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Old 03-24-2014, 08:26 PM   #1
damien lisa
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Default Lisa Hannigan talks writing process for third album

http://www.hotpress.com/news/Lisa-Ha....tO4QLmaz.dpuf

A late 2014/early 2015 release is the aim at present.
The Hot Press Newsdesk, 06 Mar 2014


Quote:

Graciously accepting her Hotties gong for 'Best Female' in the new issue of Hot Press, Lisa Hannigan also spoke candidly about her time living in London, where writing on the follow-up to 2011's Passenger is currently ongoing.

"I have good days and bad days with it," the songstress admits, "But when I'm working it's going pretty well. I do have a good few days of not doing anything, which is hard. I'm not so good at the 'sitting and waiting' thing! Isolating myself a bit certainly works for me."

As for whether there's a tentative release date in place…

"NOOO!" Hannigan shrieks good-naturedly. "It just depends how bloody slow I am with ol' writing. I'd love to have one out late this year or early next year. I'm afraid to curse myself by saying anything!"

"It has been great fun," she says of the pod. "Or had been great fun until Dyan started his new 'Desensitisation Of Lisa' notions [a new feature in which Haskins gets her to confront her fears, such as hanging out in a cave]. The cave… it was enjoyable in retrospect. Once I was out of the cave, I enjoyed that I'd done it! He made me go to see an actual horror theatre show last night, which was genuinely quite terrifying. But I survived that too. I think by the end of it I'm going to be pretty … hardcore!

"I don't know how long it's going to go on for but it definitely seems like the better I handle it, the more they're throwing at me. I should probably try and pretend I'm not as brave as I appear to be from the last few! I hope it lessens a bit now, it's not really my bag to be honest. I saw The Shining and I think that's enough for anybody!"
http://www.hotpress.com/Lisa-Hanniga.../12974362.html

LISA HANNIGAN CHECKS IN WITH HOT PRESS

The chanteuse has updated us on news of an album, her movie work and more
The Hot Press Newsdesk, 11 Nov 2014
Quote:
Lisa Hannigan has given Hot Press a progress report on the follow-up to her 2011 Passenger album.

“I am trying to write a third record,” she tells us. “Trying. I’m being very slow about it, but that’s mainly what I’m doing.”

In fairness, she’s had plenty of film work to keep her busy, starting with a 2012 contribution to Gravity.

“I worked with (composer) Stephen Price who did the score. It was all theramin warbling. I sent my parents to see that film and they said, ‘We couldn’t really hear you.’”

Lisa got another call from Mr. Price last year asking her to be on the Fury soundtrack.

“I’m more recognisable. My mum will be able to pick me out this time. Myself and Brad Pitt, together at last!”

Ms. Hannigan has also become a voice-over artiste.

“Yes, I’ve done some talking in the new Cartoon Saloon film, Song Of The Sea,” she concludes. “It was really nerve-wracking. I went to see it and I was so nervous because I cringe when I hear myself talk. Pretending, on top of it, makes it even worse! But it was great, the film is so good.”

The story of Saoirse, the last of the selkies who according to Scots and Irish tradition can transform from seals into people, the animation also features the dulcet tones of Brendan Gleeson, Fionnula Flanagan, Pat Shortt and Jon Kenny. Which is excellent company to be keeping!

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Old 03-27-2014, 02:15 PM   #2
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Great!
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Old 12-31-2014, 08:09 AM   #3
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the third album will definitely be next year. And she talks abt Rihanna, Damo..., London, nervous, Song of the sea, Game of Thrones... lol. Awesome interview

http://www.independent.ie/entertainm...-30859167.html
Quote:
Lisa's last waltz? Or is there still more to come?

Three years since her last album, a new recording of The Christmas Waltz for An Post's festive television ad has put Lisa Hannigan back on the musical radar. Here, Stephen Milton asks the singer whether there's more to come…

Stephen Milton

PUBLISHED
28/12/2014 | 02:30


Lisa Hannigan


Lisa Hannigan on stage at the Electric Picnic in 2009


Lisa Hannigan and Damien Rice during the 2003 Sundance Film Festival


Lisa Hannigan on stage


Lisa Hannigan

Lisa Hannigan speaks in a sort of robust whisper. As if she's conveying a secret so juicy, the excitement's too much to contain.

