We have the immense pleasure of sharing the brilliant new video for Crush from Dublin-based singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Inni-K who was named by RTÉ.ie as one of ten fierce women defining Irish culture. She has received consistent praise for her fresh style of indie-folk since the 2015 release of her acclaimed album ‘The King has Two Horse’s Ears’ and there is no let-up in her stream of creativity as she so ably proves on the very catchy Crush and the accompanying video by filmmaker Laura Sheeran. Watch it below and read Inni-K’s background about the song.
I started writing ‘Crush’ last September. I was down in Cork, Ireland, for a few days doing some gigs and stayed in a friend’s house in a beautiful seaside town called Bantry to focus on some writing. I needed to finish some that were nearly there and was keen to write another one or two before going into the recording process.
‘Crush’ started out really as an exercise that a fellow songwriting friend gave me; to write a song as if it was already written, as if I’d written it five years ago or so. I love writing exercises/tricks that help you get passed the initial inertia of a blank page and into the flow. So I looked out into my friend’s back garden in Bantry, where boughs were weighed down with ripening blackberries and the washing line had a string of rain pearls on it. I started writing. I gave myself 10 minutes, guitar in hand to work out a song as if I had it already made. It didn’t need to be good, in fact it could be the worse piece of rubbish ever – the goal was just to do it. It wasn’t finished after 10 minutes, but it was started! I find getting passed our own judgements whilst creating really liberating. I constantly need ways to achieve that. So that I can get to the juicy stuff. It’s so satisfying to just play and find sounds, chords, words, images and memories that come together. Before you know it you have the shape of a song! Not anyone else’s song, might not even be that good, but it’s yours and it has something of you and your experience in it. I finished ‘Crush’ back home in Dublin. When Brian Walsh brought drums to it, and Alex Borwick (producer) played Hammond organ on, it really started cooking! But yeah, it started off in that kitchen in West Cork.
Well actually you could say ‘Crush’ started off in Leixlip, Co. Kildare, where I went to school! I really liked the boys in my class in school. I played with them at lunchtime; I felt like a kind of honorary boy – which tells you a bit about stereotypes and expected behaviours in the school yard; but I definitely liked to play more with the boys in school than the girls. I was a dab hand at Bull Dog which was subsequently banned in the yard, due to too many casualties. One boy I liked particularly – we sat beside each other and I fondly remember our camaraderie when it came to the ‘scrúdú litriú’ (spelling test) on Friday mornings. We’d have rubbers (or ‘erasers’ as I was corrected about more than once for some reason unknown to me at the time!) under our frayed cardigan or jumper sleeves and carefully rub out any incorrect spellings and replace them quickly with the correct spelling. Miraculously we pretty much got 10/10 every week! ‘Brón orm a mhúinteoir rang 4’ / Apologies to my 4th class teacher – the secret is out now!
Anyway, it’s funny that years later, still – whenever that lovely glowing, helpless kind of feeling of having a crush on someone comes over me; it feels just exactly like it did when I was ten years old fancying this lovely lad in school who used to share his hobnob biscuits with me at lunchtime. It doesn’t change much! So the song I guess is a kind of celebration of that glorious fondness we hold for people, even if we’re feeling completely cringey, or tied up inside. It’s kind of delicious and lovely.
Inni-K’s eagerly-awaited second album, titled ‘The Hare and the Line’, is out now (release date 1st March 2019). ‘The Hare & the Line’ presents a rawer, affecting collection of songs than Inni-K’s previous work; a collection varied in tone, and showing the maturity of these past years spent engaged in music. Order via Bandcamp: https://inni-k.bandcamp.com/
Inni-K has upcoming tour dates throughout Ireland, as well as dates in the UK, Austria, and Switzerland. More information can be found at www.inni-k.com
Album launch tour dates (more to be announced):
05 Apr – Coughlan’s, Cork, IE
06 Apr – Levis’, Ballydehob, Co. Cork, IE
11 Apr – Whelan’s, Dublin, IE
12 Apr – Black Gate Cultural Centre, Galway, IE
26 Apr – Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, IE
27 Apr – The Hole in The Wall, Kilkenny
09 May – Verein 08, Vienna, Austria, AT
16 May – Bettstadt Bar, Lucerne, Switzerland, CH
06 June – Green Note, Camden, London, GB
26 June – Black Box, Belfast