Oisin Leech - Colour Of The Rain (Ft. Steve Gunn)

Beside Trawbreaga Bay, in Co. Donegal, on the Northern Coast of Ireland, in an old schoolhouse with a suitcase full of borrowed recording gear, Oisin Leech strums gently on an acoustic guitar and watches the tide pull the water away from the ancient inlet. The thickness of Oisin’s voice soothes the old world room as the sound waves bounce around to be captured in the land where his ancestors still live and still make music.

This is a scene from the makings of Oisin Leech’s new album, the Steve Gunn-produced Cold Sea, which is being announced today on Outside Music & Tremone Records (out March 8th). While Leech may be a familiar name in some circles due to his two-decade-long career as one-half of Irish folk duo The Lost Brothers, Cold Sea is his first solo offering. Recorded in Co. Donegal, in an old sea-facing schoolhouse that Leech and Gunn transformed into a working studio, the album features contributions from M. Ward and Tony Garnier, a long-time member of Bob Dylan’s touring band.

To mark today’s announcement, Leech is sharing the first single from the record, a track called “Colour of the Rain.”

Oisin: “This song ‘Colour Of The Rain’ maps out the chapters of my life so far as a songwriter, living for periods in Liverpool, Dublin, London, San Francisco and Naples. I picked up the guitar at 3am one night and the guitar was tuned very strangely, so I went with that. This melody came to me then I spent quite a while writing the lyrics. The song plays out like a very clear film in my head. Having Steve Gunn and Tony Garnier on board for the recording was great. In the end we used ‘take 2’ from the Donegal Schoolhouse sessions. I have very fond memories of the night we recorded this song.”

On the Lyric Video, director Evan Lewis says – “‘Colour Of The Rain’ evoked images of the seaside, port towns, and mountains for me. It’s organic essence compelled me to string together visuals that would mirror the song’s melancholic yet majestic tone.” Evan Lewis on creating the new lyric video.

Featuring synths from Gunn and bass from Garnier, “Colour of the Rain” has a transportive power, using a combination of closely mic’ed acoustic instruments and electronic textures to build a sonic landscape that feels intimate yet other-worldly. According to Leech and Gunn, this is in part a result of their interest in making an album that expressed the environment in which it was created.

“My aim with this album was to write a collection of songs that told a complete story, and to record them near the ocean, using the sea as a kind of mirror for the songs,” Leech explains. “‘Colour of the Rain’ I spent weeks writing, maybe longer, with each verse addressing a stage in my life. It touches on forgiveness. Looking at the past and moving on.“

Gunn adds:

“Reflecting landscape in song is integral to so much musical tradition, and I always try to keep this in mind when working on my own music. I think this new record reflects both the landscape and the time we had beside the ocean beautifully. To be there with Oisin as he crafted his great songs in an old schoolhouse turned studio, was just wonderful and a significant experience for me.“

In support of his debut, Leech is announcing the Maiden Voyage Concert series, during which he will play a run of dates in Ireland with an ensemble featuring Gunn and the musicians Dónal Lunny and Róisín McGrory.

Full details of those performances and further solo shows can be found below.