Multi-talented Lisa has music down to a fine art

Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell

A songwriter with a unique delivery and a stirring voice, Lisa O’Neill plays The Dolphin Hotel, Inishbofin, on Tuesday next, August 7, followed by a show in Campbell’s Tavern, Cloughanover, the following night, Wednesday, August 8. The Cavan native has released three albums to date and a fourth is due later this year.
“Half of it will be original, and half of it will be traditional folk songs,” Lisa says of the forthcoming release. “It’s hard to put them into a genre, I don’t like that. But half of them are mine. I’ve a lot more written and I lot more I want to write. I’m down here in Cobh, spending some time alone with my mind and we’ll see what comes out.”
Where did she gather the folk songs from?
“Oh, all over the place, “she says. “Some of them are Irish, some are Scottish, and some I’ve come across through friends introducing me to them. I’ve always sung these songs over the years, and that’s one reason I’ve decided to record them. I’ve made three records now, and they’ve all been completely original. I also have a record deal, and this is what they requested.”
Lisa’s voice doesn’t need much adornment, and there’s a risk that her nuanced style might be muted by studio trickery. But she actually finds the studio experience really enjoyable.
“I love it,” she enthuses. “It’s wonderful. It’s hard to harness all the ambition and excitement that you might have been building up for the two years before you go in. It’s hard to rein it all in and get it down in a week. My only wish would be to have had a little more time in the studio. But it’s an expensive place!
“You have to be ready,” she continues. “You can’t be going in hoping the magic will happen. I think you need to have it written before you go in.”
Lisa returned to the Black Box studio in Anges, Nantes, to lay down the songs for her forthcoming album. The studio is run by David Odlum, and Lisa had been delighted with the sound they achieved on her previous album, Potholes in The Sky. There’s a hair-raising story behind the title.
“I did a skydive,” she says. “It was a terrifying experience, but very memorable. A pilot explained to what happens when we experience turbulence, and he said it’s a gust of wind really and it’s like hitting a pothole in the road. When I did the skydive, I was hurtling towards the earth and I thought ‘this is definitely the end’. When I landed, I was delighted I had a story to tell!”
A woman of many talents, Lisa performed at the National Gallery in February of this year, having been invited to write some music in response to the work of artist Frederic William Burton.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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