It's soothing and entrancing, like the soft, creaking murmur in her songs. I find myself gliding along the ripple of her warm tones. And then, she breaks this pensive fluidity with a startling utterance.

"You know, I really don't feel like Rihanna," Hannigan says, laughing at herself. Well of course, I say, nobody would ever deign to compare the two. "I mean, I don't feel like Rihanna in the sense of having to get a number one album out. There's no rush. There's no pressure from record companies or any of that business.

"I just want make a record that I'm proud of. And I hope that will happen next year."

It's over three years since Hannigan's last album release, but thanks to her recording of Frank Sinatra's The Christmas Waltz for the An Post festive TV ad, there's fresh public demand for new material from the singer-songwriter. Proceeds from the song, which was sold as a single during November and December, went to the Simon Community.

So, can we expect a new album to follow? "I'm being quite slow about it. I don't know why. It's just moved in quite a laboured way.

"But it will definitely be next year. It has to be because I really want to get it out. I want to play shows again but I haven't been able to do that without a new record. "And it's weird," she says, "I'm in London right now and I just haven't found I've written a huge amount here. So who knows?"

Living in the city's North East for a year-and-a-half now, Hannigan moved for 'practicalities', as she puts it.

She hesitates when I press her further. "Emmmm… practicalities that my fella lives here and had a real job. And it made more sense for me to leave Dublin because I was writing songs and I can do that anywhere." Is this the comedian she previously alluded to in past interviews? "You know…" she replies, enjoying a thoughtful pause. "I'd rather not get into it."

The 33-year-old has been burned in the past - and on a very public stage. It's bred an internal hesitance.

And it all comes back to her former boyfriend, Damien Rice. The two met at a concert while she was studying art history at Trinity College and made beautiful music together. On the resulting album, 2002's O, Hannigan provided a sweet optimism to Rice's melancholic vulnerability.

Singles Volcano, Cannonball and The Blower's Daughter became instant classics. The album sold over a half a million copies in the States and went 14 times platinum in the UK and Ireland. The fans loved the real-life love story behind the songs.

By the time his album 9 was released in 2006, however, the romance had splintered. A song from the album, Accidental Babies, referenced the cracks in their relationship. Things came to a head while on tour. A heated argument between the lovers backstage in Germany resulted in Hannigan's immediate dismissal from Rice's band. There's been minimal contact since.

And while Lisa moved on with a successful solo career - she has released two albums, been nominated for the Mercury Prize, performed on the Jay Leno Show and toured with Jason Mraz - Rice's output ceased.

Much of his crash was down to missing his former girlfriend. During an interview in 2009, he poured his heart out, crying "I love her so much".

I ask Hannigan what their relationship is like now? "I mean, we're in..." she says, pausing and tiptoeing round her words carefully. "We're in contact very rarely."

Has she heard his new album, My Favourite Faded Fantasy? Released in October this year after an eight-year break from Rice, it's his first album not to feature Lisa.

"No, I haven't heard it yet," she says squarely.

Rice recently revealed that he'd asked his ex to contribute on the album, an offer she refused. He also said that he hoped that, even if they didn't work together in studio again, that they might perform live. Is this likely to happen?

"I don't think that will happen. I doubt it. I don't know. I know it wouldn't be on the cards at the moment but..."

Lisa trails off into silence. It's been eight years since the split. She's currently in another relationship. Do the questions about Damien irk?

"To be honest, you're the first to ask me about that in five years. But yeah, I'm fairly relaxed about it. It really doesn't bother me at all."

I'm not quite convinced by the reply, but it's a commendable performance of nonchalance. One that can perhaps be chalked up to the skills acquired from her acting debut in Song of the Sea - an animated gem from Tomm Moore's Cartoon Saloon, home of Oscar-nominated epic, The Secret of Kells. And the reason we speak today.

Boasting the same lush hand-drawn visuals and fascination with Celtic legends, not to mention glaring awards potential, the classic animation spins a magic-infused yarn against a present-day backdrop.

Lisa voices Bronagh, a mystical 'Selkie' - half-human, half-seal - who disappears into the waves one night, leaving behind her husband (Brendan Gleeson) and two young children.

