Karen Alice Dunbar - Almost (single)
Karen Alice Dunbar is a Wexford based singer-songwriter & music tutor. She played classical piano from a young age & took up guitar while studying Music and Drama at University College Cork where she began writing poetry & songs to deal with the "big move" from Wexford to Cork. She has always been massively influenced by pop music, her earliest memories being of singing and dancing along to an ABBA video cassette belonging to her Mum. Discovering Jewel Kilcher in her late teens lead to a massive influence in folk & country music, leading her onto the greats like Carol King, Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, Johnny Cash, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen etc. Her music today could be described as pop-country.
She has taken 3 trips to Nashville where she performed in venues all over the city & collaborated with other songwriters, and she has also toured and spent many summers in the Greek Islands of Ios and Paros - holding a special place in her heart.She was a semi finalist with her song "Waiting for your Love", on RTE reality show "The Hit", in 2013, featuring songwriters having their songs chosen for consideration by established artists. She released her debut EP Marionette in 2017, produced by the late Gavin Ralston.
The new single Almost starts with intriguing lines " I can't barely bring myself to write this..." as if this was the start of a letter that brings the news of a breakup. Except, in this case, it hasn't even got to that point.
Gentle piano accompanies Karen's warm vocal. In the song, she's opening her heart and honestly singing about that missing element in a relationship. As the lyrics say, it's "perfect on paper but not when it came to it.". there is just something missing and both sides know this is just not going to work out.
The overall outcome isn't sad by any means as you would expect. Quite the contrary in fact. There's hope. Sometimes you meet somebody, you may even have the desire to be together but it's just not there. And you can't force the feelings in your nor in somebody else.