Sarah McQuillan

"…The opening track ”The Lament (I Am Calling You)’ begins with clear, unaccompanied mournful female vocals with sublime enunciation from guest Sarah McQuillan, an almost subliminal background sound slowly rising to leave a feeling of real horror. And then the title track bursts the doors."

Walking The Liminal Space Blog (2024)

"I ‘man cried’ when I first heard this beautiful vocal from Sarah McQuillan. It was Joseph Chester who initially added a layer of music to one of the side 4 grooves and started the ball rolling. Then Sarah added more music and sang so beautifully! These 2 incredible talents never actually met, one of the curiosities of this ‘blind faith’ type layering of tracks that we do at Side4."

David Hingerty, Side 4 Collective/ The Frames / Kila (2024)

"Hill of Tara is my first collaboration with Irish vocalist Sarah McQuillan. I first worked with Sarah back in 2010 at Temple Lane Studios Dublin when I was working as a House Engineer. Sarah is one of the most gifted vocalists I've ever worked with. I'm super happy to be working with her on this project, hopefully the first of future collaborations."

Will Kinsella – Hybrasil (2021)

"Wow. That's the only word to describe 'Battles', the new single from the Side 4 Collective led by Frames and Josh Ritter drummer Dave Hingerty.
This latest 4 mins 24 secs of sonic joy was co-written by Dave with Joe Chester and Sarah McQuillan who's sessioned in the past with the likes of Ross Breen, Tucan and The Hot Sprockets and also operates under the guises of Sarah Red and Haokah.
With Anthony Gibney taking care of the mix, the piano-driven ballad couldn't sound any more luscious. There's a definite jazzy thing going on and, as noted by the S4C crew, a bit of an early Radiohead vibe. As for Sarah's voice, we refer you back to our earlier comment: "Wow!"

Hotpress Premiere - Side 4 Collective - Battles Video (2020)

In the beginning, she was a solo songwriter and alt-folk singer known as Sarah Red. Shifting then to become lead vocalist, guitarist & songwriter for Dublin progressive rock band Howl (Elastic Affair)

From here her musical path carried her on to perform vocals on stages with irreverent funksters Tongue Bundle, and cerebral jazzers Nature, fronted by jazz guitarist Chris Guilfoyle and Bass player Kevin Higgins.

Under her old stage name 'Sarah Red', and in collaboration with Irish band Tucan, she released a cover version of Buffalo Springfield's 'For What It's Worth', for the album 'Growing Home' (2015), in aid of the Peter Mc Verry Trust.

More recently she co-wrote and released the track 'Battles' (2022) from the album 'We Burn Bright', with Joe Chester and David Hingerty, as part of the of The Side 4 Collective, an eclectic mix of Irish & international artists spearheaded by drummer Dave Hingerty (The Frames/Kila)

The tendrils of her voice have reached out across genres as her vocals have been sampled by Berlin based electronic artist Hybrasil on his track 'Hill of Tara' (2021) and she features as a guest vocalist on the track 'The Lament (I am Calling You)' from Irish death metal band Vircolac's 2024 album 'Veneration'.

Her solo material sees her finding her true voice, honouring her musical evolution, and forming an album of her own material, composing on piano and drawing from the well of influences in her genre traversing past.

The material could be called post apocolyptic pop, or a lament to those hoping for a utopian future...from either vantage it is raw, bold and full of heart.

The track 'Piano Opus' featured here allows a rough and bare bones look at her new material, as it takes shape.