With All Of This Is Chance, Lisa O’Neill lets her own creative wings spread, unleashing every ounce of elation, despair and love that her music emanates. An epic canyon of sense and sound… a timeless piece of work, wholly unbound by style or genre, a universal shot of medicinal magic…
Lisa O’Neill has something about her, a twinkle in her eye that suggests she knows something that we do not. Back in 2019, she mentioned in an interview that she was removing all electronic technology from her room at night. No mobile screens or luminous tablets were stimulating her senses; she was working on ways of removing herself from that endless cavalcade of artificial stimulation. I read this with interest and gave it a try myself; stepping away from the pitfall of pointless bedtime scrolling, I deleted the distraction of electronic devices, returning instead to the world of books and my own thoughts as I drifted away. It was a move I believe reaped huge rewards; you cannot beat a singular focus over endless showers of bait trying to hook your attention in multiple directions. Today it remains a battle though, a constant principle that I regularly fall short of and have to hit reset, but I would guess Lisa O’Neill still holds a line to this method. Her wonderful new album ‘All Of This Is Chance’ positively revels in the wonder of nature, wildlife and the human interaction we are all bound up with. She appears to have smashed the technological barriers that cocoon so many of us in daily life and tuned herself into the impossible mysteries of the natural world, bathing in its glory via her music.
All Of This Is Chance opens with the title track, easing in with a gentle drone and Lisa reciting the words of Patrick Kavanagh from his famous poem ‘The Great Hunger’, “clay is the word and clay is the flesh, where the potato-gatherers like mechanized scarecrows move, along the side-fall of the hill”. Lisa had initially studied the six thousand-word poem as part of her 2021 invitation from the Abbey Theatre in Kilmainham to perform in their adaptation of the 1942 work. However, she took far more from it than a mere commission, connecting with words that speak of the indefatigability of the human spirit, how our ties to nature and the changing of the seasons affect our every motion and feeling, but above all, how the torrent of endless distraction in modern life can lead to a dearth in creativity and a dangerous disconnect from all that really matters. The song ends with the words “hear bird in a tree, tree in a cage, never uses his wings, sing sing sing…” This represents a major shift from the more traditionally grounded material on her previous album; it seems that now Lisa is letting her own creative wings spread, unleashing every ounce of elation, despair and love that her music emanates. It also shows a change in ambition; this is an epic opener, a grand statement of audio intent in which a stellar cast of supporting musicians add colour and dynamic range to the songs.
The seed of inspiration sewn by ‘The Great Hunger’ sends ripples across all eight songs on this satisfyingly cohesive album. Lisa herself acknowledges the thread, stating it relates to “the oppression of the spirit, the imagination and creativity within the rural people of Ireland under the pressure of the Catholic Church, and their relationship with themselves, and their place in the great story of nature”. It is all rather like Lisa is in a subliminal dialogue with Patrick Kavanagh, offering a perspective on his observations from a female some eighty years later. ‘Silver Seed’ is similarly captivating, with a mournful fiddle part played by Mac Con Iomaire delicately complimenting Lisa’s ecstatic yelping punctuations whilst lyrically, a charge of birds, bees, nectar and sparrow song spill forth. ‘Old Note’ too summons up the outside world and our intuitive connection to it, seemingly under threat in modern society. ‘Globe’ is a gently lolling little piece that sings of the world seen as a colourful map in childhood, reflecting on how it is only experienced engagements and interaction that will unlock the key to that globe as a place where real life occurs. There is so much packed into these grooves, and I recommend a fully immersive experience when playing; the hidden worlds within these songs are worth far more than casual listening. ‘Birdy from Another Realm’ and ‘Whisht, The Wild Workings Of The Mind’ are deep compositions (the first a musical aviary with menacing swoops and waves, the second a dizzying hymn flying straight for the moon and stars) by an artist with one of folks most authentic voices, simultaneously wise and innocent in its delivery.
Somehow the closing lullaby, ‘Goodnight World,’ has a differing impact to all that has gone before. Where the songs as a whole are submerged, overwhelmed almost, by the impossible weight of the universe and our unlikely existence within it, this song makes the world seem small again, emphasised by that tiny moon you see on the front cover, surrounded by an explosion of dandelion seed, sat perfectly and incalculably at the centre of it all. And so the focus is on a window of calm, a small break in the never-ending unanswerable and a switch of emphasis as she sings with mindful serenity, “goodnight moon and sunshine, everyone I love lies under you tonight”. It is an absolutely beautiful way to end this epic canyon of sense and sound in which Lisa O’Neill has crystallized her place in the world as a performing artist and created a timeless piece of work, wholly unbound by style or genre, a universal shot of medicinal magic from which we should all take understanding and move forward with open-eyed wonder for the world in which we live.
Pre-order All Of This Is Chance here. Exclusive silver vinyl will be available from the Rough Trade website & indie retail.
All Of This Is Chance UK & Ireland Tour Dates
Lisa O’Neill will tour All Of This Is Chance in the UK in Spring 2023, including a show at The Barbican in London on March 23rd. There are also a number of in-store dates. Please check Lisa’s website for more details and ticket links, as some dates are now sold out – https://lisaoneill.ie/home/tour/
Fri, 10th Feb – Cavan, Town Hall Cavan, Ireland
Sat, 11th Feb – Cavan, Town Hall Cavan, Ireland
Mon, 13th Feb – Kingston Upon Thames, Banquet Records In-Store
Tue, 14th Feb – London, Rough Trade West In-Store
Wed, 22nd Feb – Dún Laoghaire, Pavilion Theatre, Ireland
Thu, 23rd Feb – Dublin, Whelan’s, Ireland
Thu, 16th March – Leeds, Howard Assembly Room
Fri, 17th March – York, The Black Swan
Sat, 18th March – Kendal, Brewery Arts Centre
Sun, 19th March – Liverpool, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (Music Room)
Tues, 21st March – Bristol, St George’s
Wed, 22nd March – Oxford, SJE Arts Centre
Thu, 23rd March – London, Barbican Centre
Sat, 25th March – Gateshead, Sage (Hall 2)
Mon, 27th March – Edinburgh, Voodoo Rooms
Tues, 28th March – Manchester, Band On The Wall
Pre-order All Of This Is Chance HERE