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Review: 'GALLAGHER, BRONAGH'
'Gather Your Greatness'   

-  Label: 'Salty Dog Records'
-  Genre: 'Soul' -  Release Date: '26th August 2016'

Our Rating:
On the cover photo she may look like she's been to a makeover centre for Goths but, at heart, Bronagh Gallagher is still the young, bolshie soul rebel who burst on the cultural scene via Alan Parker's film of Roddy Doyle's The Commitments in 1991.

Twenty five years on, the youthful brashness has been replaced by more mature style but her natural born passion and directness still remains intact and ensures that this album is not just some mellow easy listening experience. "I'm not afraid to be brutally honest and hide behind a character anymore", she says.

Having pursued a successful acting career, it's her first album in four years, the second to be self-produced and her third overall.

Eleven piece string arrangements , by Cian Boylan, help replicate a classic soul sound while the songs also reveal her affection for 1960s Phil Spector girl bands.

On the pop orientated Radio she is joined by none other than Brian Eno on backing vocals. This track includes a check list of all the greats that have inspired her over the years: Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson etc etc.

The sheer power of her voice on tracks like Make It Easier and Heal Me proves that she's no slouch in this esteemed company.   

The message of Can You Hear Me, featuring Maria McKee, is that love is all about following the heart wherever it may take you. Lonely Girls, dedicated to her lovelorn friends, is a reminder that this often leads to frustration.   

The manner in which Gallagher sings "man I got my dignity" on Crimes gives fair warning that any man who doesn't treat her with due respect needs to watch his back.

Overall, the songs endorse the mantra that self belief will see you through the bad times. Gather Your Greatness is therefore all about trusting in the life you lead.

Bronagh Gallagher sings it like she means it, so this is the affirmative voice of a woman who knows what she wants and, perhaps more crucially, what she doesn't.

Bronagh Gallagher's website
  author: Martin Raybould

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GALLAGHER, BRONAGH - Gather Your Greatness