CD: Lisa Hannigan - At Swim | reviews, news & interviews
CD: Lisa Hannigan - At Swim
CD: Lisa Hannigan - At Swim
Irish songwriter's third album finds her adrift
Water has featured prominently in Lisa Hannigan’s work since striking out solo on 2008’s Mercury-nominated Sea Sew: water that caresses and relaxes; water that turns deadly and drowns.
Like her previous work, the songs on At Swim perfectly demonstrate Hannigan’s bewitching voice and gift for subtle, melancholy melodies - but, almost a decade on from her debut, there are layers to unwrap here that make this album her most complex and rewarding work to date. Whether it’s the layered vocals and perfectly-placed crunch of electric guitar on album opener and current single “Fall” - so expertly placed that you’ll convince yourself you never heard it - or the funereal echo and subtle beats from which Hannigan’s voice rises, church-like, on closing track “Barton”, the effect is a skilful and immersive one.
There are touches of the simplicity and understated piano work that typified much of Hannigan’s early work here: on lead single “Prayer for the Dying”, for example, and album mid-point “Undertow” - but here, too, song-sketches spin off into unexpected directions. “Dying” is perhaps the strongest showcase for Hannigan’s gorgeous voice to date, while a pulsing beat and uplifting chorus transform “Undertow” beyond the maritime metaphor. Even more unexpectedly, a choral rendition of the Seamus Heaney poem “Anahorish” lets the singer find serenity and a return to her roots.
Below: watch the video for album opener "Fall"
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