Allez les femmes

A new compilation album featuring up and coming female vocalists from across the country has been put together by Tulla vocalist and musician Valerie Hely in an effort to showcase the unique sounds coming out of Ireland.

Valerie is one half of the electronic duo In Valour, who formed in 2009 and this compilation album entitled Café Irlandaise was her brainchild.

The album features a collection of songs written and performed by modern Irish female vocalists who are lead singers in bands, duos or are going it solo and all were chosen by Valerie. Each of the artists come from a range of different musical backgrounds. Their preferred styles include electronica, alternative pop, baroque, ambient, experimental and folk. Together these diverse sounds sit together comfortably on this 10-track compilation.

Speaking about the compilation, which is available as a free download, Valerie explains she wanted to do something to celebrate the unique sounds coming from Irish female singers.

“The idea came about when it struck me how many individual, talented and strong contemporary female singers there are in Ireland at the moment – writing and recording gorgeous songs. I wanted to put together a collection of tracks, which would act as a showcase for this talent. I think this is something to be highlighted and celebrated. I spent a long time carefully choosing artists (both bands and solo artists) which in my mind are some of the most interesting around but ones which would also fit in with the overall vibe of the compilation.

“I took the liberty of selecting a track from each artist – ones which I thought would sit well alongside the others and explained to them that I planned to release it as a free digital download. The response from the artists was really positive and it all came about quite quickly once they were on board,” Valerie outlined.

Once the line-up was confirmed, Valerie spent a lot of time arranging the tracks in order of how she thought they flowed best and wanted to do it in such a way that the listener would have the option of enjoying the compilation as a whole.

The artists are from all around the country but because four of the acts are based in Cork (Bona Fide Federation, Sí, Foxglove and In Valour) they are organising a tour together in Cork.
The compilation, Cafe Irlandaise, is available on www.cafeirlandaise.com.