Oisin Leech is best known as one-half of musical duo The Lost Brothers and the host of RTÉ's melodic road trip Caravan Radio - now he's releasing his debut solo album.
Inspired by time spent in Donegal, a place of great significance to the Meath-based artist, Oisin's album Cold Sea is produced by acclaimed songwriter and musician Steve Gunn, and features contributions from a number of celebrated artists such as Tony Garnier, Dónal Lunny and M Ward.
We asked Oisin for his choice cultural picks...
FILM
The film Silence by Irish director Pat Collins came out a few years back, but I keep returning to it.
The film is about a trip through the west of Ireland by a sound recordist to capture the sound of silence but after meeting local inhabitants is drawn back to his own roots on Tory island on the coast of Donegal.
Upon its initial release I remember going to see it at the IFI in Dublin. I was so moved by the film that I went to see it again and brought some friends along with me the following week. I love the pace and tempo of this film. The rhythms between the dialogue, the travelogue across Ireland and simply the silence is just beautiful. Also - there's a moment in the film when Rory Gallagher's song I Fall Apart comes on and it's one of my favourite cinema moments.
The visuals in Collins' film are full of poetry and the film for me is like a great folk album.
Whenever I have a "big day out' visiting Dublin often my first port of call is a visit to the IFI DVD shop. I found Silence on DVD there recently. The staff in the DVD library are always very helpful. I arrive with a list of classic and new films to pick up and usually leave with a few other recommendations. Another love of mine is 1970s American cinema - I only just discovered the Gene Hackman film Scarecrow at the IFI and I loved it. It's a film made at a time when studios were not afraid of leaving a lot of grit in the end product.
MUSIC
I picked up an album called Sean O Riada - Port Na bPucai - Previously Unreleased Keyboard Recordings in Freebird Records (a great dublin record shop off Grafton Street) and it has lived in the car stereo ever since. It's released on the Gael Linn label and comprises of solo piano recordings by O Riada made between 1966 and 1971, both from live performances and studio work.
When I listen to these stripped back recordings I hear the full spectrum of music - from ancient Irish traditional to all the colours of jazz and beyond. I love everything O Riada did with Ceolteorí Chualann, but on these recordings he summons all kinds of magic. On the live recordings you can tell that he is constantly pushing his creative reach and testing the audience - to see how far he can go. On some tracks he is joined by John Kelly (fiddle), Willie Clancy (pipes) and Tony McMahon (accordian). This cd is well worth finding in your local record shop.
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BOOK
The classic novel Songlines by Sheffield author Bruce Chatwin is a book I was reading when I wrote my new debut solo album. This book lay on my shelf for years and I picked it up purely because I loved the title. It's a fascinating account of the author's travels across Australia meeting the native aboriginal people who map their country in song - their ancient songs were used to navigate nomadic travel. Chatwin's theory is that language began with song and the land was sung into existence.
Reflecting landscape in music has always interested me and Chatwin's book furthered that interest. On my songs Trawbreaga Bay and One Hill Further I was directly inspired by this book and by Chatwin's brilliant travelogue.
THEATRE
I see that this week (ending Friday March 8th) there's a wonderful event on at The New Theatre in Temple Bar. To mark international women's week they are presenting a production called Feathers For Rosa - a tribute to Rosa Luxembourg (1871-1919), the Polish visionary, rebel and revolutionary. With her birthday being this week too (March 5th), this theatre piece by Noël O'Callaghan and Douglas Henderson uses poetry, music, film and painting to celebrate Rosa Luxembourg's remarkable life. Her anti-militarist stance during WW1 made her a symbol of peace and defiance. If you're in Dublin tonight, pop along - info here.
'Feathers for Rosa Luxemburg' is a new play in tribute to the philosopher and revolutionary activist opening at the New Theatre Dublin on her birthday March 5th.https://t.co/GdZL7G5cVP@The_New_Theatre
— CassandraVoices (@VoicesCassandra) March 4, 2024
I love The New Theatre in Temple Bar as a venue. When I studied Theatre in Trinity in the noughties, some pals and I co-directed Conor McPherson's This Limetree Bower - it starred Allen Leech (The Imitation Game) , Michael Fitzgerald (Rebellion) and Jamie Carswell (Tinylife). We were youngsters; the production started in Players and went really well, so we took it to the New Theatre for a three week sold-out 'professional' run.
TV
Well... connected to my musical choice, recently on TG4 I saw the documentary Seán Ó Riada - Mo Sheanathair presented by O Riada's granddaughter Doireann Ní Ghlacáin. It has performances from Iarla Ó Lionáird, Barry Douglas, Nell Ní Chróinín & Peadar Ó Riada - well worth looking up on the TG4 Player.
RADIO/PODCAST
I have been having great fun presenting Caravan Radio on RTE Radio 1 over the last couple of years. As anyone who has listened to the show will know, I borrow heavily from Bob Dylan's brilliant Theme Time Radio Hour. I have listened back to most of them and Dylan's radio show is a treasure trove for finding gems old and new. I'm a huge Bob Dylan fan and it was his music that started me on my trail - it opened up the world to roots and back to Irish traditional music like Planxty and The Bothy Band. Everything Dylan does is really so inspiring. It's exciting to see that he and Willie Nelson tour together soon. Tony Garnier, long-time and current member of Dylan's touring band plays on my album Cold Sea. It was a big honour to have Tony aboard. His bass line on Colour Of The Rain is especially beautiful.
THE NEXT BIG THING...
Pure nepotism here - my sister Saramai and her husband Cormac have a great band called Perlee. They brought out a stunning debut just recently, entitled Speaking From Other Rooms and highly championed by the likes of Tony Clayton Lea at The Irish Times and The Thin Air.
Check out Perlee's music. I hear they are back in the studio making another record!
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GIG
I loved David Hedderman's Dublin gig at The Workman's Club recently. It was the launch gig for his superb new album Pulling At The Briars. The album was produced by Conor from Villagers, who played drums that night too. Dublin producer Brendan Jekinson was also on stage. Great gig. The opening band that night were the aforementioned Perlee (Saramai Leech and Cormac O Keefe) who were wonderful. This was a Foggy Notions gig. Leagues always puts on good stuff.
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ART
There's a contemporary Donegal based painter called Sinéad Smyth whose work I love. Sinéad actually painted the album cover for Cold Sea, and the back cover too. Sinead works out of Inishowen and has turned a very old cottage into an artist residency where she runs workshops. My mother and my ancestors are from Inishowen and when I see Sinead's work I find it blows my imagination open. She captures the light and barren beauty of the landscape around Inishowen beautifully. See Sinéad's work here.
I am also a big fan of Michelle Boyle's paintings. Michelle is a visual artist from Cavan but also works and travels frequently to Mumbai. Her 2023 exhibition Freshwater was powerful. I see that Michelle very recently shared a new oil-based work online painted up around Lough Ramor inspired by the recent snowfall in Ireland. I love it. Michelle also helped curate the celebration of Navan painter Patsy Reel. I grew up opposite Patsy in Navan Co Meath. Patsy was born in 1935 and is still going strong. His work is wonderful. He once described how in his younger days he knew Manchester artist Lowry and the how Lowry would sell his work for very little just to survive as an artist when they were young students and contemporaries way way back in the day. See Michelle's work here.
TECH
I have come to be a fan of the Lego Builder App because if my kids or I lose the instructions the app is golden to try re build the Millennium Falcon from scratch!
Cold Sea is released on March 8 th 2024 via Outside Music and Tremone Records.
