Victoria releases eclectic debut: ‘Unfit the Picture’

Unfit the Picture, which is being launched at Sandino’s Bar on February 23, was recorded at a time when she was in the midst of a painful break-up.

Victoria said: “I had just split up with the love of my life so the emotions expressed in this album are real.

“My vocal on Jacques Brel’s Ne Me Quitte Pas (Don’t Leave Me) is pure and raw because I was really in that situation at the time.

“I have never heard an album that is just voice and harp but it creates a space for me to explore my vocal and emotional range.

“The material in the album is so diverse and it has really attracted people to it. There aren’t too many Northern Ireland singers playing around with different styles and languages.”

This superb new CD recorded with harpist Ursula Burns, has eight exquisitely crafted and arranged songs including four originals plus inventive and sympathetic covers of iconic songs from Prince, Jacques Brel and Portishead.

The collaboration with Ursula Burns came about after a chance meeting.

Victoria said: “I met Ursula at the birthday of a mutual friend in Belfast. She was playing the harp and I asked her could I do a song with her, I’m Feeling Good by Nina Simone.

“I asked her afterwards if she would be interested in recording with me. That was two and a half years ago and Unfit the Picture is the result.”

To listen to excerpts from Victoria’s debut album go to http://victoriageelan.bandcamp.com/track/canto