Irish Singer-Songwriters Week, Vol 2: Women’s Voices
(A St. Paddy’s Day Who’s Who of Irish Coverfolk)
March 16th, 2010 — 10:41 pm
Sunday, we started off Irish Singer-Songwriter’s Week with a feature on Irishmen under 40 and a promise of more to come. Today, on the cusp of St. Patrick’s Day itself, we fulfill that promise in spades, with music of and from a full compliment of young Irish lasses, and – at post’s end – links to a full set of revived past features on U2, Sinead O’Connor, and Celtic Punk. Enjoy…and may the luck of the Irish be with ye!
- Sinéad Lohan: To Ramona (orig. Bob Dylan)
- Shaye: No Mermaid (orig. Sinéad Lohan)
- Nickel Creek: Out Of The Woods (ibid.)
- Sinéad Lohan seems to be an artist lost to time; my father knew the name, but her website address has been taken over by a “Quality Engineer at Apple Computer” named George. It doesn’t help that Lohan only recorded two albums, both before she turned 21, leaving the limelight before the turn of the century to focus on motherhood; rumors of a third album – supposedly recorded in 2004 and in production in 2007 – swirled around the fanbase in the last few years, but no such album seems to have emerged.
- But if the public has missed her, her musical peers have not: Lohan, whose 1995 debut was recorded at the tender age of 17, was first covered by Joan Baez two years afterwards, and the coverage continued well into the millennium. The perfect countrypop ballad Lohan makes of Dylan’s To Ramona, which appears on the last installment of the A Woman’s Heart series, is a fine showcase for her clear, emotive vocals; the two bonus tracks – the first a driving popfolk, the other languid and bluegrassy – speak exquisitely to the universality of her lyrics.
- Gemma Hayes: Cloudbusting (orig. Kate Wolf)
- Gemma Hayes: No Ordinary Love (orig. Sade)
- Magnet and Gemma Hayes: Lay Lady Lay (orig. Bob Dylan)
- Popfolk keyboardist Gemma Hayes, born in Tipperary in 1977 and now based in Dublin, is relatively well known in the indie crowd, thanks to multiple soundtrack appearances, plenty of love from European charts and stages, and the above collaboration with Norwegian electrofolkie Magnet, which appeared in the film Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Her Sade cover, recorded in 2005 for the radio, is a lovely rough-cut slice of pensive singer-songwriter folk, reminiscent of Jonatha Brooke’s best and quietest work, sweetly transformed and beautiful with yearning; the gentle, pulsing Kate Bush cover – a triumph of interpretation that channels the best of Bush’s distinctive tones while retaining the restrained delicacy of Hayes’ natural delivery – is her most recent release, a 2009 holiday gift to the universe recorded live in Dublin.
- Wallis Bird: Just Can’t Get Enough (orig. Depeche Mode)
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Wallis Bird is the youngest of today’s featured Irish Lasses; born in ’82, she works out of London, but we won’t hold that against her. New Boots, her sophomore release, has been out in Ireland since July, but it just hit the streets of mainland Europe on Monday; at first listen, with one or two softer exceptions, it’s a great high-production poprock romp, with wailing vocals, fast-paced, practically anthemic arrangements, and heavy drums and guitar, ideal for mainstream radioplay and a far cry from the folkworld. Still, her 2008 cover of Depeche Mode’s Just Can’t Get Enough, originally recorded for an ad campaign for UK newsrag The Sun, comes off gleeful, jangly and rough, like an acoustic take from an Irish KT Tunstall, with a hint of whistle and squeezebox. Gorgeous.
- Heidi Tabot: Bedlam Boys (trad.)
- Heidi Talbot: Whispering Grass (orig. Ink Spots)
- We reviewed Irish-born songstress Heidi Talbot ages ago, as a part of a feature on Compass Records, and featured both her Tom Waits cover and her Tim O’Brien cover from 2008 Indie Acoustic award-winning album In Love + Light in recent features on the gentlemen in question, so I’ll not dwell too much on her today, save to point out that this wonderful album has been in the CD changer in my car for ages, and it’s going to stay for ages, too. The aforementioned really are her best non-original works, but this Ink Spots cover is a great crooner’s ballad, if a bit warbly; her take on tradsong Bedlam Boys is delicious, too, and about as traditional as we’ll get today.
- Lisa Hannigan: Courting Blues (orig. Bert Jansch)
- Damien Rice w/ Lisa Hannigan: Waters of March (orig. Antonio Carlos Jobim)
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As promised on Sunday, we close tonight’s set with a few recent works from Lisa Hannigan, who made her name as an essential companion to Damien Rice, but set out on her own in 2007 after being booted mid-tour due to ongoing tensions about the direction of their musical journey together. Courting Blues, a Bert Jansch cover, is the sole non-original on her debut solo album Sea Sew, and it’s a mystical, moody gem, with smooth, warm vocals floated upon cello squeaks and fluttery drums. Meanwhile, Hannigan’s cover of Disco classic Upside Down is nigh impossible to find in the States – send it along if you’ve got it! – so in its stead, I’ve included a favorite piece from her work with Rice which, while wildly different in tone, sits exceptionally well in the ears, and suits the month to boot.
- Vyvienne Long: Seven Nation Army (orig. White Stripes)
- As a bonus: I don’t know much about classically-trained Irish cellist-turned-singer-songwriter Vyvienne Long, except that she has covered several indierock tunes, has also toured with Damien Rice as a string and piano player, and seems to have a knack for sparse, moody arrangements. Reportedly, her newest album dropped last week in Ireland, too. Mostly, though, I just couldn’t resist throwing this White Stripes cover in.
Previously on St. Patrick’s Day (all download links now LIVE and REVIVED!)