Wonder Woman of the Week: Lisa Hannigan

This week’s Wonder Woman has given a name to the phenomenon of dormant volcanoes erupting after years of calm. She appeared in the music scene in Ireland in a quiet entrance to local performances with her partner before parting ways and launching a successful career in solo music, went quiet almost as quickly as she rose to power, then reappeared with the might of her full talent almost a decade later. The Wonder Woman of the Week is Lisa Hannigan.

In 2001, one gig-promoter welcomed singer/songwriter Damien Rice into a venue along with what he perceived as the musician’s girlfriend. When Rice began performing with the woman on stage, the promoter instantly fell in love with the talent of the presumed “side piece.” The two produced the soundtrack for a musical Irish film shortly after which garnered international attention and the two became household names in their native Ireland. In 2007, while the two were on tour in Germany, Rice fired Hannigan from his band out of the blue and announced the separation of the pair which had taken the world stage. [1]

Lisa Hannigan spent seven years as the back-up singer for a boyfriend who saw her as a marketing partner more than a significant other, so - in the form of any liberated woman- Hannigan launched a solo career that would become more successful than Rice’s. In 2009, Hannigan produced her first solo album Sea Sew. The album was inspired by the fishing town in which she spent her childhood. The album was both a figurative and literal stitching (the album cover is a photograph of a quilt Hannigan hand sewed of the lyrics of every song stitched together) of “rusty, creaky” music. [2]

Music critics- and even the artist herself- often describes Lisa Hannigan’s music as raw, exposing, and truthful. Her songs tell stories and in each one the story sends a clear, yet melodic, message. Like with her first album, each of Hannigan successive tracks and albums became stitch-works of songs crafted in different styles so that each song was in itself an original piece of art. In many of her songs, Hannigan attempts to recreate sounds of village life with instruments. In her song “Aura,” Hannigan employs the use of a rolling piano to imitate the sound of an oar paddling through the water. [3]

In 2016, Lisa Hannigan launched her new record At Swim after years of musical silence. The record served as Hannigan acting on a crossroads moment in her life of dissecting paths leading one way towards retiring from music and the other persisting and continuing to pursuing a musical career. Hannigan chose the later and produced an album with the same gusto as her previous work. Hannigan’s symbolic crossroads also met when her old partner and ex-boyfriend Damien Rice appeared at her London apartment after a funeral. Hannigan acted on the opportunity to rejoin her old partner or continue down her path of a solo career and a life without Rice. She chose the later and her song “Funeral Suit” on At Swim tells the story of the choices she made in these two endeavors. [4]

Since singer/songwriter Lisa Hannigan’s music is often associated with the sea, perhaps an ocean-themed metaphor is relevant for her life. Hannigan spend her early years producing successful music with her at the time boyfriend Damien Rice, but when the two split in 2007, Hannigan was forced to make a choice. She walked out into the ocean of international music and began swimming on her own in the waters of her new musical career. Staying afloat on the talent of her raw and quilt-work music, Hannigan reached a drop-off where she could swim back to shore and rejoin her old partner Rice (in more ways than one) or continue swimming out into the ocean on her own. With successful music both in front and behind her, Hannigan chose to ignore the calls from shore and continued swimming.

“Lisa Hannigan – Interview – 2016.” Brighton’s Finest. 2016. Web. 8 February 2017.

“Lisa Hannigan Sews Together A Solo Debut.” All Things Considered. NPR; 10 April 2009. Web. 8 February 2017.

“Reacting Melodically: A Conversation With Lisa Hannigan.” The Bluegrass Situation. 19 August 2016. Web 8 February 2017.

“Lisa Hannigan On The ‘Pivotal Moment’ Of Defining A Relationship.” Weekend Edition Sunday. NPR; 18 September 2016. Web. 8 February 2017.