Imelda May – Tribal

Award-winning Irish musician Imelda May presents the album Tribal – her traditional folk sound twists in time in this record, with obvious influences and themes running through the musically enveloping tracks.

Opening title song Tribal has some KT Tunstall growl, Little Pixie echoes the charm of Elvis Presley and Hellfire Club screams with the rhythmic sass of Johnny Cash. These reminders of well-known musicians thump through the album, although, cleverly, they remain simply influences, as May smears her individualism all over the tracks.

Wicked Way is inherently sexy with some gorgeous brass sounds and I Wanna Dance is toe-tappingly good. You know this album is going to work best live – the movement and jive of it would fill a dance floor in an instant, but in the good old vintage way. The deluxe version includes a final acoustic track, played solely on a ukulele, called Dreaming –  a Blondie cover, which brings the listener back to the roots of the talent that’s helmed the album, reminding us of where it began – probably on a stool in the back of a pub in Dublin.

A lovely traditional album, without any aggressive language, auto-tune or over-production. Just music doing what music does, with May’s personal vintage stamp.

Sarah Milton

Tribal was released on 28^th April 2014. For further information or to order the album visit Imelda May’s website here.

Watch the video for It’s Good to Be Alive here: