Sive
In a way I thought the task of picking ten songs that shaped me as a person/musician was going to be harder than it was, due to the fact that I'm so indecisive! It actually turned out to be an enjoyable exercise. As a child I listened to an odd combination of cheesy pop and classic rock, but there aren't really any songs from that era that stick out as leaving a lasting effect on me, so I've started with my early teens when music really became my lifeline. On another day I might have picked ten completely different songs, but I think the list I've settled on is a nice little trip through my life's musical timeline! - Sive
Blackbird’s Lament was inspired by the folk tradition of lamentation as an expression of grief. It takes its title from the heightened collective awareness of birdsong that arose during lockdown. Aiming to give voice to the lived experience of older people throughout the pandemic, it draws heavily upon exchanges shared via WhatsApp group messages, Zoom chats, phone conversations and Facebook comments. In writing the text, Sadhbh recorded a voice memo featuring a selection of what she felt to be their most poignant words. Out walking with those words in her ears, she allowed the sentiments to percolate in her mind before putting pen to paper.
NIRVANA – SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT
Such a cliché right? I could have tried to be cool and picked one of their more obscure songs for this list, but I wouldn't have felt like I was being honest if I didn't include this one. I'll honestly never forget how I felt the first time I heard it. It was the vibe and texture and the rawness of it of course, but it was also the vocal melody and delivery that stopped me in my tracks. I'd just started learning the guitar and hearing this song was a complete game changer for me.
PEARL JAM – STATE OF LOVE AND TRUST
Needless to say, getting into Nirvana led me down a grungy path that dominated my teenage years and saved me from a youth wasted on being crap at sports! I'd only really started listening to Pearl Jam when my friend Claire played me this song from the Singles soundtrack. We'd just formed a band with a couple of other friends from school and this was one of the first tunes we jammed together, before we started exchanging our own original songs via an old-fashioned tape recorder. I was just about able to manage the guitar solos, so obviously I was sure I was on the cusp of becoming a rock star. The hairs still stand up on the back of my neck when I hear this tune, I just love the energy of it!
THE SHINS – NEW SLANG
We all had that friend at school who seemed to know everything about every band on the planet (actually I had a couple of them, and I was well jealous of their access to older siblings' CD collections) and it was my friend Cara who introduced me to The Shins and the movie Garden State. The old 'I-liked-them-before-they-were-cool' fans turned their noses up at the 'Garden State blowins' but I didn't care. The whole Oh, Inverted World album was absolute magic but for me this song in particular felt like an old friend from the first listen. I even managed to find an excuse to write an entire essay about it for English class! The melody and harmonies were probably one of my first proper experiences of feeling like you're getting an aural hug, and actually looking back I'd say James Mercer's style of lyric writing has probably had a big influence on me.
TORI AMOS – APOLLO'S FROCK
Probably not the most obvious Tori Amos song to pick, but I became a convert after I found a copy of Welcome to Sunny Florida on sale for half nothing in Tower Records. There weren't many songs on it but it was my first proper introduction to her music and my God, this song KILLED me. The meandering piano, the storytelling, the beautifully melancholic voice, it was just like nothing else I was listening to at the time.
JOHN MARTYN – DON'T WANT TO KNOW
I don't even know what to say about this song but it hits me right in the feels every time. I cover this song live sometimes and I always say it's without doubt my favourite example of a 3-chord trick in existence. But for me the recording of the song really captures the essence of the whole thing perfectly. It's like the message behind it infiltrated every aspect of the production and the performance, and as a result every little detail combines to create a real piece of magic.
ROKIA TROARE – DOUNIA
I heard Rokia Troare's music playing through the PA one Sunday morning at Knockanstockan, before the live music had started, and I just had to find the sound engineer and ask what it was. The following week I was away on a tour in The UK and when I came home my boyfriend had bought me one of her albums. Spolit rotten wha?! I was completely mesmerised by it and this song in particular had me in a trance. It's based on one guitar motif which repeats throughout (maybe with some slight variations) so it's very simple at its core, but she way she builds on that and continues to increase the intensity is spellbinding. Even if you have no idea what she is singing about, the emotion and the authenticity of it is undeniable and left a lasting effect on me.
SAM JACKSON – THE GRAMOPHONE
I read a review of Sam Jackson's album in The Irish Times at a time when I really needed some new music to restore my inspiration. I decided to look it up based on the fact that the piece I'd read made it sound like something that might be up my alley, and I was so right! At the time I was kind of doing something that I really knew wasn't right for me, and trying to find a way out of it, and every day as I walked across town I'd pop in my earphones and drown out the traffic with this album. With this as my soundtrack the whole world just looked and felt different, and to me that's music doing its job perfectly. I still go back to it years later and I think it will always be lodged in my mind as an uplifting, inspiring and comforting body of work.
KING MODO – ALL YOU MAY SAY
Again, I came across King Modo right when I needed them. I was at a point where I couldn't seem to get excited by music – everyone was talking about all these great bands that were coming and I was trying so hard to find something new that I could releate to, thinking 'do I even like music?' And then I was in Sweeney's in Dublin one night and these boyos from Newbridge, a few minutes down the road from my own homeplace, hopped up the stage. I think the half an hour that followed is one of my favourite memories of live music ever. It was the end of the night, there was hardly anyone left in the place and myself and the three lads from my band just stood there with massive smiles on our faces for the whole thing. I wanted music to make me feel something again and be Jaysus, these lads just brought me to life! I bought their album and nothing else went into my CD player for a long time afterwards.
ELLA FITZGERALD – IN A SENTIMENTAL MOOD
It was hard to pick just one song to represent this genre for the list, but I think this one is the most apt as it was probably my segway into the world of vocal jazz. The music was originally composed by Duke Ellington but Ella's delivery of it just blew my mind. Her effortless improvisation and way of gliding around melodies encapsulates everything I love about the human voice. She had this way of opening up a tune and being able to do pretty much anything she wanted with it, without ever losing the essence of it or rendering it unrecognisable. Some woman for one woman!
JESCA HOOP – TULIP
The most recent discovery to make the list. Until I heard this song, it had been a while since I came upon a song that I just wanted to play on repeat endlessly. I absolutely love how she manages to create this soundscape that is so reminiscent of old English folk while still being true to her own contemporary voice. The melody is addictive, and the way she weaves the story through it is completely hypnotic.
