WHAT’S ON

THE TUG OF THE MOON                                    Sarah McQuaid @ the Coastguard Cultural Centre reviewed by Liam Murphy

I first heard the Cornwall-based singer/songwriter Sarah McQuaid in the Theatre Royal over a decade ago, and her distinctive soprano voice had a celestial quality. She shapes words as if giving them new meaning with her gentle and evocative style. Her contemporary folksongs echo a beautiful sense of being at one with her landscape, her journey, and her inner harmony.

She finished her Irish tour at the Coastguard Cultural Centre, a wonderful, intimate venue, and her rapport and empathy tugged at the hearts of an appreciative audience. Outside, the darkness settled on Tramore Bay, and the moon was shrouded, but musically you could feel the elemental tug of the moon, a sharing and reaching out across a crowded venue.
The stage was set, and her manager and tour audio, Martin Stansbury, eased down the lights, and the room was filled with ‘Sweetness And Pain’ and walking into a coastal mist with ‘Walking Into White’. The folk tune ‘Sprig Of Thyme’ echoed universal myths and foolishness. Her family stories and her children’s inspiration struck a chord with her audience. 
She plays acoustic and electric guitar, tomtom and keyboards, and for ‘One Sparrow Down’, she got the audience to sing out animal noises. Her version of Micahel Chapman’s ‘Rabbit Hills’ was a beautiful introduction to an eccentric folk artist who produced several of her CDs. It is worth looking  Chapman up on your choice of platform.
‘So Much Rain’ was a topical end to the first part.
After the interval, the ‘Silence Above Us’ was a meditation on ‘what is this world coming to’. Another song, ‘Yellowstone’, about volcanoes and earthquakes, reminded the audience how lucky we could be in our sheltered bubble of happiness. Finally, ‘The Tug Of The Moon’ reminded us of our life’s journey around the sun and how we are slowing down each year, if only by milliseconds.
Bob Dylan’s ‘Tangled Up In Blue’ was beautiful at “keep on, keeping on”. There is a lovely sense of change in this song, “There was music in the cafes at night, and revolution in the air’.
Her version of John Martyn’s ‘Solid Air’ was achingly beautiful, and her voice trembled in the air. The Ewan MacColl song ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ was sublime, and her encore after a standing ovation was a tender lullaby, bridging three generations – ‘Last Song’.