FOLLOWING on from last year’s debut ‘Aliens’, Owensie returned this month with a new band, a new sound, and a new record to be launched. ‘Citizens’ may draw surprise from those familiar with the Dubliner’s classical guitar-based solo work to date as his new record kicks off with a heavier and more aggressive sound. The album mixes elements of folk, alternative rock, bossa nova, classical and dance, with the consistent presence of Owensie’s flamenco guitar and doom laden falsetto throughout. Owensie spoke to Limerick Post this week.
Limerick Post: How has the experience been for you on Citizens, recording with other musicians Lewis, Julia, Dec and so on?
Owensie: “Overall it’s been really great. It really opened up a lot of possibilities for what the album could become over the whole writing process. I was enabled to explore more moods within the music. I’d already collaborated with Julia Mahon for the first album on which she composed the string arrangements and piano parts. She also played piano on that album. With Lewis Hedigan, drums, on the other hand, I didn’t know him at all really. I just called over to his apartment one day with some demos and we had a chat about it. I tried to explain to him what it was that I was looking for. About a fortnight later we went into a rehearsal room and he had pretty much nailed the songs already. I’m not sure that the album would have been ready as soon as it was were it not for that.”
Limerick Post: Is Citizens a commentary on what has been the national post-Tiger mood and conversation here in Ireland?
Owensie: “Yes, absolutely, and that was driven by a fear that Ireland, in the possession of arguably the most vibrant and expanding music scene in Europe, didn’t appear to be addressing or discussing the very immediate and dire situation that is existing within.
“‘Rogue Trader’ was written with the story of people like Kweku Adoboli in mind. This young person who was enabled to gamble billions away. He will no doubt spend many years in prison. But ultimately I don’t believe that anyone is particularly surprised by his actions. He is simply the fall guy for the inevitable failure of financial markets. No one wants to know how investment bankers make people money. Not until they start to lose. Then they want someone’s head on a plate, to protect them from having to acknowledge their own apathy.
“‘Hang Your Head Low’ is part violent fantasy and part satire. How many times do you hear people saying that the bankers or the government should be hanged for what they’ve done to the country?
“Well, I kind of try to live that as reality for a few minutes in this song. At the same time, its kind of laughing at these statements. There’s a line that goes “the fool’s rich but the poor man’s in the know”. Again, you will regularly hear people refer to politicians as idiots, or fools. But obviously, their power and wealth is no accident. So really those two positions should be reversed.
“The fool is poor because the rich man is always in the know. And that often stems from the rich man being able to trick the poor man into thinking that he is in the know. George Bush Jr was the perfect example of this. The put on, stuttering, salt-of-the-earth, persona that Bertie Aherne employed is another.”
Limerick Post: Who created the striking album cover?
Owensie: “My son Tadhg is responsible for the artwork. He is eight years old. Before the Summer holidays this year, he returned home from school one day with a folder that had been covered, front, back and inside in this very detailed and elaborate drawing. I asked Tadhg what it was about and he spent several minutes explaining the details of the story.
“One part of the story involved a helicopter exploding and people falling into the sea and crying out for help. I guess that I felt that the theme matched up with the lyrical content of the album, reflecting upon a sink or swim kind of moment in history.
“The artwork has attracted a lot of positive commentary, and often from people unaware that it is the work of an eight-year-old.”
Owensie will perform the new album live with the new band on Saturday November 3 at Ormston House, Patrick Street with special guest Patrick O’Brien.
