Irish songwriter Lisa O’Neill, whose acclaimed new album All of This Is Chance arrived on Rough Trade Records in February (reviewed here), is sharing her NPR Tiny Desk Concert today.
“The music is stark and cerebral, the voice is singular and personal with few flourishes, and I find it captivating,” says NPR Music’s Bob Boilen. She performed three songs from her new record (‘Silver Seed’, ‘Old Note’ and ‘Goodnight World’) as well as a new track, ‘When cash was King’, which she calls a ‘trutheen’ – a little truth – and not a fully-fledged song, about her recent experience trying to buy a coffee with cash in London. “It dawned on me that if a person is without a bank account or a mobile phone in the large cities today then they are at a huge disadvantage and sometimes unable to purchase basic essentials like food or water.”
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.
Danny Neill, Folk Radio
SET LIST
- “Old Note”
- “Silver Seed”
- “When Cash Was King”
- “Goodnight World”
MUSICIANS
- Lisa O’Neill: vocals, banjo, guitar, harmonium, shruti box
- Joe Doyle: double bass
- Brian Leach: hammer dulcimer
- Mic Geraghty: shruti box, harmonium
O’Neill will return to the UK for dates in July, October and December. (Dates below).
UK TOUR DATES
July 25 Lyme Regis, Marine Theatre
July 26 Totnes, St Mary’s Church
July 28 & 29 London Hammersmith Apollo support for Pulp
Oct 17 Edinburgh, Queen’s Hall
Oct 25 Sunderland, The Fire Station
Oct 26 Halifax, Minster
Oct 27 Cardiff, The Gate
Oct 29 & 30 London, EartH Theatre
Dec 5 Derry/Londonderry, Sandinos
Dec 7 Belfast, Empire Music Hall