Years later, Ben (Moone Boy's David Rawle) and his silent little sister, Saoirse, set out to solve the family mystery, encountering a host of mythical creatures voiced by stalwarts of the Irish film industry including Fionnula Flanagan, Jon Kenny and Pat Shortt.

For a neophyte like Hannigan, the offer of a part in the film came as a shock.

"I got a call from the guys about doing some singing in the film and that was a no-brainer for me because I loved The Secret of Kells and I loved the music by Kíla and Bruno Coulais. But then they mentioned the possibility of doing a little bit of talking as well, which I was a bit more nervous about.

"The thought of that got my heart thumping with fear but I'm glad I did it. It's such a beautiful film. I'm proud to be a part of it."

Is this the beginning of a new career path for the dainty chanteuse?

"Oh no, I couldn't be acting with my face," she laughs. "It's one thing with the voice and they beautifully tailor it around that. But I don't know if I'd be able for any Love/Hate or anything like that. I think I'll be sticking to music in general. That's where my heart is."

"Mind you," she adds. "If Game of Thrones came calling… I mean, maybe."

Over a decade since the release of O, Lisa's carved out a unique niche and a strong solo brand. And while gaining confidence over the years, she admits the nerves remain. "It's funny because I actually think I get more nervous now than I used to. And I don't know why.

"I had a really great education when I was very young. And seeing David [Rawle], who plays Ben in Song of the Sea and who also plays Moone Boy, when people are really young, they just kind of accept things and are quite brave, but they don't realise that they're supposed to be nervous.

"So I just ended up doing things with Damien where I was like: 'Okay, let's go for this, no problem.'

"Whereas now, I'm like freaking out about going on a TV show or lending my voice to an animated film. There's something about doing things with an open heart and an excitement which is very useful. And the nerves, yeah, they still remain. I don't think they'll ever go away."

Is it possible for the singer to pinpoint a moment where she felt her most anxious? "The very first time I played at the Electric Picnic with my own record [in 2009] just before it came out, that was the most nervous I've ever been. And also one of my favourite shows ever, which is strange."

"I had felt very shaken by my experiences before I released my own thing. And to be so welcomed and warmly received gave me an amount of confidence to go forward with what I was doing. That will always stick out as one of the moments where I changed the way I felt about what I was doing. I felt comfortable up there."

Watching Hannigan perform, you would never identity anxiety. Throwing her face up to the ceiling, producing a cleansing, delicate moan of pointed strength and stirring warmth, she was simply born for this. The stage is her second home. "Perhaps, even my first," she adds, "and that's why I need to start touring again."

And why she needs to finish the new album. Is Lisa blocked, perhaps? Or is London really the problem? "I just don't love anything I've written in the last while. As I said, there's no pressure from anyone but myself really. I simply want to make a better record than my last. So that's pressure. Internal pressure.

"To be perfectly honest, it really hasn't been flowing easy in London. Maybe that's it. I've really enjoyed my time here and it's such a wonderful place but I miss home every day. Ultimately, I'm from the country so it's a bit hectic for me living here. Don't a lot of people say that?"

She sighs and chuckles softly. "Maybe they do. Or maybe I just need to cop on to myself and get it finished. Stop with the excuses." I can certainly think of worse New Year's resolutions…

Song of the Sea is in cinemas in 2015.

Irish Independent
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Old 12-31-2014, 11:16 AM   #4
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Great interview! Thanks for sharing. Glad to hear about the album/touring.
I'm reading a lot between the lines. But maybe that's just the interviewer's insinuations...
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Old 12-31-2014, 02:01 PM   #5
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thanks! great interview
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Old 12-31-2014, 02:43 PM   #6
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Great interview, thank you so much for sharing! The countdown begins, I think that could be another powerful/beautiful album.

On another point:
"She's currently in another relationship"... Who's the lucky guy?
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Old 12-31-2014, 04:58 PM   #7
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has Damo ever talked abt meaning of Accidental Babies?
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Old 01-01-2015, 06:56 PM   #8
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Who's the new Lisa Hannigan's boyfriend?

