Galway alt-folk musician Reylta self-releases her debut album Everything Unsaved Will Be Lost today, 11 October, 2023 . She describes the LP, which is years in the making, as a “macabre lullaby.” The dreamy focus track, ‘Pinstripes’ , explores the trope of the “historical hysterical woman” over whimsical ukulele. Reylta will be celebrating her album launch with an intimate gig at the Dublin Unitarian Church on Sunday 22 October . Tickets are available here.
To date, Reylta has captured the attention of Irish media with her singles ‘October’ , ‘Lucifer’s Love / Leannán an Diabhail’ , ‘Closer’ , and ‘Sightseeing’ , with the latter being featured on the RTÉ Radio 1 Recommends list. These tracks have been championed by Irish radio, including RTÉ Radio 1 , RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta , RTÉ 2XM , Galway Bay FM , and KCLR FM . LOUD WOMEN praised Reylta’s “smooth guitar tones and enchanting vocals” on ‘Lucifer’s Love / Leannán an Diabhail’, while Americana UK noted that she gives “a modern makeover” to the Irish tradition of storytelling. She has also been featured in the Irish Independent , Irish Examiner, and Sunday Times. Reylta was previously highlighted in the Three’s City Stages initiative and tipped as one of Radio Nova’s New Local Hero finalists.
It’s difficult to pinpoint when exactly Everything Unsaved Will Be Lost began. Some songs were written during Reylta’s first years of college as she transitioned from life in rural Galway to the clamour of Dublin 8; others while she was in Cambridge, feeling unmoored; and still others while she was sitting next to her late grandfather at his wake, taking notes on what mourners said. In truth, Reylta has been writing since she was 11, and the album is just a snapshot of her work.
Everything Unsaved Will Be Lost was recorded in Donegal in May 2022 at The Song House, a restored cottage where Seamus Heaney and fellow poets used to gather. Reylta found the setting fitting, since “I always describe myself as a failed poet, because if I was good enough as a poet I wouldn’t have to hide behind a melody and harmonies and all that.”
Producer Darragh Nolan (Daithí, Ailbhe Reddy) uprooted his home studio from Gorey, Co. Wexford and brought it up to Donegal for the occasion. There, Reylta, Nolan, and her band practised like mad and gave themselves over to a whirlwind recording process. Most of the songs were completed in a handful of takes with the full band—Marc Mcgirr (percussion), Louis Younge (tin whistle, violin, saxophone, guitar), William Ryan (guitar), Kaitlin Cullen Verhaus (cello), Frank O’Flaherty (bass), and Nicole Lyons (guitar)—playing. Reylta wanted it to feel like a “Gaeltacht experience,” and the whole group of musicians ended up turning it into a proper party atmosphere. “It isn’t a live album, but it absolutely is,” Reylta says. “Every mistake on the album, every sound is from people being together and sharing their energy and just giving everything they have as in a live performance.” With Nolan’s keen production, Reylta and her band light up the record just as they would an intimate gig.
Track List:
- Introductions
- Holy
- Lucifer’s Love
- Closer
- Pinstripes
- Bruised
- October
- 01
- Goodbye Godbless Goodnight
- Rain
- Sightseeing
- Make Me Feel
- Leannán an Diabhail
- Gracious
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