Souvenir Irene Skylakaki

• 1 Intro - the Animal 01:57
• 2 Mary Smiles 03:35
• 3 Sutherland Avenue 03:32
• 4 Souvenir 03:38
• 5 Hallucination 03:26
• 6 Harrow Road 03:23
• 7 Thank You. For Good Science 03:40
• 8 Under Water 02:12
• 9 3 Square Meter Room 02:26
• 10 Dreamy 04:02
• 11 Outraw 01:49
• Total Runtime 33:40

Info for Souvenir

With three albums and a number of EP’s in her discography, Irene is a seasoned connoisseur when it comes to making music. Her songs are known for their deeply personal and emotionally revealing lyrics, intertwined with experimental and ever-evolving elements.

The album follows the release of a number of highly successful singles including ‘Sutherland Avenue’, ‘Dreamy’, ‘Mary Smiles’ and the album’s namesake, ‘Souvenir’, all of which have received a fantastic reception from fans and press alike.

“A few years ago, I met Andres Mesa who was working at the studio of Phil Manzanera as a sound engineer at the time. He was familiar with my music and we started recording songs without a specific plan – sometimes this spontaneity creates a unique creative freedom which was the case in this collaboration. The recordings of the demos took place at Phil Manzanera’s Gallery studio which was the most precious experience. Andres’s fresh outlook on production was a driving power in the creation of the album.

We had a lot of musicians and friends contributing their talent over the years and the album lacks homogeneity in sound but is connected through a deeper cause: recording individual songs that we are happy with irrespective of their style. During the lockdown, I had to leave London and come back to Athens, so I worked on a few songs remotely with Scottish musician, friend, and producer Iain Gordon Smith. This was also a different experience and I’m really happy with the outcome. Overall while this is my fourth album, it feels more like my first one, as my involvement in every little detail was much deeper. I believe it’s a good music ‘photograph’ of where I stand at the moment and I’m excited to share it.”

Irene Skylakaki’s album ‘Souvenir’ is a dynamic, deeply personal and emotional journey spread across eleven masterfully produced and skillfully written songs. Her haunting, angelic vocals against the backdrop of gentle synths and soft percussive beats create a sound and mood unlike any other. Through her incredibly skilled penmanship and instrumentation choices, Irene cleverly manages to create music that is much like physical art; captivating, three-dimensional and up for interpretation

“I got my first taste of “Souvenir” a few years ago, when producer Andres Mesa sent me a voice recording of some beautiful piano chords he had come up with. They were so irresistible that I had to turn them into a song. Having just gone through a breakup, the task felt simple and organic. We then spent a couple of years playing around with different versions of the song, until Hristos Lainas helped us finalize it. I shared the end-result with Jay-Jay Johanson, an artist I admire and respect enormously, and on new year’s eve I was presented with the most surreal surprise. Jay-Jay had not only remixed the song, but had also added his vocals to it. In a very serendipitous way, we found ourselves in South Africa, shooting a music video with David East, a director whose work I’m a big fan of. I really hope you enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed this journey.” (Irene Skylakaki)

"Despite what the album lacks in homogeneity, Souvenir is still a masterfully created body of work, the songs may not flow neatly from one to the other like traditional albums but every song is carefully and artisanally crafted. The quality of the music in Souvenir is undeniable and the approach to both the production and songwriting will continue to stand as a testament to the imagination and talent of Irene Skylakaki." (gigsoupmusic.com)

Irene Skylakaki

Irene Skylakaki
is a singer-songwriter from Athens with a velvet voice and a gift for building catchy folk-rock songs teeming with astonishingly beautiful melodies. Irene has released two critically acclaimed albums, Wrong Direction (2012) and Before Dawn (2014) and her third album Matterless is due for release in Summer 2017. Matterless was produced by Danton Supple (Coldplay, U2, Morrissey, Patti Smith, Ed Harcourt), and features musicians such as Richard Jupp (Elbow). Irene has performed in support for Macy Gray, Jessie Ware, Beirut, Daughter, Cass McCombs and Archive. Her festival performances have included the Rockwave, En Lefko & Release Festival and in 2012, she was one of the youngest artists ever to perform at the Athens Concert Hall Garden.

This album contains no booklet.