LISA HANNIGAN : SEA SEW

  1. Ocean and a Rock
  2. Venn Diagram
  3. Sea Song
  4. Splishy Splashy
  5. I Don't Know
  6. Keep It All
  7. Courting Blues
  8. Pistachio
  9. Teeth
  10. Lille

Label : ATO Records

Time : 40:18

Release Year : 2008

Review (AllMusic) : Debut album from rising young Irish singer/songwriter probably best known to British audiences for her vocal performances on records by her fellow countryman Damien Rice. Hannigan's quirky, literate, acoustic folk-pop, rich with the backing of strings, brass, and glockenspiel, is more upbeat than Rice's, and is comparable to the work of Kathryn Williams and Juliet Turner. This self-produced debut has garnered several award nominations and substantial praise both in her homeland and in the U.S.

Review (Wikipedia) : Sea Sew is the Mercury and Choice Music Prize-nominated solo debut album released by Lisa Hannigan. It was released in Ireland on 12 September 2008, with the lead single, "Lille", made available as a free download on lisahannigan.ie on 25 August. Sea Sew was a critical success, earning rave reviews and being named by some music critics amongst the best Irish albums of the year. It garnered airtime on American radio station KCRW and earned early praise from press across the US, including the western Los Angeles Times, which called it "charmingly idiosyncratic" and the eastern publication, The New York Times, which described it as "exquisitely ethereal". Lead single "Lille", released on 25 August 2008, became an airplay hit on Irish and American radio stations. Her song "I Don't Know" was also featured as free single of the week by iTunes UK in 2009. The admiration of Jason Mraz led to Hannigan supporting the Grammy-nominated Californian singer-songwriter on a 42-date US tour in late 2008 Hannigan signed with ATO Records in the US, where the album was released on 3 February 2009. Sea Sew was released in the United Kingdom in May 2009, where The Daily Telegraph described it as "wonderfully creaky and raw", a record of "welcoming intimacy and ear-pleasing consistency". The album was recorded in a cold barn in the Irish countryside and produced in the studio of one of Hannigan's friends over the course of a fortnight. Jason Boshoff produced, recorded and mixed the whole album. Prior to its release in Ireland, Hannigan previewed tracks "Lille", "Pistachio", "Some Surprise" and "Sea Song" on her MySpace page. The album also features musical personnel such as Donagh Molloy, Tom Osander, Shane Fitzsimons, Lucy Wilkins, Vyvienne Long and Gavin Glass, whilst Cathy Davey provides backing vocals on some of the songs. Hannigan knitted the needle-work featured on the sleeve herself along with her mother, Frances. US television host Stephen Colbert quizzed Hannigan on this when she appeared on his show The Colbert Report, asking if she had sewn the instruments as well - Hannigan is reported to be sewing Colbert a note of thanks for asking her to perform on his show. Hannigan chose to call the album Sea Sew because of the amount of references to the sea in the lyrics. Sea Sew entered the UK Albums Chart at number 58 after an appearance on Later... with Jools Holland in May 2009.