Iona Zajac: "It’s really hard to see any kind of light and relief opening up in people’s lives. But without hope, there’s nothing..."

Iona Zajac is a formidable presence on the Irish music scene, especially on the live circuit, having toured with the likes of Lankum, Anna B Savage, Arab Strap and more. Based between Edinburgh and Dublin, she’s recently completed a sold-out, 25-date stint supporting Alison Moyet of Yazoo.

When Zajac calls into Hot Press, the singer is enjoying a spell of well-earned downtime in between shows. Soon enough, she’ll hit the ground running again. Following on from an opening set at the Pogues’ Red Roses For Me show in December last year, she’s getting ready to fill in for Shane MacGowan as a special guest on The Pogues’ upcoming tour in May.

“I don’t really see it as trying to fill shoes,” Zajac beams. “It’s a massive honour and quite surreal. But I think because the Red Roses For Me gigs happened so organically last year, it’s turned into a mad family of musicians that love singing these songs. I think what’s definitely true for the group that will sing songs from Rum, Sodomy & The Lash, is that we all bring a certain energy that hints what The Pogues have always been.

“I don’t know yet what songs I’m going to be singing, or whether I’ll play any instruments. We’re going into rehearsals soon, and Spider Stacy, who’s curating the whole thing, is an absolutely brilliant guy. He’s pulled together people who are going to make it a very raucous and high quality show. So I’m buzzing and I think it’s going to be absolutely wild.”

Iona Zajac supporting The Pogues at 3Arena. Copyright Jason Doherty.

Certainly keeping busy on stage, Zajac is also spending more time in the studio these days, with the hopes of fresh music on the horizon. While she’s tight-lipped about any impending news, she’s looking to keep the momentum going after her 2020 EP, Find Her In The Grass. Recorded in her flat in Glasgow, the project lyrically dealt with the agony and ecstasy of being a young woman.

Zajac’s artistry seems to stem from a desire to reconcile with life’s many dualities. The Scottish songsmith mines optimism from the depths of depression. Her songs are haunted, but suffused with hope – one that suggests we are not beholden to unending desolation. When it comes to entertaining crowds, that dichotomy is even more present.

“I definitely play with duality, particularly when I’m on stage,” the singer offers. “The songs that I perform are mostly from my first album, which is finished. But that album is quite heavy and angry. I find that in between songs, I bring a lot of lightness to the set because it needs both.

“Similarly, I think my work has a lot of dark, angry moments that are all to do with being a young woman and violence towards women. But then I contrast those with some peculiar songs about how I manage life through a surreal lens, with humour and strangeness.”

Iona Zajac by Izzie Austin

In February, she released her first musical offering since 2023, the spectral folk number ‘Summer’. A haunting tune that recalls the doleful language of Emily Dickinson, Zajac is sure to note that there are glimmers of promise beneath the wistful verses.

“The track revolves around this whole concept that summer will come soon,” Zajac tells me. “That’s what keeps us going in the hard times, isn’t it? Those little moments of joy that we hold on to, knowing that at some point, things will ease up a bit.

“I wrote the chorus first. It came from the sudden realisation that loving somebody is sometimes better for you than it is for them. I think we’re all probably guilty of doing that sometimes and that’s okay. Loving someone is obviously a very complex thing, but sometimes we need somebody. We need to love that person more than that person needs our love. I think it’s a song of hope, as much as it’s a very sad song.

“I’d like to think that it can be related to a personal or universal hope with what’s happening in the world at the moment, with these terrible wars. It’s really hard to see summer sometimes – it’s really hard to see any kind of light and relief opening up in people’s lives. But without hope, there’s nothing and we have to hold on to that.”