Choice Music Prize ~ Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew

Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew

Lisa Hannigan has long been a proven singer, possibly one of the best voices to ever come out of Ireland, for a long time. Whether she’s as good a songwriter remains to be seen. Sea Sew is an exemplarary exhibition of how to sing, it is not however, an exhibition of songwriting.

I can’t be too hard on the songwriting though, as a debut album it’s a good effort but somewhere in the middle it just seems to get lost, only held up by the fabulous ‘I Don’t Know’. The melody of the chorus is stunning and it’s sung so beautifully. The rest of the album seems to hang on this song, trying to live up to it’s quality and hoping that it’s enough to stay afloat.

The album is book-ended by a couple of decent efforts in opener ‘Ocean and a Rock’, another track with a rich, melodic chorus, and the penunltimate track ‘Teeth’, an upbeat track reminiscent of, dare I day it, one Damien Rice. There’s tinges of Rice throughout, though it may be more that Damien Rice’s work was tinged with Lisa Hannigan, there’s even a touch of Portishead a one stage. But none of this is executed properly. The album lacks a spine, there’s nothing to hold it upright throughout. There’s no consistincy in the songs, it’s like they were just thrown together.

For what it’s worth this album is a good effort. The standout tracks I’ve mentioned really are top class, but there’s too much filler, too much middling. There’s some great sounds of glockenspiel and auto-harp, the strings produce some great tones and Lisa’s voice is sublime throughout. A little tighter songwriting would’ve made this a much better album.

Best from the album, I Don’t Know

Tomorrow: David Holmes – The Holy Pictures

~ by clemsound on February 24, 2009.