If you’ve had a chance to listen to the updated Breaking
More Waves New Music Weekly playlist (here) you’ll have no doubt heard the mesmerizing song Red Wine by Irish singer Sal that opens proceedings.
The independent Cork based songwriter has released just a handful of songs under this name, Red Wine being her fourth following last year’s Bullet In The Head, Everything and Merry Go Round. It’s a stop-you-in-your-tracks country lullaby and deserves to be heard by a far bigger audience than the 773 monthly listeners she currently has on Spotify.
A little bit of digging reveals that this isn’t Sal’s first musical project; she’s recorded and released as Sara Ryan since 2016, was named New Artist of the Year at the Irish Folk Awards back in 2017 and released an album in 2019. That was in the past though and what excites most is her new material and in particular Red Wine - a song that casts the most magnetising of spells. The irony is that the song is about the difficulty of letting go - something you'll probably find is hard to do with a tune as alluring as this.
Her other material still maintains a hint of country, but
there’s elements of pop and softer rock as well; if you like music by the likes
of Natalie Imbruglia or the song Kiss Me by Sixpence None The Richer then Sal’s
melodic ways are guaranteed to charm you.
Having worked through a number of support slots with various Irish musicians, Sal has a few small headline
shows of her own coming up through March in Ireland (including one in a
bookshop!).
If she continues to deliver music as gently heart-melting and gorgeous as Red Wine, she could well be one to watch into the future.
Sal - Red Wine