ABOUT ailie

Ailie Blunnie is a musician and songwriter from Carrick on Shannon, Co. Leitrim, crafting music that feels "like Leitrim fiddle legend Ben Lennon met up with Patti Smith, had a drink in Carrick on Shannon and worked out how to fuse trad, folk, rock then sprinkle some tasteful electronica over it all. Uniquely edgy and familiar at same time” (Fergus O’Keefe, WRFG 89.3FM Atlanta).

Her début album, West to the Evening Sun (2017) was described by Hot Press as “a tour de force of masterful songwriting, which pushes the boundaries, both sonically and lyrically” (Róisín Dwyer, Hot Press).

A little more..

Her earlier EP On love.. and other murder mysteries (2013), featured “How Much Do You Love Me?”, winner of the Love Songs category at the 2014 UK Songwriting Contest.

Blunnie’s songwriting finds a distinctive balance between quiet beauty, a playful imagination, and shadows that flicker just beneath the surface. “Love Song to a Bicycle” - a quirky tale of a dead man’s devotion to his bicycle - was originally written for a Flann O’Brien tribute event in 2011 and later featured in the 2022 short film of the same name (dir. L. McMorrow & J. Gogan, 2022). Her striking version of “Rocky Road to Dublin” has appeared on RTÉ Sport’s GAA coverage and BBC Four’s Arena: James Joyce’s Ulysses (dir. Adam Lowe, 2021).

Alongside her solo work, Ailie composes for theatre and dance, including recent collaborations with Manorhamilton's Splódar Theatre Company, and Dublin aerial dance company, Taking Flight. Based in Dublin, she divides her time between music and her work as a counsellor/psychotherapist (MIACP), while continuing work on her long-awaited second album.

update on Ailie’s health

Following a COVID-19 infection in 2021, Ailie developed Long Covid (ME/CFS and Dysautonomia/POTS subtype), a condition that currently prevents her from performing live. She speaks openly about the experience through her YouTube series Sound-Bytes from the Deep End, while exploring new ways of creating and presenting music that fit her evolving health reality. She remains available for selected commission work.

Get in Contact.

  • "Ambient, hauntingly intimate and very moving, this is something rather special from the singer-songwriter from Carrick-on-Shannon"

    — Alan Corr, RTÉ Entertainment

  • "So new, so fresh, and so good"

    — Carl Corcoran, The Blue of the Night, RTÉ Lyric fm

  • "a tour de force of masterful songwriting, which pushes the boundaries, both sonically and lyrically"

    — Róisín Dwyer, Hotpress

  • “This album extends beyond innovative musical arrangements, even beyond the skill of poetic, expressive lyrics. Blunnie’s songs are transcendent and transporting.”

    — Colleen Taylor, NY Irish Echo

  • "Ailie Blunnie has a remarkable way of playing with silence and minimalistic loops that create beautiful textures that morph in and out of completely different styles. Her voice is innocent and sweet, her music is thrillingly sinister."

    — Emma Leddy, KnockanStockan Music & Arts Festival

  • “‘West to the Evening Sun’ is not just music—it’s poetry too. Listening to these songs is like sitting alone in an archive, reading a collection of letters shared between the closest of friends. There is tragedy, confession, hope, love. Moreover, there is narrative as well as harmonic integrity.”

    — Colleen Taylor, NY Irish Echo

Side profile of Ailie, a white woman with a brown bob, looking directly to the left, wearing a black leather jacket and standing in front of a rusty green iron gate with a pile of bright green fenders/buoys behind the gate. Photo by Pookadubh
Ailie, a white woman with a dyed red bob, is standing upright on the end of a very narrow pier wearing black and grey with her back to the camera. There is water all around her and a forest on the horizon. There are clouds in the sky are reflected in
Ailie, a white woman with reddish brown short hair, is wearing black and crouched down in a bluebell wood with bluebells and trees all around her. Her body is facing to the left but she is looking back over her left shoulder at a miniature piano whic
This is a photo of a river with Ailie's full profile reflection visible in the top right corner along with the reflection of the pier she is standing on. It gives the appearance of Ailie, a white woman wearing black, standing upside-down in the top r
Ailie, a white woman with a dyed red bob, is leaning against a large industrial-sized garage door wearing grey and black and black Doc Martin boots. The garage door is a grey shutter-style structure with dark green steel pillars. Photo by Pookadubh