As recently announced, Cavan songwriter Lisa O’Neill‘s new 6-track EP “The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right” is released today on Rough Trade Records (12” vinyl edition out February 20th, 2026); it follows her 2023 album All of This Is Chance (reviewed here). The EP collection, on which she talks below, includes her cover of Bob Dylan‘s ’All the Tired Horses’ that played out the final episode of Peaky Blinders.
To mark the release, Lisa has also shared a video, directed by Ellius Grace, for her stunning version of the seasonal classic ‘The Bleak Midwinter’.
Talking about the track, Lisa shares:
“I’ve loved this song since I first heard Berth Jansch’s unique recording of it. I later found it’s greater depth in learning more about the writer and poet Christina Rossetti, who published it under the title ‘A Christmas Carol’ in January 1872. Not unlike Mother Jones, Christina – a woman conflicted with her own personal griefs – put her heart and energy into those who struggled on the margins of society. When I sing this song, I think about the abundance of compassion and love we have within us even when we feel we have nothing to give. In the bleakest of circumstances, love is a beacon.”
Lisa talks about the other tracks on the EP below.
The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right Tracklisting
- The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right
- Mother Jones
- All the Tired Horses
- Homeless In The Thousands (Dublin In The Digital Age)
- The Bleak Midwinter
- Autumn 1915
Order/Save The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right: https://lisaoneill.ffm.to/windep
Lisa O’Neill on the EP:
“This collection of songs has been gathering for a while…’All the Tired Horses’ is one of the earliest recorded pieces here, which was commissioned for the Peaky Blinders soundtrack and released digitally as a stand alone single in spring 2022. I am still mystified and nostalgic when I listen to Dylan’s 1970 original track. I’ll wonder on his mantra and it’s potential as long as I live.
‘Homeless in the Thousands’ was released in January 2025, again as a stand alone single. Since it’s release, the housing crisis has become ever more acute, and I feel it’s essential to reinforce the message.
‘Mother Jones’, Cork-born Mary Harris, was an Irish emigrant to America in the 1850’s. The legendary union organiser and activist moved mountains and changed laws for the betterment of the working-class people of the United States over many decades. In these censored and divisive times we are living in globally, she is a powerful reminder of the importance of activism and standing up to injustice.
‘Autumn 1915’ is a poem written by my favourite Irish writer, James Stephens. I recorded this at home in February 2022. That time alone was precious to me. I later tried to re-record my reading of it in the studio while compiling this collection, but there was something captured in the original which I couldn’t recreate. With David Odlum, Jordon O’ Leary, Joseph Doyle and Seamas Hyland, we later developed the piece built around the original recording of voice and drone.
‘The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right’, natural disasters devastate and turn our world upside down, BUT it is the man-made greed-motivated unnatural disasters put upon our beautiful planet and its people that inspired this song. I hope the title track of this collection pulls these six pieces together in a cohesive journey for the listener. I am proud of this EP and feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with the people who gave so much of themselves to it.
“Hearing the test pressings on vinyl, to my surprise the tracks came alive again in a new way. A subtle difference but meaningful, not only sonically but as a collection that makes sense. It left me pondering, is this a short album or a long EP? I decided it doesn’t matter, it’s found it’s home on vinyl.”
Lisa O’Neill
Order/Save The Wind Doesn’t Blow This Far Right: https://lisaoneill.ffm.to/windep
Upcoming Tour Dates:
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