Lisa Hannigan: ‘Records are the culmination of a huge amount of work, doubt, fear and love’

Lisa Hannigan released her debut album, Sea Sew back in 2008, when she first began lending her vocals to backing tracks, and stretching her multi-instrumentalist talents across guitar, keyboard and drums.

On her own solo endeavour, Lisa has since released two studio albums—Passenger in 2011 and At Swim in 2019—and a Live in Dublin album in 2019. More recently, she has been touring as much as possible, writing songs as she goes while providing backing vocals for other artists and doing some voice acting and singing on cinematic scores.

Read on for our interview with Lisa Hannigan.

Tell me about your start in the industry. Was a career in the music business always something you aspired to?

I think starting out I was really only interested in singing and writing songs and the music business part wasn’t on my naive radar at all. I was lucky enough to sing backing vocals in a band which became very successful so I gained a lot of experience and met some wonderful people (like my manager Ben Barrett and agent/tour manager Una Molloy) while being a little bit removed from the full force of the industry.

You released your debut album in 2008, how has your career in the music industry evolved over the past 17 years?

Well I’m not the most prolific person in the world! I’ve been very lucky to spend the time between records touring as much as possible and writing songs as I go. I still love singing backing vocals and now do some voice acting and singing on cinematic scores too.

What is your approach to songwriting? Is it a cathartic release for these deeply personal feelings, or does it feel quite revealing?

It can be both or neither of those things. I’ve written songs while crying into my notebook and others feel like an interesting puzzle. Sometimes a song can be about how enjoyable certain words feel to be sung.

For your writing process, are you a music-first, lyrics-later kind of person?

Generally I write them both at the same time, usually I’ll have a ‘first verse curse’ which hangs around for months waiting to find a chorus.

You will perform at Hibernacle next month — what can we expect from you and the festival in general?

I cannot wait for this weekend. It’s on in Orlagh House, in the Dublin Mountains and it’s a perfectly pocket-sized festival. Some of my favourites are playing, modern folk geniuses Ye Vagabonds, Pillow Queens, Villagers, Ailbhe Reddy, Wallis Bird (who I think is one of the best Irish live acts ever), Jape (who wrote ‘Floating’, one of the best Irish songs ever). I want to be watching music in the sun, eating delicious food and then having a pint as the sun goes down looking over the twinkling lights of Dublin.

Who is someone you look up to in the realm of Irish music?

It’s got to be my friend Una Molloy, who’s the brains behind the Hibernacle project and Turning Pirate. There’s so much care and effort and attention to detail that goes into making beautiful shows and festivals for musicians and audiences alike (and it’s a lot harder work than singing songs with your friends!)

What is one thing you wish everyone knew about being a musician?

There’s an alarming amount of electric shocks.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

I think getting my records from the printers is always a highlight. It’s the culmination of such a huge amount of work, doubt, fear and love and then there it is, in your hand.

What do you hope your music evokes in the listener?

I actually try not to think about the listener at all when I’m writing. I think it’s always best to make the music for yourself and then it will hopefully resonate with other people if there’s some truth to it.

What’s your favourite lyric from a song that you love?

Joni Mitchell is the queen of the one line novel lyric. I particularly love the opening of ‘The Priest’ when she sings: “The Priest sat in the airport bar, he was wearing his father’s tie.”

Who are three up-and-coming acts we should have on our radar, Irish or otherwise?

I was at a lovely festival in West Cork the other day called West goes West and I saw some incredible artists. The first, Muiris, had such beautiful strange chord progressions that I can’t wait to hear him again. Also my pal Loah was sublime as always and her debut album will be out this year. Gemma O’Doherty was playing her new harp instrumentals too which were very dreamy.

Do you have plans for your next release?

Just still trying to write songs and seeing where they lead me!

Portrait by Rich Gilligan

For more information and to book tickets, visit Hibernacle’s website here.