Lisa Canny and Niamh Hinchy took one of Ireland’s oldest vocal traditions, sang it in harmony and watched it go viral. Sophie Parkes meets a duo who never stop moving
Lisa Canny (singer, harpist, banjo player)bounds into view on our prearranged video call. “I’ve got an appointment; do you mind if I do this on the move?” she enquires.
I do not – in fact, I’m intrigued to see how this prolific multitasker dons her headphones and weaves through the throngs of London summer without missing a beat. Meanwhile, fellow singer Niamh Hinchy appears on screen, currently at her mother’s house in Limerick while she awaits the arrival of a newborn niece or nephew. We continue, Lisa and Niamh passing the baton easily between them, like the best friends and bandmates they are.
We’re here to talk about their duo, Absolute Lilt, whose debut EP, Criostal, was just released on Heavenly Recordings. But before we can do that, we need to talk about BIIRD, the eight-to-eleven-strong all-female trad supergroup, which Lisa founded and Niamh is now a part of. BIIRD have made international headlines this year, winning a growing fanbase through social media and live shows alone – they are yet to release any music. Lisa conceived BIIRD almost 15 years ago, when she was studying for a master’s in Cork: she wanted to combine the sumptuous, enviable energy of the girl group – à la Spice Girls, Destiny’s Child, TLC – but with trad Irish musicians. Hence, why they’ve been dubbed ‘the Spice Girls of trad’.
After touring the UK and Ireland earlier this year, they are shortly heading out on an enormous tour across the US and Canada. “32 shows in 45 days,” Lisa confirms, “26 of our own shows and six with Ed.”
The ‘Ed’ concerned is Ed Sheeran who took them under his wing after a last-minute collaboration at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Wexford last year.
“He thought we were gas bitches,” Niamh grins. He clearly did: he invited the band to make use of his Suffolk studios where they will be duly recording their debut album. The impending lengthy North American tour means final preparations are underway. For Lisa that includes, during our call, dropping in at the hairdresser for a hair dye patch test, where our conversation expertly continues.
Although Niamh desperately wanted to join Lisa in her BIIRD endeavours, she was initially prevented as she didn’t play a trad instrument. “I don’t play anything at all, actually, but I’ve been singing all my life. Then, with Absolute Lilt, I made the cut,” Niamh says.
Niamh had been singing backing vocals for Lisa’s solo project when an instrumental left her redundant. Lisa encouraged her to ‘lilt’, singing the melody without any lyrics. I immediately think of English trio Lady Maisery and their ‘diddling’.
“Yeah, every traditional music culture has a version of it. In Scots, in Indian classical music. In jazz, it’s scat. It’s something that goes hand-in-hand with the traditional music experience,” Lisa says. Immersed in the traditional Irish scene from a young age, Lisa noticed how dance teachers and fleadh adjudicators would lilt their feedback. “I naturally did it when I started teaching, in lieu of picking up an instrument. It was later when I started experimenting with it in my own music.”
Lisa and Niamh uploaded a video to social media of them lilting in harmony, something they’re not sure has been done before. The video went viral, encouraging them to post more; each post was received rapturously, especially from Irish Americans and neurodivergent communities.
“People have said ‘it helps me calm down or when I’m stimming’, and that it helps their babies sleep,” Lisa says. “It’s folk music in its rawest, purest form, which is always going to be something people connect with.”
The response snowballed, with Heavenly Recordings taking no time in signing them. A video for the lead single, ‘P Stands for Paddy’, a hilarious take on Father Ted’s ‘Lovely Girls Competition’, was completed in only eight days, and features comedian Mike Rice, presenter Doireann Ní Ghlacáin and musician Kate Nash. The EP itself contains well known Irish tunes and songs, as well as original compositions by Lisa.
It was only after the formation of Absolute Lilt that Niamh found her way into BIIRD too – with lilting now woven into the supergroup’s set.
“We know each other extremely well,” Lisa says, as she heads back towards her London home, and the next task on the list. “But we’re about to get to know each other even better.” From: https://www.songlines.co.uk/content/features/introducing-absolute-lilt
