Oisin Leech

Acclaimed Irish songwriter Oisin Leech released his latest, Steve Gunn-produced album 'Cold Sea' earlier this year, in March 2024. Join us on Friday, September 27th at Rough Trade Berlin for an intimate warm-up show, ahead of Oisin's gig in Lido a day later.

While Leech may be a familiar name in some circles due to his two decade long career as one half of revered Irish folk duo The Lost Brothers, and from his brilliant radio show Caravan Radio, Cold Sea is his first solo offering. Recorded in Malin, in an old sea-facing schoolhouse that Leech and Gunn transformed into a working studio, the album features contributions from Steve Gunn, M. Ward, Dónal Lunny, Róisín McGrory and Tony Garnier, a long-time member of Bob Dylan’s touring band. 

Leech’s debut solo singles ‘October Sun’, ‘Colour Of The Rain’ and ‘One Hill Further’ garnered widespread radio airplay internationally from the likes of BBC 6 Music, Radio France and WFMU in the states.

‘Cold Sea’ has a transportive power, using a combination of closely mic’ed acoustic instruments and electronic textures to build a sonic landscape that feels intimate yet other-worldly. According to Leech and Gunn, this is in part a result of their interest in making an album that expressed the environment in which it was created.

Speaking of the new music, Bob Dylan stalwart, Tony Garnier says: “It’s always such a great experience recording with Oisin. He’s a wonderful artist and a good friend. His extensive knowledge of music is a valuable learning to me. I hope more people hear his beautiful new songs and see his performances. This debut album of his, ‘Cold Sea’, is a spectacular record and it was a pleasure to be part of it. These new songs are so great.”

Of Leech’s new work, folk pioneer Dónal Lunny adds: “Oisin’s new music is mesmeric – and completely immersive. His songs make you feel good about life and that’s what music should do!” 

‘Cold Sea’ is available on Green Vinyl and be purchased before and after the instore at Rough Trade Berlin and online: https://www.roughtrade.com/de-de/product/oisin-leech/cold-sea-4

This is an 16+ event

Rough Trade Europe

Oisin Leech: Cold Sea Instore Gig

Oisin Leech - October Sun

Gigs

Berlin

Rough Trade Berlin

HSP PRSNTS: Oisin Leech at Leaf on 16th October 2024.

This is an 18+ event

Oisin Leech - Cold Sea (feat. Steve Gunn)

Liverpool

Leaf

This is a 14+ event (U18s to be accompanied by an adult)

Crosstown Concerts

Bristol

Bristol Folk House

Manchester

Hallé at St Michaels

Beside Trawbreaga Bay, in Co. Donegal, on the north coast of Ireland, in an old schoolhouse, with a suitcase full of hired recording gear, Oisin Leech strums gently on an acoustic guitar and watches the tide pull the water away from this ancient inlet. The thickness of Oisin’s voice soothes the old world room as the sound waves bounce around in the land where his ancestors still live and still wander.

This is a scene from the makings of Oisin Leech’s first solo album Cold Sea. After a musical history that led Leech from the street punk bands of yesteryear through an ongoing seven-album stint with folk duo The Lost Brothers, he found himself for the first time working on songs to sing alone.

The thought of performing songs with no accompanying harmony and minimal arrangement led Leech to soul-search for new expressions and ways of playing. Throughout the great pause of the pandemic, after his family had gone to bed, Leech sat by the fireplace experimenting with open tunings. The poems of Seamus Heaney and Leech’s own history as a studied playwright inspired the words. In his mind, the songs became imagined vignette films playing behind closed, guitar eyes. After writing nearly 40 new songs in this fashion Leech wrote “October Sun” which would become the foundation for Cold Sea.

Oisin Leech

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