Review By Ian Walker
With Bang, her powerful debut album, Iona Zajac steps boldly out of the shadows as The Pogues’ new voice and into a sonic world entirely her own. Released on 21 November, the record is a blistering, vulnerable, and defiantly human exploration of trauma, healing, desire, and the complicated joys of womanhood.
The past year has seen Zajac’s star rise at extraordinary speed. After re-emerging with “Summer” – her first release in three years – she spent autumn supporting Alison Moyet on a sold-out 25-date academy tour, performing to her largest audiences yet. Then came the unthinkable: sharing the stage with The Pogues for their 40th anniversary show and ultimately becoming part of their new touring lineup. When Spider Stacy joins you in getting “Pogue” tattooed on your skin, it’s safe to say you’ve earned your place in folk-punk history.
But Bang is not the record of someone content to trade on legacy. It is the record of a woman with something urgent to say.
The title track “Bang” sets the tone with electrifying intent. Leaving behind the ghostly folk minimalism of “Summer”, Zajac unleashes a swaggering anthem of sexual liberation. With razor-sharp wit and a grin that can be heard in every line, she reframes intimacy not as something to fear or endure, but as something joyful, freeing, and defiantly hers. “A good bang at the end of a boring day won’t fix your life,” she sings, “but it might help”—a line delivered with knowing charm and emotional bite.
Yet the record is far from one-dimensional. Across the tracklist, Zajac balances tenderness and ferocity with astonishing poise. “Bowls” opens the album with slow-burning melancholy, her voice rich and trembling over restrained instrumentation. “Dilute” and “Salt” delve deeper into emotional excavation, drawing on folk textures with a modern, almost dreamlike edge. “Anton” is a standout — a winding, atmospheric tale that showcases her narrative instincts, each lyric landing with poetic clarity.
“Summer”, already a fan favourite, remains one of the album’s most haunting moments. Its quiet ache contrasts beautifully with the jagged playfulness of “Chicken Supermarket”, where Zajac’s surreal humour cuts through the heaviness. She refuses to let the album drown in its own pain; instead, she fills it with life’s absurdity, its messy contradictions, and its defiant laughter.
The final stretch of the record hits hardest. “Murder Mystery” is an unnerving, gripping piece of storytelling, while “Ridiculous Hat” wraps introspection in gentle levity. The closing track, “Loving is Rough”, is a triumph — a raw, open-throated confession of how love wounds, heals, and reshapes us, and how we keep choosing it anyway.
What makes Bang exceptional is its balance of ferocity and fragility. Zajac writes with the honesty of someone who has lived through shame, reclaimed her voice, and now speaks with unflinching clarity. Her sound — part folk, part indie rock, part something entirely her own — feels like an artist unafraid to evolve.
If “Bang” signals anything, it’s that Iona Zajac is not just The Pogues’ new voice. She is one of the boldest, most compelling new songwriters of the moment—and this debut is the explosive beginning she deserved
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