CLMF25: Lisa Hannigan and How I Became A Wave
Sun 28 Sep 2025
3pm
€35
Lisa is a versatile Irish folk singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and voice actor, whose solo musical career has spanned 17 years. She released her debut album, Sea Sew in 2008, which earned her nominations for a Choice award in Ireland and a Mercury Music Prize in the UK.
Since then, Lisa has released Passenger (2011) and At Swim (2016) to huge critical acclaim in Ireland and the United States. 2019 saw the release of Live in Dublin recorded in the National Concert Hall with the contemporary-classical orchestra, star g a z e. The collaboration, Live in Dublin – which sees Hannigan’s sparse, ethereal folk transformed into something cinematic and transfixing – has been taken to select festivals across Europe, and most recently graced the stages of London’s Barbican and Dublin’s National Concert Hall. Across its fourteen tracks, Hannigan’s delicate vocals and soft-plucked guitars and mandolin are delivered against a hypnotic backdrop of sublime waltzing keys, affective string sections and minimalist percussion.
The result is something majestic in scope and ambition, and truly beguiling in the best possible
way.
How I Became A Wave
How I Became A Wave is the solo project of Cork-based artist Pat Carey, formerly of the acclaimed indie band, The Hard Ground. Blending literary and natural world influences with lush strings and steel pedal guitars, the music of How I Became A Wave speaks to the soul through considered lyrics and quietly rousing melodies.
This is aggressively quiet music that by its very nature provides an antidote to the cacophony of today’s world.
Drawing inspiration from writers like Mary Oliver, Eavan Boland, Max Porter, Sylvia Plath, Seamus Heaney, Doireann Ní Ghríofa and Sara Baume, and musical influences such as Paul Buchanan, Bon Iver, Big Thief, Nils Frahm and Anaïs Mitchell, How I Became A Wave reflects on love, loss and the quiet significance of everyday moments.
How I Became A Wave’s forthcoming debut album features contributions from some of Ireland’s most respected musicians, including Carey’s former Hard Ground bandmates Davie Ryan and Hugh Dillon, pianist Rory McCarthy, cellists Laura McFadden and Aoife Burke, and multi-instrumentalist Brian Casey, among others. RTÉ Concert Orchestra composer Cormac McCarthy has arranged a number of pieces on the album. Each musician brings a quiet depth to the record, enriching its layered, reflective sound.
With an album release and a number of curated live performances on the horizon for 2025, How I Became A Wave is set to emerge as a powerful voice in Irish music - one that reminds us to pause, reflect, and find meaning in the smallest of moments.
