Following the widespread acclaim for her 2023 album All of This Is Chance (reviewed here), Cavan songwriter Lisa O’Neill is set to return on November 19th with a new six-track EP via Rough Trade Records. The announcement is accompanied by the release of the EP’s powerful lead single and title track, “The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right,” a song O’Neill describes as a reaction to “the unsettled times that we live in,” which she began writing in November 2017 and finished in January 2025. The track arrives with a moving video directed by Ellius Grace, featuring a host of notable artists including Kae Tempest, Kevin Rowland of Dexys Midnight Runners, and Spider Stacey of The Pogues and Iona Zajac, plus renowned Nigerian/Irish poet Feli Speaks, actresses Olwen Fouéré and Hazel Doupe and actors John McArdle and Jack Walsh, amongst many others.
Streaming Link: https://lisaoneill.ffm.to/wind
‘The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right’ is a collection of socially conscious and historically rich tracks. It includes her haunting cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘All The Tired Horses’, famously used in the final scene of Peaky Blinders, and ‘Homeless In The Thousands (Dublin in The Digital Age)’, a collaboration with Peter Doherty. Continuing her tradition of tackling social injustice, the EP also features a new song, ‘Mother Jones’, celebrating the Irish-American union organiser once dubbed ‘the most dangerous woman in America’. The collection is rounded out with a version of the seasonal classic ‘The Bleak Midwinter’ and a poignant reading of the James Stevens poem ‘Autumn 1915’.
This new release builds on a remarkable period for O’Neill, whose last album topped the Irish Indie Charts and earned Album of the Year nods from critics at BBC 6 Music and NPR. A five-time BBC Folk Award nominee, she has become one of Ireland’s most vital storytellers.
Fans can catch O’Neill on her extensive Irish tour beginning this month, which culminates with a headline show at Dublin’s prestigious Vicar Street on December 21st.
Forthcoming Tour Dates:
Oct 29 – The MAC, Belfast
Oct 30 – The MAC, Belfast
Nov 2 – Town Hall Theatre, Galway
Nov 6 – DeBarras, Clonakilty – with John Splillane as his special guest
Nov 7 – De’Barras, Clonakilty
Nov 8 – De’Barras, Clonakilty (Matinee Show)
Nov 13 – The Dock Arts Centre, Leitrim
Nov 14 – The Dock Arts Centre, Leitrim
Nov 15 – Set Theatre, Kilkenny
Nov 16 – Set Theatre, Kilkenny
Nov 20 – Belltable, Limerick
Nov 21 – Belltable, Limerick
Nov 22 – Quiet Lights Festival at St Lukes, Cork
Nov 23 – The Attic Hotel, Doolin, Clare
Nov 28 – Jerome Hynes NOH, Wexford
Dec 21 – Vicar Street, Dublin – w/ Junior Brother