Ahead of US Mother’s Day in May, Lucy Dacus has shared her devastating new song ‘My Mother & I’. Following her Valentine’s Day cover of ‘La Vie En Rose’, this is the first original composition of her ongoing 2019 holiday song series, which will also include singles tied to US Independence Day, Springsteen’s Birthday, Halloween, Christmas, and New Year’s.

‘My Mother & I’ is a lullaby of sorts, about “babies born in the month of May” that are “down to earth” and “see eye to eye” and “dig our feet in,” but at its core, it’s a brutally frank exploration of body image and the emotional form it takes when passed down generationally.

In Lucy’s words: “Being adopted has encouraged me to consider what mothers pass on through blood and body, and what they impart in the way of socialization and context. We -- daughters, and all children -- easily inherit the shame and fear of our mothers, but also the pride, self-assurance, and lessons of love. This song focuses on body image and the distinction between the body and the soul, which I can hardly claim to have clarity about to this day. I also reflect on traits my mother and I share as Taurean women- how we are steadfast but headstrong, empathetic but grounded, and dedicated to finding and giving reliable love and comfort.”

Dacus recently announced a run of summer UK and European tour dates, including a London headline show at EartH on June 5, alongside shows in Leeds, Nottingham, Edinburgh and Manchester. She is also confirmed for festival slots including Primavera Sound, Roskilde and Best Kept Secret among others.

Lisa Hannigan has a new video for ‘Nowhere To Go’ from her forthcoming live album in collaboration with André de Ridder’s neo-classical collective, s t a r g a z e. As the video perfectly portrays, the Live In Dublin LP sees Lisa’s intimate songwriting transformed into something completely enthralling and cinematic. Recorded when the collaboration graced the stage of Dublin’s prestigious National Concert Hall – following stops at the Barbican and various European festivals – the live album will be released via Play It Again Sam on May 31.

Originally taken from Lisa’s second LP, 2011’s Passenger,  ‘Nowhere To Go’ was already a stark, beautifully-haunting listen; its crisp production allowing Lisa’s fragile, impassioned vocals and pared-back instrumentation to reach straight for the heartstrings. Though, in its new live incarnation complete with s t a r g a z e’s beguiling orchestral arrangements, this is taken to whole new heights. Thankfully, the accompanying video – filmed on the night of the show – allows us to absorb in visual form too.

The discography-spanning Live In Dublin follows Lisa’s critically-acclaimed third full-length, 2016’s At Swim (produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner), and arrives in a fruitful musical career spanning 17 years and several award nominations: from the Mercury Prize to Ireland’s Choice Music Prize and Meteor Music Awards. Across its fourteen tracks - including the likes of ‘Ora’, ‘Lille’, ‘Fall’, ‘Little Bird’, ‘A Sail’ and ‘Undertow’ - Lisa’s sublime vocals and soft-plucked guitars and mandolin are delivered against a hypnotic backdrop of waltzing keys, affective string sections and minimalist percussion. The result is something majestic in scope and ambition, and truly mesmerising.

This meeting of minds captured on the album was the product of a chance-encounter at Cork’s Sounds From A Safe Harbour Festival in 2015. Both performing at the festival, it was there where Lisa met André de Ridder and the conductor would discuss his work with his European orchestral collective named s t a r g a z e, who had been busy working with everyone from Terry Riley, Nils Frahm and Julia Holter, to Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, These New Puritans and Iceage. The following summer, at Berlin’s PEOPLE Festival, s t a r g a z e would end up inviting Lisa to perform a couple of her songs with them on stage and the project spiral on from there.

On what it was like to work with s t a r g a z e, Lisa explains: “They approach a song very much as a band would, with an enthusiasm and musicality which immediately felt like home. I was overwhelmed to hear my songs in such a widescreen way, going from black and white to technicolour, and hoped we could do more.” And from that, the idea of a live album was born: “The idea of eventually making a record and playing more together felt very natural and easy. Having made three records of my own I had a notion of making a live record but wanted to do it in a slightly more unusual way. We called on some wonderful arrangers over the following couple of years and built our setlist up one song and festival at a time.”

TRACKLIST

Ora

Prayer For The Dying

Little Bird

Undertow

Bookmark

Anahorish

Nowhere To Go

Lo

Swan

We The Drowned

Lille

A Sail

Barton

Fall