A Unique New Voice From The Emerald Isle
Dublin Serenade (Single)
Amelia Coburn
The prospect of an Irish ballad played on a ukulele might not set everyone’s pulses racing and, for some, it might sound like musical hell not musical heaven, but if you give Amelia Coburn a chance she may very well sing her way into your musical affections. Coburn has built up quite a following over the last few years on the folk circuit and has turned her talents to unique covers of songs like Life on Mars. Her new song is called Dublin Serenade and it is unlike any other record you will hear this year.
Coburn sings her ode to Dublin with an idiosyncratic charm that just draws you in from the very start. The tune for the verses, played very skilfully on the ukulele and belying the old fashioned reputation of the instrument, is very reminiscent, in places, of David Cassidy’s 1973 smash 'Daydreamer' but it is in the chorus that the song takes flight. She has a voice that moves from the chatty to the spine tingling in a song that is very traditional on the surface, yet is also somehow timeless. This is a song that constantly wrongfoots and delights the listener. In the lyrics she makes fun of the ‘Oirishness’ of the pubs in the city but admits that she is ‘enchanted by a Dublin Serenade’ Her phrasing reminded me of Eddi Reader particularly on the gorgeous chorus. By the end of the song I was also completely enchanted by this Dublin Serenade and if you give it a chance I think you will be too.