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Old 01-07-2015, 12:22 PM   #9
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Commendable if she resisted the urge to hear MFFF. Also, can't wait for her new stuff!
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Old 01-12-2015, 08:22 PM   #10
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I bet my bottom it's Dylan Haskins! He lives in London and they seem to spend a lot of time together. Anyways, if it's not him, the actual fellow should be really jealous of him

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Old 02-17-2015, 04:57 PM   #11
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As I said, there's no pressure from anyone but myself really. I simply want to make a better record than my last. So that's pressure. Internal pressure.
this is why i love Lisa, same for Damo. Pls don't give a poop abt other ppl
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Old 09-20-2015, 01:00 PM   #12
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lol, since when ppl like to compare lisa and rihanna http://www.independent.ie/life/food-...-31510881.html
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Raw cacao is the new kale. The difference between cacao and cocoa is simple. Cacao is raw, while cocoa is heat-treated. Both come from the same plant, and even the same pod. That's not to say one is good and the other is bad. Let me put it this way: Lisa Hannigan is the cacao of pop stars - raw, husky and unadulterated - to Rihanna's refined, cosmetic vibe. One is artisan and delicate; the other manufactured to excite every population on this planet. Which is more important? That's for you to decide.
not so much related to the point but i'm too lazy for a new topic:

Gavin Glass abt Lisa: http://www.independent.ie/entertainm...-31537469.html
Quote:
Gadabout Gavin toured with the aforesaid Lisa Hannigan for five years. He describes her with typical warmth and humanity as possessing “one of the greatest voices in the world. And one of the coolest chicks you’ll ever met. That kind of persona she has on stage is what she is like off it. She is just a really cool, righteous, generous person”.
JAQ abt Lisa: https://www.goldenplec.com/featured/...e-you-met-jaq/
Quote:
You have been compared to the likes of Lisa Hannigan do you think this is a fair comparison?
"Yes - I'm flattered by the comparison. She's deadly. I'm a big fan of hers. She is definitely someone that I'm inspired by."
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Old 10-29-2015, 12:20 AM   #13
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work again with myles o'reilly http://issuu.com/goldenplec/docs/gol...1?e=0/15198895

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Old 10-29-2015, 01:25 AM   #14
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Originally Posted by damien lisa View Post
This is amazing, Damien Lisa! Myles is so fantastic with the camera. He's so talented and his friendship with Lisa is so big that is more perfect yet. Oh, Jesus, I'm really happy.

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Old 10-29-2015, 08:21 AM   #15
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Is there a Myles appreciation thread somewhere?
there really should be
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Old 10-31-2015, 07:10 AM   #16
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he was leader of juno falls. It's like every irish is singer or used to be
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Old 05-22-2016, 05:49 PM   #17
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i believe such a big news like album will be notified first in her website
hmm...
just saw this, a jap site http://www.hmv.co.jp/artist_Lisa-Han...t-Swim_7076000

aug 19th 2016

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Old 06-09-2016, 04:04 AM   #18
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http://www.hotpress.com/Lisa-Hanniga.../17466987.html
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LISTEN: LISA HANNIGAN PREVIEWS HER NEW ALBUM, AT SWIM, WITH 'PRAYER FOR THE DYING'

Due in August, it's produced by The National's Aaron Dessner
The Hot Press Newsdesk, 08 Jun 2016, 15:22



Our Wednesday’s been made even sunnier by the news that the new Lisa Hannigan album, At Swim, will be with us on August 19 through Play It Again Sam.

The first taster, ‘Prayer For The Dying’, has a deliciously laid-back retro feel.

The long-awaited follow up to 2011’s Mercury-nominated Passenger, it’s produced by Aaron Dessner of The National who’s a big fan of Ms. H’s.

‘Prayer For The Dying’ reflects on the death of a close friend.

“They'd had a very long and happy marriage and the loss was devastating,” Lisa recalls. “I wanted to try and express that grief but also pay tribute to their marriage.'”

The 'Your heart, my heart' refrain puts us in mind of classic Patsy Cline.

