Aisling Quinn Album Launch- Kellys, Galway

Upstairs at Kellys

Upstairs @ Kellys
Bridge St, Galway

Saturday 11th June
Aisling Quinn 'Let The Games Begin'- Album Launch
Doors 9.30
Support TBA
Free In




Aisling Quinn LET THE GAMES BEGIN
The debut album – out FRIDAY 20th MAY

For some people music is a hobby, for others it’s a way of life. For others it’s a series of incomprehensible squiggles on a page of sheet music. For Aisling Quinn it’s about using the inner squiggle.
“There is a unique note each person has inside them- like an inner squiggle. The challenge is to capture and let it out!”

Galway songstress, Aisling Quinn spent her formative years devouring music, without prejudice to particular styles or genres. Their home was full of instruments and Quinn was tinkering on pianos and strumming guitars for as long as she can remember. Piano was the first instrument Quinn learnt formally but like most teenagers, the discipline to practice escaped her.
“I always felt the piano was like a close friend but it’s hard to stay friends with someone when you have to pass an exam on them every year."
So, inspired by jazz and blues albums from the 30’s and 40’s and her mum’s Carole King LPs, Quinn decided to go down a more laid- back style of jamming, teaching herself as she went rather than being penned in by formal, structured lessons. Her curiosity and love of sounds led her to pick up many other instruments such as mandolin, flute, violin, melodica, bodhran and glockenspiel.

Quinn steadily began settling into her musical skin.In 2007 and with a course in music production under her belt she released her first EP A Simple Arrangement, which received encouraging reviews from Hotpress Magazine, praising her “winning vocal style” and applauded her for “avoiding singer/songwriter clichés and offering something less predictable”. Her confidence was growing and in 2009 she was contacted through her MySpace page by singer/songwriter Albert Niland, who invited her to support him on his Irish tour. The same year, much lauded performer Rosey also invited her to tour with him. In the same year Aisling began to delve into the world of theatre; composing the original music for Bluepatch productions of ‘Portia Coughlan’, ‘The Clean House’ and ‘Medea Redux’, which in turn led her to develop an original, collaborative theatre piece, ‘Memory Palace’, which was hailed by Irish Theatre Magazine as "intelligent, truly inspiring theatre".Despite her new found love of the theatre, Quinn’s focus was really always very much on creating and establishing her own musical identity and since the release of the debut EP, she had been gathering a collection of songs with a view to releasing a record.

“I felt, musically, I had my own unique point of view so the challenge was to achieve something whole and complete, artistically, with this album, for myself in the first instance, and then hopefully for other people to enjoy".
Assembling some of Ireland’s finest session musicians, Aisling settled herself into Jam Studios working with co-producer Martin Quinn. The end result is Let The Games Begin, a collection of eleven beautifully crafted songs, packed with colour, personality, melody and an endearing vulnerability. Quinn’s quirky and energetic take on pop, jazz, folk and blues is worth multiple listens. The album has already received international attention with ‘When You Come’ and ‘Song I Wrote For You’ receiving semi-finalist status at the prestigious International Songwriting Competition 2009 and 2010 respectively.

Upstairs at Kellys