www.communityvoice.ie - Art news from Dublin 15

Speech, Language and Music

If you have three studio albums, one live album, a Meteor Music Award and a reputation of being one of the finest songsmiths to emerge from these islands, what would be your next logical step in your musical career? For Juliet Turner, the answer was to apply to Trinity College to undertake a four year degree course in Speech and Language Studies!

Now approaching the end of her second year as a full time student, the Tyrone born cult chanteuse has an eagerly awaited new album, “People have names,” coming out on June 6th and plays Draiocht on May 16th as part of the promotion for the album.

“I haven't had to juggle music and the course too much, although a little is inevitable,” Juliet told Community Voice. “I spent most of last week working on the logistics of mixing and mastering the album and getting CDs burned and artwork wrapped up and that took up a lot of study time. And I tried to time the album release so that my exams finish just before the promotion has to start.

“But my manager and the producer of the album (Keith Lawless) helped out a lot and I've been mostly gigging in the holidays. Christmas, admittedly, was pretty stressful as there was a fair bit of promotion to be done then.”

Fans who were attracted to the maverick singer by the catchy tunes and hard edge of albums like “Let’s hear it for pizza,” “Burn the black suit” and “Season of the hurricane” may well be alarmed to hear reports that the new material is “thoughtful and less acerbic than some of her previous writing.” So, is this the end of Juliet Turner, the sharp-edged raconteur?

“I think I have mellowed,” she admits. “This album is full of observations and stories about other people, songs like "Luisa", The Elder of the Tribe", "Tuesday Night Ladies" and "People have Names" which is about the L'Arche community.

“People's lives are full of tension in the sense of trying to hold different elements in balance and that idea is present in a lot of the lyrics if you care to read them that way. Like in "Tuesday Night Ladies" - "Sometimes it all comes together, sometimes it all falls apart". The production is more organic as well, some pretty banjo, beautiful strings by Cora Venus Lunny and some trumpet and fleugal horn. It was a fun album to make, partly because Keith Lawless and I spent a lot of time talking about it, over a period of about two years. It was relaxed and so the final result is mellow.

“There's still some bite though,” she adds.

As passionate about her studies as her music, Juliet is not afraid to speak her mind on the thorny topic of the HSE embargo on medical recruits which, according to the Government, does not exist. “I just attended an Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists conference in Cork a couple of weeks ago and the figures we were given there were that 95% of students had found jobs after graduation,” she says. “However, whether they had been able to take up their posts because of the embargo, and where those posts were, was unclear. It's a hot topic at the minute and something that we have to keep challenging the government on.

“The need for SLTs is so great, not only to work with children, but also with adults in the areas of mental health, intellectual impairment, and within the criminal justice system. Around 30% of prison inmates have some form of previously undetected and untreated delayed speech or language which can affect the way their entire lives unfold. It's a really complex matter and is tied in with issues of justice and poverty and education. It's all linked and speech therapists have a huge role to play,” says Juliet.

The forthcoming gig at Draiocht will be acoustic – “just my guitar player and myself” – and will feature songs from “People have names,” as well as some old favourites too. It will be her second visit to Draiocht, though she has been spotted more than once in the UCI across the road!

Juliet Turner plays Draiocht’s main auditorium on Friday May 16th at 8pm.

Tickets are €20 / €18.

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