Soul Power! Bronagh Gallagher Releases Truth Or Dare

Ladies and gentlemen, please be upstanding for the undisputed Queen of Irish Soul, The Doyen from Derry, the voice of the Deep South from up North, the woman with the pipes that could kick you through a window and then cuddle you up and tell you everything is gonna be alright; the one, the only, Bronagh Gallagher!

I have been lucky enough to experience Bronagh live several times, and once she lets the voice off the chain, punters regularly have to peel themselves down off the wall at the back of the venue, so it was hardly unexpected that she would casually run away with the whole Rave On Van Morrison yoke on the Hot Press YouTube channel when it was still only getting going, with her phenomenally great reading of The Man's 'And The Healing Has Begun'. If you don't believe me, here it is again - be careful kids, there's a bit of 'toilet mouth' action near the end.

If that wasn't enough, she's back with a new single, 'Truth Or Dare', which positively and utterly wipes the floor with all competition. Written with, and co-produced by, Dave Stewart - yes, yer man outta Eurythmics, who is breaking cover because, one presumes, the statute of limitations has run out and the Hague are no longer after him for the crimes of Superheavy, although he'll be in trouble again with those shorts he's sporting in the video - this instantly catchy slice o' soul should quickly take its rightful place on the whistling lips of even the most tone deaf of milkmen.

Just take a look at the other musical GIANTS involved and be assured of the cast-iron quality of the end product - Dave 'solid as two rocks' Hingerty hitting things down the back, Conor 'more guitar than man' Brady, Cian 'The Boy' Boylan on the 88s, and 'THE' Robbie Malone on bass. That is akin to having the 1970 Brazil World Cup team of music behind you, the Irish version of The Meters (The Yards?), our own Cosa Beaga, if you will. Sitting in with these masters are very special guests Lucius - that's Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig - whose honeyed tones provide exactly the platform Bronagh needs to jump off of.

We all know Gallagher can act, for who can forget her pivotal role in the Star Wars saga as "third pilot from the left", or her turn as "yer one in the gaff" in Pulp Fiction, and she recently featured as Mrs Micawber* in the rather good The Personal History Of David Copperfield, but it is that voice which is her true gift. Whatever eejit she's singing this to, who seriously dropped the ball by giving this woman guff, must be sitting in a dark room somewhere cursing his own stupidity. This immortal slab of soul will always be there, to remind him of the one he let get away, the tool. Marvellous.

Get the full ballistics over at bronaghgallagher.com

(*Did you know one of Keith Richards' Telecasters is called Micawber? Can't you see? It is ALL connected. The Circle O' Life.)