Charm

Having been a member of the Hothouse Flowers, the Black Velvet Band and the Commitments, Maria Doyle Kennedy’s musical career has taken something of a back seat to her burgeoning role has an actress of late. Charm however (her first ever solo effort), makes up for lost time in particularly fine fashion. Featuring both Flowers and Velvets it is a slightly old school Irish rock album – real musicians playing real songs – but manages to avoid the sweeping clichés of the ’80s. With a large cast of players, the sound is full and lush and Maria’s voice is still a wondrous thing to behold, full of character and, yes, charm. The couple of rockier numbers (‘Snow White’ and ‘Revenge Is Sour’) fall a bit flat, the singer being better suited to the more gentle ‘Loving U Is Killing Me’, ‘Safe From Harm’ and ‘Helena’.

On ‘Babes’ and ‘Without U’ she finds the sort of easy groove that has worked so well for Macy Gray over recent years, producing a performance that easily matches those with bigger profiles and bigger budgets. A simple, solo version of ‘Stars Above’ brings proceedings to a spine tingling close, proving (as does the whole album) that the acting world may well have to wait on her return a little longer.