Ava Vox is the singer/songwriter, Elaine Hannon, who was born and raised in Dublin and in the 80s was the lead singer for the goth rock band The Seventh Veil. That band went by the wayside in that decade but Ava Vox has brought back to life one of their tunes, “Alone Again” and released it as a single on February the 9th.

Heavy subject matter indeed, for this is a track about domestic violence and while the music does not always sound sombre due to the post-punk jangle of guitars and seemingly decent pace of the drums. Her voice is full of the expressed sadness of knowing that once in the cycle, the victim falls foul of repeated abuse, with the offer of ‘garlands‘ ie pretty words, to fall into the ‘talon‘ clutches again, unable to break free.
Maybe because this was originally written in the 80s or because of it being a post-punk piece but it made me think of the Australian band Divinyls and their song “Pleaure And Pain” which is about an abusive lover. Like Chrissie Amphlett, Ava Vox is a gutsy female singer who belts out the truth while feeling that pain. To that end, Ava Vox is part of the wonderful Irish gothic/post-punk tradition and this track will be on her, soon to be released, second album, Immortalised.