Eleanor McEvoy: If You Leave

Eleanor McEvoy appears to have done it all. Since first becoming a household name in Ireland over two decades ago, the Wexford-based, Dublin-born singer has journeyed from classical to folk, detouring via rock and pop. She’s equally comfortable as a jazz chanteuse, an acoustic troubadour and a singer-songwriter, whether solo or fronting a band.

Here she settles for mature pop stylist. If You Leave, her tenth solo album, is replete with accessible, often quirky melodies, intelligent lyrics and features a stellar, full-band backing with lush, analog production. If Crowded House was fronted by a female, they’d probably sound something like this, especially on the title-track and the upbeat opener ‘Land In The Water’.
Elsewhere, ‘Heaven Help Us’ is a languid, emotionally-charged ballad while she sounds genuinely lovelorn on the charming, ‘Ache In My Heart’ and the poignant ‘Listen To Me’. Even better, ‘Don’t Blame The Tune’ is a gorgeously soulful ballad in a similar vein to Etta James’ ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’. The part-reggae, part Cajun-flavoured ‘Secret of Living’, meanwhile, features a cast of singers including, Mary Coughlan, Gemma Hayes and Hermione Hennessy with Sharon Shannon on accordion. McEvoy usually adds a cover version or two. Here she includes no less than three; a pared-down version of Brian Wilson’s ‘God Only Knows’ with those familiar harmonies replaced by plucked piano notes,which works better than you might think, while her reading of the Cyndi Lauper hit, ‘True Colors’ is another winner. Strangely, she wraps things up with a blistering, bluesy live version of Elmore James’ ‘Dust My Broom’. If You Leave is a very fine record.