It takes an artist of supreme confidence to record an entire album of cover versions. Maria Doyle Kennedy has courage in spades then judging by the 14 tracks on offer here. Originally made available as a limited-edition download in 2005, Skullcover’s conventional release coincides with the quiet success of last year’s Mutter, and the re-release of her 2001 debut Charmed. Kennedy tackles a variety of genres in an acoustic setting – from ’70s pop and folk, to ’80s goth-rock – and for the most part, makes a fair fist of each. Piano and guitar are supplemented only by mellow spurts of cello and violin, which, when applied to The Cure’s ‘Lovesong’ or Thin Lizzy‘s ‘Still In Love With You’, are a revelation. So, too, is that trademark sultry, sensual thrum of hers, which provides ABBA‘s ‘SOS’ with a new degree of melancholia, while even the lesser-known numbers – jazz standard ‘Red Sails In The Sunset’ and traditional English ballad ‘The Death Of Queen Jane’ – arouse interest.
The fact that every track here is acoustic could have meant that this album was destined to be something of a damp squib; but, with the exception of one or two uneventful blips, Skullcover is a subtly seductive record.