Heard a Long Gone Song

Lisa O'Neill won plaudits in the folk world for her 2016 debut Pothole in the Sky. This led to her being signed by Geoff Travis to Rough Trade Records' new folk imprint, River Lea. Travis has signed everyone from The Smiths to Emiliana Torrini and he has found another winner with O'Neill: Heard a Long Gone Song is an extraordinary album, perhaps the best I heard in 2018.

O'Neill both writes songs – ‘Violet Gibson’ and ‘Rock the Machine’ are hers but sound as if they've existed for decades – and interprets those of others. The album opens with Margaret Barry's ‘The Galway Shawl’ and closes with Shane McGowan's ‘Lullaby of London’. That her songs sit comfortably alongside those suggests how deep O'Neill's talent is. Across the album she alternates between singing unaccompanied and backing herself with banjo and guitar (plus a little help from friends on double bass, bouzouki, fiddle and harmonium). Everything is kept sparse – O'Neill is an extraordinary singer, her thick, rich brogue conveying the weight of every word. There is a lovely sense of space here; nothing is hurried, atmosphere builds and remarkable tales are told. It's an album like few others.