Irish artist Aoife Nessa Frances shares the single and video “This Still Life,” the third offering from her forthcoming sophomore album Protector due October 28th via Partisan Records.
Aoife shares about the concept behind the single,”The song is about the juxtaposition of feeling small in an endless universe while reflecting on the significance of my own birth and existence. It’s about learning to move slowly throughthe world, listening to nature, and trusting that I can find my answers within.” The floating sonics of “This Still Life” arrive with a video directed by Ella Margolin and follow on the heels of the lead single “Way To Say Goodbye“.
Speaking further about how the idea for “This Still Life” came together Aoife shares: “My friend Adrian Crowley was in the middle of getting the artwork together for his album ‘The Watchful Eye of the Stars’, and he showed me a photo he had taken for the cover – a still life of different objects including nails, a seahorse, ash and shells. Later on I dreamt I was swimming in the sea close to dark somewhere off the coast of Mayo. I looked up at the sky and saw his album cover looking back at me. It appeared real; the seahorse and nail on the horizon with all the planets and stars made of stone and ash. In the dream, I asked Adrian about it and he told me it wasn’t a still life after all, but actually the sky when seen at night in a special part of Mayo from a particular angle, when you walk out to the Atlantic Ocean. It was to be kept a secret because the world wasn’t ready to know about it yet. I wrote ‘This Still Life’ the next day, and a week later began recording ‘Protector’ with my band.”
Protector was born in the spring of 2020, when Aoife packed up her things in Dublin and moved to rural County Clare on the west coast of Ireland. It was there, amidst the stillness, that she began to work on the songs that would become her second album: apersonal, mystical journey of self-discovery through dislocation, transformation, and restoration.Recording took place in a small house in County Kerry, at the foothills of the Annascaul, with Brendan Jenkinson (producer, keys, bass, synth, clarinet), Brendan Doherty (drums), Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh (string arrangements) and Conor O’Brien (horn arrangements). The resulting body of work deftly juxtaposes golden hours and arguments, affection and alienation, and above all marks a crucial period of her life that was transformative and left her wiser.
In Aoife’s own words:”Writing and recording this album was a spiritual experience. I experienced love for my family on a level I didn’t know existed, while slowly putting myself back together and watching the ‘protector’ in me grow much bigger. ‘Protector’ acknowledges the part of myself that steers me towards a brighter path.”
Protector follows Aoife’s debut full-length album Land of No Junction, which released in 2020 and features the stand-out songs “Blow Up” and “Here in the Dark.” Pitchfork wrote about the debut, “The Irish songwriter’s voice shines like a headlight in fog. Her debut abounds with deceptively serene serenades and surprising lyrical shifts.”
Aoife will be supporting Destroyer on tour this fall across Europe and the UK before embarking on her headlining European tour and co-headlining North American tour with Indigo Sparke this November and December.
Check out “This Still Life” and pre-order/save Protector above, see full tour routing below, and stay tuned for more from Aoife Nessa Frances coming very soon.
Upcoming Live Dates
01/11 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
02/11 – Manchester, UK @ Castle Hotel
03/11 – Glasgow, UK @ Nice N Sleazy
04/11 – Todmorden, UK @ Golden Lion
05/11 – Nottingham, UK @ Bodega
06/11 – Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade
08/11 – London, UK @ Moth Club
09/11 – Brighton, UK @ Prince Albert
23/11 – Belfast, UK @ Ulster Sports Club
24/11 – Dublin, IE @ Whelans
25/11 – Limerick, IE @ Dolans, Upstairs
26/11 – Galway, IE @ Roisin Dubh
27/11 – Cork, IE @ Quiet Lights Festival, Coughlans Bar