ISQ (IRENE SERRA)

ISQ blends sophisticated jazz musicianship with alternative pop sensibility & atmospheric textures.Italian-born, Danish-bred, London-based vocalist & composer Irene Serra releases her original music under the moniker ISQ. She brings the project to Cadogan Hall, presenting music from the forthcoming fifth album, The Silence Is Deafening. Blurring the boundaries between jazz, alternative pop & electronica, ISQ combines sophisticated musicianship, bold songwriting, atmospheric textures and her distinctive, emotionally charged vocals. The result is music that moves freely between intimate storytelling & expansive, groove-driven soundscapes -alt-pop meets noir jazz with an electronic edge. The live band features Richard Sadler (bass), Chris Nickolls (drums/electronics) & Luca Boscagin (guitar/electronics), musicians whose collective credits include the Neil Cowley Trio, Andy Sheppard & The Cinematic Orchestra. Together, they create a sound built on the chemistry of a band that has developed its own musical language: intricate yet spontaneous, powerful yet unafraid of silence.
Following Too, a Time Out London Critics’ Choice, and Requiem For The Faithful, praised by Clash Magazine for honing “the soulful possibilities of improvisatory music”, ISQ returns with The Silence Is Deafening, her most personal and sonically adventurous record to date. Recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, the album reveals a darker, more guitar-driven side of ISQ while exploring womanhood, migration, resilience, loss and the inherited legacies.
At its heart is Serra’s relationship with her late mother, who left Sicily for Copenhagen in her thirties & raised three daughters far from home. Her story of migration, sacrifice, reinvention and expectations became a thread running through the album and a way to look outwards at the experiences of generations of women. Deeply personal yet deliberately universal, The Silence Is Deafening asks what we inherit, what we resist and what can be lost when silence becomes easier than speaking.