- Music
- 11 Jul 23
Watch her performance – featuring songs from All Of This Is Chance, as well as an even newer composition – below...
Cavan-raised, Dublin-based singer-songwriter Lisa O'Neill's eagerly anticipated Tiny Desk Concert is now available to watch online – after being posted to NPR Music's YouTube channel (which boasts over eight million subscribers) earlier today.
Her performance on the renowned online video series was recorded at presenter Bob Boilen's desk in Washington D.C. during her U.S. tour back in May. Lisa is joined by her band for the set – made up of Joe Doyle on double bass, Brian Leach on hammered dulcimer, and Mic Geraghty on shruti box and harmonium.
Lisa largely drew from her lauded latest album, All Of This Is Chance, for the Tiny Desk Concert, including 'Old Note', 'Silver Seed' and 'Goodnight World'. The performance also included an even newer song, 'When Cash Was King' – inspired by a recent experience in London.
"I couldn’t buy a coffee with the 20 pound note I’d earned on a record sale the night before," she previously said of the song, in a post on her website. "In fact, I couldn’t buy anything in London with my £20 cash in the days following either. The big cities are going like this. It dawned on me that if a person is without a bank account or a mobile phone in the large cities today then they are at a huge disadvantage and sometimes unable to purchase basic essentials like food and water. Is this change short-sighted and necessary? Will a cashless society cause an even greater divide among humanity?"
On NPR's website, Bob Boilen – the creator of the Tiny Desk Concerts series – described 'Old Note' as "one of [his] favourite songs of 2023."
"There are many ways to conjure joy with music," he continues. "Some aim for party music, with uplifting beats that get your body moving, but Lisa O'Neill walks a different path. For her joy is about connecting with the plants, the animals, and our surroundings and feeling grateful for the world around us."
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Lisa is the latest in a prestigious line of Irish musicians to have played a Tiny Desk Concert – following the likes of Lankum, Bono and The Edge, Lisa Hannigan, Villagers, Glen Hansard, Saint Sister, Dermot Kennedy, Hozier, The Cranberries, Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill, Fontaines D.C., James Vincent McMorrow, Cian Nugent and SOAK.
Other major artists to have played the series include Dua Lipa, Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Adele, John Prine, Mac Miller, Paramore, Florence + The Machine, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Alicia Keys, Olivia Rodrigo, BTS, and Wu-Tang Clan.
Watch Lisa O'Neill's Tiny Desk Concert below:
Read our review of All Of This Is Chance here