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Eleanor McEvoy is one of Ireland's finest singers of recent decades and Alone is a stripped-down acoustic journey through some of her past classics. 

McEvoy, once a member of Mary Black's Band, is a former music graduate from Trinity College, Dublin. Although only 44, she's an experienced hand at making records and Alone is her ninth. But what makes it special is that it is so personal. It was just one musician - and the technician Dave - working in a recording studio-barn in Norfolk and revisiting and re-evaluating old songs, with just guitar (or piano). 
She teases new life out of emotional lyrics in what is like a very intimate concert setting - only without anyone annoying sitting near you and clapping in the wrong places. You can tell from the passion in the singing of Alone that McEvoy is enthralled by performing with her soul bared. 

Her voice sounds vulnerable and expressive and the format allows the strong songwriting to breathe and blossom over 12 songs, of which Only A Woman is perhaps best known. It was a standout title song on a compilation work that became one of the biggest selling albums in Ireland's history. 

Alone features many other interesting and powerful songs, such as Sophie, the despairing tale of a girl with an eating disorder. Harbour is a terrific plea for love and although Days Roll By and Did You Tell Him? won't win 'Optimist's Song Of The Year', there is a painful honesty in their bleakness that is oddly enjoyable. One song is new - the touching You'll Hear Better Songs Than This - and McEvoy also takes on a cover of the 1965 protest song Eve Of Destruction by PF Sloan. The American's song is as sadly relevant as it was during the Vietnam War, back in a time it was considered dangerous enough to be put on a restricted list by the BBC. 

If you don't know McEvoy's work then Alone offers an excellent introduction to her work. If you do, then this album is a big treat.