Same Cloth Or Not

Description
Co. Cavan-born singer Lisa O'Neill's 'Choice Music Award nominated' second album "Same Cloth or Not" is an assured piece of work. Â Her approach is unrushed, naturalistic, straight-talking. Â She's like a musical version of Flannery O'Connor. The voice is sprite-like, but with an old soul singingâ€¦.the kind of voice that might sit as easily on a Carter Family recording as it would an avant-folk crank artefact.Â It's a tender and expressive instrument, but possesses a midlands Irish flintiness. More to the point, it suits the subject matter and songs.

'England Has My Man' is the kind of emigrant's lament for love lost that has been sung for centuries. Then there's 'Apiana', the story of a piano lost to a flood in Harold's Cross in Dublin, a flood so severe there was nothing left in the house but Peggy Seeger's letter of endorsement for O'Neill's first album. And there's a toughness and a rawness to songs like 'Come Sit Sing'. These songs could have been written a hundred years ago, built to withstand age and wear.

O'Neill grew up in Ballyhaise in the middle of Ireland. 'No Train To Cavan' describes the age-old predicament of the dreamer becalmed in rural terrain. A line like 'There's no train where I come from' speaks volumes in its simplicity.
Tracklisting