According to the press blurb: “Having first exchanged ideas over email and iPhones, At Swim surfaced when Lisa and Aaron finally met up in Denmark: recording then took place in a church in Hudson, New York, during a furiously-creative seven-day stint. Despite openly being written lost-at-sea, you sense that at this point in her career, Lisa Hannigan is now a strong enough swimmer to go as far out as she wants; to darker depths than before, where the treasure lies, and bring it back to us.”
http://music.mxdwn.com/2016/06/08/ne...-2016-release/
Quote:
“He didn’t want it to sound too pretty,” Hannigan says. “He wanted it to have a texture rather than have big arcing melodies.” Dessner wanted to give the music texture because At Swim is partially about homesickness and isolation, along with love.
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Old 06-14-2016, 11:40 AM   #19
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spoiler: there'll be bed scene in one of those next official MV
well, jk

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Old 06-28-2016, 04:03 PM   #20
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http://www.sacksco.com/notes/lisa_hannigan.html
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From the very start – autumn-tinged 'Fall', co-written with producer and Renaissance man Joe Henry – it crackles with an eerie Hallowe'en magic. The song begins with an acoustic guitar and a whispered invitation: 'Hop the fences, steal the cars/Run on fumes and from the law/And burn for us right through the fall...' As the voices and the guitars chime in, we're up and running, off on an outlaw journey. With every song that follows we travel deeper into a darkly magical space where the boundaries between love and death, past and present, grief and happiness, are dissolved. Hannigan's never been a singer who's afraid of the dark, but here she handles her themes with an empathy and directness that can only come with experience. So it's a surprise to learn that the record didn't come easily, at least not at first.

'I toured with Passenger for nearly two years,' Lisa says. 'And then I came back and sat down to write the new one. But this time I found it really hard.'

One reason was that, because of a new relationship, she was dividing her time between Dublin and London. 'London's such an amazing city in many ways, but all of the clichés you hear about it are true,' she says. 'It's very big and very alienating. I was away from home, away from my usual anchors and points of reference, and I felt a bit adrift and lost.' Used to having musician friends to bounce ideas off and test new songs on, she now found herself writing on her own – or not writing.

Landlocked?

'You could say that,' she laughs. 'And it's kind of a vicious circle. The longer you're not writing, the larger it looms.'

The breakthrough came when she got an email out of the blue from Aaron Dessner, guitarist with indie superstars The National and producer of the bestselling Dark Is the Night. 'He'd seen a clip of me singing and he wrote to say, “Hey, if you ever want to do something together...” And of course I wrote back straight away: “Yes!” So he started sending me these pieces of music, and I'd put them on and record myself humming along into my phone, and suddenly all of these songs started appearing.'

'Lo' was the first song they wrote together – a hypnotic ode to insomnia that starts in a state of small-hours dread but arrives at a state close to exaltation. Listening to it, it's as if you can hear Hannigan's heart lift as she works out how to confront the darkness that's been oppressing her, take hold of it and transform it into something else. Working with Dessner, rediscovering the collaborative spirit she'd missed in Dublin enabled Lisa to see her life in London in a different light. So while At Swim is in part about homesickness and isolation, it's also – profoundly and very movingly – about love.

'I was adrift and caught in the ropes/Under a pinhole sky, blowing off course...' begins 'Ora', a gorgeous aquatic ballad worthy of her mermaid alter ego in Song of the Sea. 'Aaron sent me the music, just the piano,' Lisa says. 'And the way he played it immediately conjured up in my mind the heave and the haul of oars on water. Next thing the words and the melody had just arrived in my head.' From that sense of lostness and uncertainty comes a new hope, and a fragile, ravishing dream of love. 'You'll be the boat and/I'll be the sea,' it closes. 'Won't you come with me?' Who could resist?

'A Prayer for the Dying' was inspired by the death of a friend's parent after a long illness. 'They'd had a very long and happy marriage and the loss was devastating,' Lisa recalls. 'I wanted to try and express that grief but also to pay tribute to their marriage.' Hence the song's passage from Patsy Cline-esque lament to its starlit, shimmering chorus: 'Your heart, my heart' - four words that here somehow convey all of the power of a whole anthology of love poetry.

If At Swim finds love in darkness, however, there's also a darkness to the love. In 'Snow', love is enough to make the physical world disappear: 'you were the snow falling down...I was the city losing colour and sound'. But there's something suffocating about that image of the lovers buried in each other, 'sunk like treasure'; and wherever it is they're travelling to, it's with the knowledge that 'we would never be here again'. And how about 'Tender', with its twisting dancers, and that sinister, unexplained loose tooth? The same ambiguity suffuses album closer 'Barton', another song written with Dessner, and marked by a soaring vocal performance amid a shower of guitar harmonics and fizzing drumbeats, the latter provided by the National's Bryan Devendorf. 'Broken as it is, this is a love,' Hannigan sings, and we realize, if we haven't already, that we've come some distance from the wide-eyed whimsy of Sea Sew.

