First Impressions: In the Shadows by Sarah Power

It’s a dreary day in the Triangle, with gray skies overhead and a damp chill cocooning the bones. The news—always of death. Social media—always of upset. Tumult, turmoil, trouble, turbulence—it’s all we hear. It’s all we know. No less than a silly TV show has led to vitriolic online debates (yet again), while rancor over the remixes and remasters that accompany every legacy re-release spews additional bile. Everywhere we turn, most everything we consume, we’re met with complaints and insults.

Sarah Power’s In the Shadows won’t change that, of course, but it does provide a welcome respite from the noise. For those unfamiliar with the Irish pianist and composer, she’s helped create the soundtracks for an array of television programs and films, and also supported singer (and best friend) Stephanie Rainey, the Dublin-born singer-songwriter who made it to the America’s Got Talent quarterfinals in 2024.

The instrumental set was recorded at Treehouse Studios in County Wicklow and Power’s home studio in Dublin; she plays piano, of course, and handles the electronic flourishes, while Gareth Quinn Redmond supplies the strings. It’s quiet and reflective, meditative, perfect for late nights, early mornings, and those moments when calamity and contentiousness become too much: Turn off your mind, relax, and float down the stream of piano notes.

The press release quotes her as saying, “I’ve spent years working behind the scenes on other people’s projects, and this EP was my way of stepping out and claiming a bit of space for myself. They’re deeply personal pieces that mark me defining myself as a composer—a quiet record, but a real turning point.”

So it is. In the Shadows won’t change the world, as no song or album can, but it will ease one’s mind. It’s a series of deep breathes set to song.