Rosa Nutty: World Still Blue — Optimism in the face of gloom

She was around for a while, then she disappeared, and now she’s back with a long-in-gestation debut album that weaves a kind of spell that will calm the jittery nerves of this weekend’s ghosts and spirits. The songs on World Still Blue have been around for some time, but the theme that links them together arose during the past two or so years when, says Dublin songwriter Nutty in the album notes, she read astronauts’ descriptions of what it was like to view Earth from outer space. Fully aware that such accounts were escapist forms of “vicarious travel”, a theme emerged: no matter how awful life could be for individuals or the wider population, from a certain perspective “the world is still blue, calm and full of potential”.

This sense of optimism in the face of impending gloom seals whatever abrasions may have resided in Nutty’s creative mindset over the past three years. Meanwhile, the tunes, recorded “semi-live in a single room with a group of talented Irish musicians”, highlight just how she has developed as a songwriter in the same period. If the musical outlines are familiar (brushed, acoustic-based with poised complementary textures of cello, trumpet, synths and guitar — of the latter, Ed Phelan’s finely spun work is especially eloquent on Dancer), what impresses most is Nutty’s apparent sense of self on sturdy songs such as Mouths (the title track), Glow and Supermoon.