Album Review: Susan Quirke – 'Into The Sea'

This may be Susan Quirke’s debut album, but she’s been crafting Into The Sea for nearly a decade.  

Recorded alongside some of Ireland’s finest musicians – with high-calibre instrumental assists from the likes of Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Colm Quearney, and Justin Carroll – the indie-folk 11-tracker is at once ethereal and grounded, making for a record that shows remarkable depth. 

Mixed and mastered in France by Grammy-winner David Odlum, and co-produced by Quirke and Quearney, immediate standouts include early single ‘Follow River’s Way’, with its stripped-back instrumentation and lilting Celtic vocals, and the mellow ‘To The Bone’ – an uplifting reminder of inner strength. 

Quirke needed much of that resolve while making Into The Sea: she was worried that her collection of songs wouldn’t be good enough to stand beside the musicians she admired. But through perseverance and determination,

Quirke has shown that she’s made of strong stuff – especially on the high-powered indie anthem ‘The Embrace’, wherein she explores themes of forgiveness and contentment through driving guitar and elements of country. 

Into The Sea is a concept album, with “the sea” doubling as a sea of consciousness. Nowhere is that metaphor more potent than on the title track, in which the influence of Americana stars like Lucinda Williams and Martha Wainwright is easily heard. 

Some might view the songs on Into The Sea as too earnest in their plain-spoken lyrics, but far more important is that, on an album about self-discovery, Quirke has written with real honesty and bravery.