• Gig for Gaza Set For Vicar Street

    A massive fundraising gig to raise funds for medical aid in Gaza has been announced. Taking over Vicar Street in Dublin on 28th November, Gig for Gaza will bring together some of the island’s very best artists – Lankum, The Mary Wallopers, Damien Dempsey, Lisa O’Neill, Pauline Scanlon, Síle Denvir, Niamh Dunne & Friends – to raise vital funds for Medical Aid for Palestinians Doubling up as the first fundraiser gig to be organised by a new, all-island initiative Irish Artists for Palestine, tickets go on sale at 10am this Friday, November 3rd November. Learn more about Irish Artists for…

  • Lisa O’Neill – All of This is Chance

    Lisa O’Neill offers up her finest release to date with All of This is Chance. The Cavan native’s fifth album boasts an impressive variety of collaborators, from concertinist Cormac Begley, violinist Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Kate Ellis of the Crash Ensemble, and more. O’Neill’s timeless sound breathes new life into traditional balladry. Upon a foundation of droning harmoniums, concertinas, and violins, which create a sound akin to fellow trad revivalists Lankum, her haunting vocals sit, captivating her listeners and luring them into a state of transcendence. Here, tracks like ‘Birdie From Another Realm’ slip nimbly from the clutches of modernity,…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 20th January

    It’s a real red letter day for Irish music, with new music from some Ireland’s finest acts. Check out our pick of them, featuring Lisa O’Neill, Arborist, New Pagans, Frog of Earth, David Kitt, CMAT, Danny Carroll, Ailbhe Reddy, Hands Up Who Wants To Die, No Spill Blood and more. Lisa O’Neill – Silver Seed Arborist – Dreaming In Another Language CMAT – Mayday Robbie Stickland – Time To Say Goodbye To My Old Self Time To Say Goodbye To My Old Self by Robbie Stickland Hands Up Who Wants To Die – L’inconnue New Pagans – There We Are John No Spill Blood –…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 18th November

    Here’s the very best Irish tracks of the week, featuring Joshua Burnside, Nine Raths, Lisa O’Neill, Mount Palomar, Anna Mieke and more Joshua Burnside – Late Afternoon In The Meadow (1887) Nine Raths – EP002 EP2 by Nine Raths Lisa O’Neill – Old Note Mount Palomar – Brace for Impact EP Lauren Ann – Adelaide Anna Mieke – Theatre Theatre by Anna Mieke M Stevens & The Ghasts – Birds Def Nettle – Architecture The Barbiturates – Pollitricks Pollitricks (Single) by The Barbiturates

  • Watch: Lisa O’Neill – Old Note

    If there’s an active Irish songwriter more singular and naturally gifted than Lisa O’Neill we legitimately have not heard them. An artist we’ve covered many times in the past, she has carved out a remarkably distinctive path via masterfully considered folk song. Today, the County Cavan artist announces a whole new chapter. On February 10th 2023, she will release her fifth studio album, All Of This Is Chance, via none other than Rough Trade Records. It marks her debut on the iconic label, following the release of the sublime Heard a Long Gone Song via their River Lea imprint in 2018. Accompanying…

  • SoFFT Nights Reveal 2022 Line-Up

    Lisa O’Neill and Tolü Makay are among the names set to play this year’s SoFFT Nights. Making its return to Dunderry Park in Co. Meath across 4-5th June, the festival will also play host to Elaine Mai (with MayKay and Sinead White), Pastiche, Moxie, Kíla, and Séan Fitzgerald with Lankum’s Daragh Lynch across the weekend. Beyond live music, there will also be activities including astronomy talks, bat walks, shamanic journeying, reggae yoga, sound baths, active imagination workshops, music for young children, and site-specific theatre. “We put on the very first festival in the midst of covid in October 2020 and over the course of…

  • Line-Up Announced For Cork’s Quiet Lights Festival

    Islander have announced details of the fourth outing for Cork winter festival, Quiet Lights. Set to return to various venues in the city across 18th-21st November, this year’s bill is another brilliantly curated affair featuring Lisa O’Neill, Junior Brother, Maija Sofia, Joshua Burnside, Trá Pháidín, Brigid Mae Power, Niamh Regan and more. Check out the full line-up below. “After losing out on hosting Quiet Lights by mere days due to renewed restrictions last year, we are excited (and a little nervous) to be bringing our little festival back to Cork this year,” said festival director Jonathan Pearson. “We’re very proud…

  • New Irish Festival, Meadows Festival, Set For IMMA at Royal Hospital Kilmainham

    A new festival is coming to IMMA at Dublin’s Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Presented by promoters POD, Meadows Festival is a specially designed, socially-distance and open-air summer series of live music, performance and spoken word. Taking place next month, across August 20-22, the series will feature set from David Keenan & Niamh Regan, Just Mustard & John Francis Flynn, Saint Sister & CMAT, A Lazarus Soul & Lisa O’Neill, and more. Check out the full line-up below. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, July 21 at 9am, priced €19.10 per person. Tickets are available in groups of 4 & 6 persons…

  • Lisa O’Neill – Heard a Long Gone Song

    Given Lisa O’Neill’s rising star in recent years, it’s surprising she hasn’t been snapped up by a bigger label sooner, with previous work being either self released or issued through The Frames’ Plateau Records. Having toured extensively over the last few years with the likes of Glen Hansard, James Yorkston and The Divine Comedy though, it seems pretty natural that at last the Cavan songwriter should follow fellow Irish folk luminaries Lankum onto the eminent Rough Trade label, or more accurately, Rough Trade’s brand new folk imprint River Lea, for album four. Where previous records, particularly 2013’s Same Cloth or…

  • Lisa O’Neill Set to Launch Fourth Album at Vicar Street

    Unquestionably one of the finest folk voices in Ireland, Cavan native Lisa O’Neill, has announced details of her fourth album, Heard A Long Gone Song. Following a sellout show at Quiet Lights Festival in Cork & ahead of upcoming dates in the UK, New Zealand and beyond, the album will come out on October 19, and will be her first release on Rough Trade imprint River Lea Records. To mark its release, it will be launched at Vicar Street on October 27 in a seated performance. Heard A Long Gone Song was co-produced at Blackbox Studios alongside Dave Odlum. Featuring a broad cast of musicians in Cormac Begley, Christophe…