Dessner and Hannigan finally met in Denmark, some months after they'd begun emailing, and began to map out the album. The following September, she travelled to Hudson, New York, where Dessner lives. 'It's upstate New York, proper rural, with sheep and chickens on the side of the road.' It's also home to Future Past Studio, a huge converted church where, with Dessner on guitar, Logan Coale on bass, and Ross Turner (of I Am the Cosmos) on drums – most of the album was recorded in just 7 days.

Then, in the weeks that followed, Dessner continued to work on the music in his home studio. 'He didn't want it to sound too pretty,' Lisa says. 'He wanted it to have a texture rather than have big arcing melodies.' Hence the strange sounds that lurk beneath the surface of the album, and strokes of idiosyncratic genius like the trombone chorale that plays the funeral horns at the end of 'We, the Drowned', and the strings – brilliantly arranged by German composer, conductor and erstwhile Gorillaz collaborator André de Ridder – that lean slightly askew throughout.

Were you both on the same page throughout the recording?

'I think Aaron would have liked a few more guitar solos,'
she laughs. 'But whenever he'd suggest it I'd say, “Hmm, maybe we should have a violin instead.”' (The album does feature Lisa's first-ever banjo solo, however – on “Undertow”, an addictive, propulsive number about sex and desire.)

For her part, Lisa wanted the record to feature lots of vocal harmonies. 'Because I started out doing harmony with Damien, I shied away from it in my own records. I wanted to show I could do other things. But with this one I went for it.' This is nowhere clearer than on 'Anahorish', an a capella reconfiguring of a poem by Seamus Heaney. Otherworldly and quite breathtaking, the result is like a mythic Irish version of the Sirens' spiritual in O Brother Where Art Thou? Heaney – a famous music-lover who died while the album was being written – would surely have approved.

And then, second from the end, there's the towering 'Funeral Suit'. Apparently a simple song about a night in, it pulls together all the themes of the album – love, death, London, homesickness, 'the past and future tense', isolation and togetherness and the long hard struggle to belong. 'He came by in his funeral suit/In an open-hearted shade of blue...'

'That song's completely autobiographical in that himself came back from his nana's funeral very early on in our relationship and I remember we were supposed to be going out somewhere in London and I didn't know where anything was,'
Lisa recalls – a state of affairs beautifully captured in the lines: 'To Bermondsey or to Shoreditch?/I said I don't know which is which/The night a thread for him to stitch/for me the unbelieving...'

In the end, they stay home, and drink gin, 'and dance around this borrowed kitchen...' And from here the song builds to an extraordinary wordless chorus (mention must be made of Coale's sublime basswork here) that expresses everything that's going on under the surface. Because of course, it's on seemingly ordinary nights like this that whole lives turn; it's on nights like this that you fall in love.

And that's the thing about Lisa Hannigan. She'll tell you she's off course, or unbelieving, or at swim, and then she'll turn around and write a song so direct and so natural and so perfect it seems like it's always been there. The truth, one suspects, is that she feels quite happy being lost at sea. At this point in her career, she's a strong enough swimmer to go as far out as she wants, right out into the storm; she's brave enough to plumb the darkest depths, down to where the brightest treasure lies. And she's great-hearted enough to bring it back for us. ●
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Old 06-28-2016, 04:50 PM   #21
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Thanks for posting this! Really interesting.
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Old 06-28-2016, 06:11 PM   #22
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Great find, thank you!
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Old 06-28-2016, 08:26 PM   #23
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spoiler: there'll be bed scene in one of those next official MV
well, jk

so lisa finally allow to post her private creepy face pic https://www.instagram.com/p/BG9a4DZg...y=arbutusyarns
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Old 06-29-2016, 04:14 PM   #24
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so lisa finally allow to post her private creepy face pic https://www.instagram.com/p/BG9a4DZg...y=arbutusyarns
Wow, this is downright frightening. If I met her on the street at night looking at me like that I'd run away screaming!
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Old 07-19-2016, 01:18 PM   #25
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http://www.todayfm.com/Lisa-Hannigan-in-session

lisa since 51:55 to 58:50 and 1:06:41 http://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/...2D07%2D2016%5F
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Old 07-25-2016, 07:36 PM   #26
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album review by Olaf Tyaransen https://scontent-hkg3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...08594088_o.jpg, words: http://www.hotpress.com/Lisa-Hanniga.../17934083.html
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By any standards, Lisa Hannigan has enjoyed an extremely successful solo career since stepping out of Damien Rice’s shadow almost a decade ago.

