like kill-switch synths. It sounds synthetic, and therefore slightly eerie, especially when it’s the loudest part of a desolate production.
Radie Peat’s voice is a contralto voice. That means her vocal range is the lowest a female can go. Chrissie Hynde would be perhaps the most well-known contemporary artist with the same range. Hearing a contralto voice in a folk context is fascinating because my mind immediately connects it to wisdom, and to Mother Nature herself. I often describe vocalists as sirens, but this is more like a deep internal yearning and comfort.
As this is the debut single, I’m not sure when an EP or LP may follow. If you’d like more updates about future Radie Peat releases and live performance, you can sign up to Radie Peat’s mailing list. If you are looking for some alternative Irish folk music that is often a bit wild and cinematic, Radie’s band Lankum has some superb albums.
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