INDIE hero Paddy Hanna returns to Limerick this weekend playing Dolans on Saturday April 19 promoting his latest work, ‘Oylegate,’ (released last Friday 11).
Paddy began his career as the frontman of Grand Pocket Orchestra before embarking on a solo journey. His debut solo album, ‘Leafy Stiletto’ (2014), showcased his talent for crafting emotionally resonant songs. Subsequent releases, including ‘Frankly, I Mutate’ (2018) and ‘The Hill’ (2020), further solidified his reputation as a distinctive voice. In 2022, Hanna released ‘Imagine I’m Hoping,’ an album that reflects a more optimistic outlook while maintaining his signature snark.
After Imagine I’m Hoping arrived to critical acclaim but not the mainstream success needed for him to continue on as a musician, Hanna found himself at a personal and artistic low point.
Initially planning a traditional Irish album Paddy faced burnout and shifted direction, simplifying the project and recording it himself with producer Daniel Fox (Gilla Band).
The result is a slower, more introspective sound, influenced by Soviet-era cinema and synth-based music. Paddy wrote the album in isolation, often during his newborn baby’s nap times.
The album charts the euphoric highs and crushing lows of parenthood, delivered with Paddy’s trademark blend of melancholic wit and lush, off-kilter charm.
“I was feeling glum because my last record didn’t do the business I had hoped it would, it’s the name of the game, I suppose. But I was really beaten down. I didn’t give a shit about trying anymore.
“So it’s like – there’s nothing to write about – that I’m depressed and I’m changing a nappy!” Paddy laughs while chatting to Dave Hanratty on the No Encore podcast.
With financial support in the form of a loan from his dad and plenty of encouragement from his wife to just go make this record and, “be the nut that you are,” Paddy began to search for a theme to inspire the new record.
“I really had to search this time though. So I had to, kind of step outside of my head here.”
Determined to avoid the usual sentimental clichés that often accompany writing about having a child, Hanna found an unlikely source of inspiration in grim Soviet-era cinema. Paddy borrowed a projector and screened old Soviets era cinema in his studio that inspired the narrative and the music in this album.
Films such as Solaris (1973) flickered in the background—bleak, meditative works that echoed the depths of sleep deprivation and the existential awe of bringing new life into the world.
“I just looped that movie and played the whole time when that movie was on”, he told the podcast.
“It is such an expressive film, with close ups of people’s faces. And these are people who have lived lives as their eyes tell more of a story than a choreographed action sequence could. And I just was able to write with real ease.
“I really found my rhythm, and the album came together that way.”
Yet, despite its moments of stark introspection, Oylegate is sonically rich and warmly immersive—an effect encapsulated in a simple request Hanna made to producer Daniel Fox: to create sweet, sweet caramel.
He wanted the music to feel like satin against the ears, enveloping the listener in warmth even as the themes occasionally tilt into darkness.
True to form, Oylegate marks yet another creative leap for an artist who refuses to be boxed in.
“One advantage of being an ‘artist’s artist’ is that you never have to worry about being creatively different between albums.
“There’s real freedom in doing whatever you want and not being judged for it. And even if you are judged, who gives a shit?”
Paddy Hanna plays Dolans this Saturday April 19.
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