French-American musician, composer, and carpenter Zoé Basha, based in Dublin, Ireland has released her long-awaited debut solo album Gamble. A strikingly honest and genre-defying collection, Gamble weaves together threads of folk, blues, Americana, jazz, and Irish traditional music, telling stories of love, loss, resilience, and nomadic life.

Having spent the better part of a decade travelling by thumb, rust-bucket vans, and freight trains, Zoé honed her voice on the streets of Europe and the backroads of Ireland, busking to sustain her journey. A deep-rooted love for old-time storytelling and timeless melodies led her to craft this debut — a heartfelt reflection of a life lived on the fringes and in full colour.

Gamble is more than an album — it’s a chronicle of transformation. With lyrics exploring grief, intimacy, identity, and societal expectations, the album captures the raw tenderness of the human experience. Zoé’s voice — often compared to the haunting tones of vintage jazz recordings — carries the listener through these tales with the warmth of a friend and the edge of truth.

The album was self-produced by Zoé, with mixing and mastering by Grammy Award-winning engineer Ben Rawlins, and features contributions from Ultan Lavery (keys/organ – Trá Pháidín, Ether Ensemble) will also accompany Zoé on her national Irish tour April–May 2025. Get your tickets, here.

Influenced by the likes of Billie Holiday, The Mills Brothers, Joni Mitchell, Edith Piaf, Texas Gladden, and The Steve Miller Band, as well as her contemporaries in the Irish folk scene, Zoé Basha’s sound feels at once vintage and boldly present — a reflection of the golden eras she honours with a fresh, fearless honesty.

“For a while, I didn’t think music was useful for the world,” Zoé says, reflecting on a detour into traditional French timber framing. “But songs kept finding me. They always do.”

Now, she’s returned to Ireland, tools and dreams in tow, to share those songs — stories collected along winding roads, city corners, and quiet moments of revelation.