By NOEL MURPHY
‘Calm came over Restless Bay,
Your shutters were open part the way,
You saw the dinghy wash up on the shore,
And that’s where love came to moor.’
Ocean Grove’s Aine Tyrrell has moored her heart along from her West Ireland home.
That’s the way with ramblers; an ability to settle their feet on shifting ground. With this Irish gypsy, it’s a trait that extends to her artistic career as well.
Musician, lyricist and mum to three, Aine is taking to the road to record an album that’s been 10 years in the wings – in a Bedford bus.
Couldn’t stand being confined to a studio, she says.
And true to a roving spirit, she’s doing likewise with the financing of the album, through crowdfunding, the indie platform that brings performers and patrons together at an almost visceral level.
It’s a collaboration that Aine says the old Bedford transport will help her repay.
“I get to make this album with you and for you,” she’s telling her fellow travellers.
“The best part of playing music is connecting with all of you by sharing my stories and in turn hearing all your stories.
“So you get an album but we can also connect through all the rewards that are here. Drink green smoothies together, teach you tin whistle, go for a surf … ”
It’s a different approach but one eminently suitable for a woman who busked her way around South America, who’s worked 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.
It’s a journey, of course. Like she lilts in What’s For You:
‘Sun peeking through the cloud it’s revealing,
Follow where that beam is,
Cause it’s shining down showing you want your dream is.’
Aine’s clever confluence of folk and Irish moods and melodies has received critical acclaim since her arrival at Australian festivals and stages recently, following a maternal hiatus of some years.
Her forthcoming album is aimed at bridging that gap.
It’s name? Gypsy Daughter.
What else?
Her fundraising site is pozible.com/project/178163.
