By NOEL MURPHY
IRISH gypsy songbird Aine Tyrrell is returning Geelong’s way with a new single under her wing as she tours the country by Bedford bus.
The bus, a mobile studio and home since Tyrrell departed Ocean Grove last year, is proving a effective pad for inspiration. The bus and the Outback, that is.
Her single Where Were You is the debutante release from her new album Queen of Swords, an album recorded in abandoned mines and under the stars.
As she says, the Aussie desert is an odd place to find herself considering she’s an ardent surfer who grew up performing on the wild coasts of Ireland.
But maybe not so unusual for Tyrrell has the chronic wanderlust, and love of music, of the gypsy.
She busked her way around South America, and played legendary folk clubs like SinÉ and Arlene¹s Grocery in New York, Whelans of Dublin and Roisin Dubh of Galway, before settling into ocean Grove – for a bit.
She’s also worked with or shared stages with Damien Dempsey, Declan O’Rourke, Paddy Casey, Mundy, Roesy, Luka Bloom, Katell Keinig and more recently here in Oz with Clare Bowditch.
Tyrrell’s due to play Geelong’s Beav’s Bar on Sunday 12 July – a brief return as her Where Were You tour takes her far and wide from Sydney and the NSW Central Coast down through Canberra and regional Vic.
The new single is, as Tyrrell says, a “plaintive, hopeful, and ultimately uplifting” statement “inspired by a string of tragedies” visited on her and her loved ones. But as its accompanying video clip suggests, sometimes you just need “space, lots and lots of glorious space” to begin to heal.
Mum to three, Tyrrell took to the road to record the album, which had been waiting 10 years in the wings, through crowdfunding.
Now she’s paying back that faith.