Her 2008 debut album, Sea Sew, went double platinum and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The 2011 follow-up, Passenger, went straight to No 1 in Ireland and was shortlisted for the Choice Prize.

By her own admission, Lisa was initially struggling to write new material, after coming off two years of touring the world in support of Passenger. So she put her energy into other projects. There was an acting debut as a mermaid in the Oscar-nominated animation Song Of The Sea, soundtrack work on Fargo and the Oscar-winning score for Gravity, all the while founding and co-hosting the acclaimed Soundings podcast (which saw the Dublin-born singer turn interviewer, and speak to guests like Harry Shearer, Sharon Horgan and David Arnold).

Even so, five years is a long break to take between albums, especially in a fast-moving world in which many music careers don’t even last that long. Her new creative breakthrough came when she received an out of the blue email from Aaron Dessner, guitarist with The National and producer for the likes of Local Natives and Sharon Van Etten, suggesting that they work together. Having initially exchanged ideas over email, the pair finally met up to demo some songs in Denmark. At Swim was then recorded in a week, in a church in Hudson, New York.

It must have been quite some week – because this is a truly stunning collection. Her two previous albums often tended to playfully hop, skip and jump between musical styles. However, expertly produced by Dessner, the eleven tracks featured on At Swim are all quite darkly focused: the mood is steadily sad, wistful and melancholic throughout. Some tracks build and build, but often there’s just a spiritually sparse piano or organ and drumbeats and loops so subtle that you barely even notice them as backing.

Given the title, it’s unsurprising that there are many lyrical images of water – but there’s nothing wishy washy about them. On haunting first cut ‘Prayer For The Dying’, she sounds like Patsy Cline as – full of vulnerability – she croons the lament, “A prayer for the dying/ for the waves coming in/ and washing the edges/ away from within.

On ‘Ora’, she suggests, “You’ll be the boat/ and I’ll be the sea/ won’t you come with me.” Then there’s ‘Undertow’: “I want to swim in your current/ carry me out, up and away/ I want to float on every word you say.” Midway through the album, she does a truly beautiful acapella version of the famous Seamus Heaney poem ‘Anahorish’: “My place of clear water/ the first hill in the world...

Her voice – and Lisa has most definitely found her voice superbly on this outing – has never sounded more gorgeous than it does on ‘Tender’: “Tender as a loose tooth/ askew at the root/ my love.” Her new man makes an appearance on ‘Funeral Suit’: “He came by in his funeral suit/ in an open-hearted shade of blue/ and asked me what I like to do/ on a July evening/ To Bermondsey or Shoreditch/ I said I don’t know which is which.

Album closer ‘Barton’ is a slow burner, underscored with increasingly pulsing beats, that sees her singing, “Broken as it is... this is a love.”

These are understated songs of love, loss and longing, coming from a far more mature, thoughtful and confident artist than witnessed on previous outings. It might have been five years coming, but At Swim is easily Lisa Hannigan’s greatest work to date.
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Old 07-26-2016, 02:21 PM   #27
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thanks for this. i haven´t listened to the full record (obviously!) but i do have the feeling it´s her best album yet and it´s going to be amazing!
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Old 07-28-2016, 03:39 PM   #28
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[...] it´s going to be amazing!
Also with today's tweet :


Here's what comes to mind :

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Old 07-28-2016, 04:04 PM   #29
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HOT PRESS MAGAZINE: "The Dead are such a cultural touchstone, and I didn't realize how influential they are." Three pages long interview with #LisaHannigan! Get the new issue on August 4th!

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Old 07-28-2016, 05:10 PM   #30
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As we don't have Hot Prees magazine here in Germany, would someone be so kind to scan the interview and post it here? Pretty please???
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