Sinead O'Brien previews debut album with fourth outing "Multitudes"

"Multitudes" follows earlier singles "There Are Good Times Coming", "Holy Country" and "GIRLKIND". O'Brien says of the new release, ""Multitudes" - the word itself was the first choice. It is not neat, it describes loose ends, open ends. Working with opposing forces and contradictions. An interrogation into the obstacles which pervade our daily lives; it’s a song about desire and creativity."

O'Brien's debut album Time Bend and Break The Bower will follow her 2020 EP Drowned in Blessings, and was recorded at Dan Carey's south London studio Mr Dan’s.

"The story of the album is built up in layers; one song giving context to the next," O'Brien explained. "I thought about becoming undressed; testing my ideas, my voice. Working myself out across themes of identity, curiosity, creative process. Experimenting with the form and shape of language, using tone and delivery to get to the immediate centre of what I am saying. The record opens and closes with poems, these tracks have a really clear direction - a form which is set apart from the ‘songs’. I hold stops in different places, moving emphatically through the lyrics, changing the meaning. No punctuation - only the voice mapping out the way."

She added of the album title, "The album title Time Bend and Break The Bower, from the song "Multitudes", came into my head and made its demands, an idea that pressed on me throughout the record. It has a very active role. The clock symbol is enlarged, it looms like a moon over my activity watching, counting me down to zero. Dripping with self-sabotage and the feeling of being chased; it pulls and pushes against the verses which talk of "Multitudes"; the things that faithfully come back - the images, the words, creativity. It is creativity itself."