Album Review: Ailbhe Reddy, Kiss Big

The third record from Dublin-born, London-based singer-songwriter Ailbhe Reddy, Kiss Big explores the messiness, disorientation, bittersweetness, joy and hope attached to a break-up. In a brilliant display of vulnerability, Reddy lets her complicated emotions guide us through its nine tracks. The result is a distinctive chapter that maintains her knack for resonant lyrics and larger-than-life melodies with SOAK chipping in on backing vocals.

Written between Dublin, London, New York and the American Midwest, Kiss Big bursts with glistening synths and electronic rhythms. Despite its poignant lyrical contents, the record at times boasts a powerful optimism, particularly on ‘That Girl’ and ‘Untangling’, which are layered with electric guitars, catchy grooves and shiver-inducing vocal harmonies.

Featuring cut-to-the bone lines like “We were two strangers living in the same house/ I barely recognise you now”, ‘So Quickly, Baby’ captures the difficulty of understanding heartbreak, and how painful it can be to act like the bigger person. While infinitely catchy, it’s also an incredibly raw showcase of emotional turmoil, awe-inspiring and openly messy.

“This is the meltdown track,” Reddy acknowledges. “The album’s neurotic heartbeat. A tug-of-war between grace and chaos. The verses attempt to be the bigger person while the choruses unveil the question at the heart of it, ‘How are you already fine and when will I be?’

“It’s the push-pull between wanting to be gracious and wanting to scream. That weird neurotic whiplash when someone seems totally fine while you feel like you’ve been dropped in the middle of nowhere without a map.”

Which is true of not just ‘So Quickly, Baby’ but the majority of Kiss Big.

Both the title track and ‘Dead Arm’ feature stripped back openings, allowing the singer’s vocals to shine, before building into expansive tunes, complete with strings and guitar solos.

Kiss Big is also rife with romanticism, with Reddy baring her heart on the likes of ‘Align’, ‘Gorgeous Thing’ and ‘Crave’.

Featuring such yearning spoken word couplets as “I want to hold your hand and go for a meal/ And not mind when you eat my food/ And laugh at your paranoia/ And give you tapes you don’t listen to”, the latter – taken from a monologue by the late playwright Sarah Kane – is a bittersweet love letter which makes for a stunning closer.

8.5/10