Name: Oisin Leech
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Nationality: Irish
Recent release: Oisin Leech's debut solo album Cold Sea is out via Outside/Bertus.

If you enjoyed this Oisin Leech interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

When I sing the songs from my debut album Cold Sea I often close my eyes and see very clear cinematic narratives as my imagination moves through the song.

It feels good to sing these songs- it’s very healing to perform these songs- even though the songs appear to be full of melancholy … it’s strangely cathartic in a way.

Bizarrely I don’t see Cold Sea as a lament but rather I see it as a liberation. A song like 'Trawbreaga Bay’ is really just a simple blues - a meditation. It settles the mind to sing it.



How does listening with headphones and listening through a stereo system change your experience of sound and music?

I love to listen to music on headphones while travelling to shows by train especially. It can be a very intense experience listening to music on headphones but when I do I notice new sounds and details in recordings.

Again, when I listen to Cold Sea on headphones on a song like ‘Malin Gales’ I love hearing the cracks of the double bass strings on Tony Garnier’s playing.



I love Steve Gunn’s vocal at the end of “October Sun.” Steve’s a great singer and he joins me on the choruses at the end.



Tell me about some of the albums or artists that you love specifically for their sound, please.

I love Sean O Riada (1931-1971) - his music and his compositions - an Irish composer who lived in Cork. There’s a beautiful album that came out in 2014 on the Gael Linn label called Port Na bPucai - Previously Unreleased Keyboard Recordings of Sean O Riada.



Also - there’s another album by Tyrone guitarist the late great Arty McGlynn called Mcglynn’s Fancy that I love. I could listen to that all day.



Miles Davis’ Sketches Of Spain was a another album I listened to a lot while writing Cold Sea. That is one of my desert island discs.



Steve Gunn sent me a very cool album by Ted Lucas - his self titled debut.



Steve and I both love the space on this album. In my song ‘October Sun’ Steve wanted to leave as much room as possible for the songs to breathe. Just like the Ted Lucas album.

Do you experience strong emotional responses towards certain sounds? If so, what kind of sounds are these and do you have an explanation about the reasons for these responses?

Recently I am listening more and more to jazz music. Albums like Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage. Or Moanin’ by Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers.



When I hear this music from these artists in this era it inspires emotions of the beauty of life. In these very strange dark times we live in we need this beauty badly.

Any music that inspires peace and beauty ; that’s what we need right now. Miles Davis’ early Capitol Records albums inspire this feeling. As does anything by Nina Simone or Billie Holliday. Steve Gunn and I listened to Nina Simone’s version of the Leonard Cohen song "Suzanne" a lot on the way to recording Cold Sea. I prefer her 1969 version.



There can be sounds which feel highly irritating to us and then there are others we could gladly listen to for hours. Do you have examples for either one or both of these?

I could listen to the ocean and waves crashing all day long. I also love a quiet summer’s night.

I also love Denmark St. in London where all the music shops are. The clang of musicians trying out electric guitars over each other all at the same time.

Are there everyday places, spaces, or devices which intrigue you by the way they sound? Which are these?

Dublin City is a place I have always found very inspiring.

The river Liffey flows down from the mountains and right through the city. If you get Dublin on the right day it really is magic. The sound of the people and the buskers on grafton street. The hustle of the cafes. The record shops like Freebird Records, Spindizzy and Tower Records all playing their music out onto the street. I love all these sounds.

I’m also very much a fan of hearing the wind blow over the roof at night. Sounds like music to me.

Have you ever been in spaces with extreme sonic characteristics, such as anechoic chambers or caves? What was the experience like?

I did do a gig years ago in Tipperary in an underground cave. Because of air quality and oxygen levels there was a time limit to how long anyone was allowed to stay down in the caves.

I found it fascinating how the sound travelled. Music and musical notes seemed to float across the space. Almost like you could reach out and touch the music with your hand.

What are among your favourite spaces to record and play your music?

Vicar Street in Dublin is a great venue. There’s also a small venue in Waterford I love called Phil Grimes. Subterranean Sounds put gigs on there.

My favourite German venue is called Knust in Hamburg. Love that place.

Does music and sound feel “material” to you? Does working with sound feel like you're sculpting or shaping something?

Yes I look at myself as a craftsman when I write songs. Sometimes I can write a good song very quickly. Like “One Hill Further” came very quickly. Words and music. That doesn’t happen too often.  



A song like “Colour Of The Rain” - the melody came very quickly. Then I spent months writing the words. Each verse in that song charts my life living between Dublin Naples Liverpool London and San Fransisco.



How important is sound for our overall well-being and in how far do you feel the "acoustic health" of a society or environment is reflective of its overall health?

The word ‘music’ comes from an ancient Egyptian word which derives from the word “magic”. Music is magic - music is healing. I believe this.

For me music is a lifeline. I wake up in the morning and I can’t wait to stick on a new record. I think it’s important to listen to music that makes you feel good.

At the moment Irish artists are leading the way in the world - that is a good sign for Ireland’s young creative powers. The Irish poet WB Yeats believed that inspiration and the muse moved like a cloud across the world- and that no one can control where it goes.

Certain places can produce great art in any given period. At the moment Irish music is blossoming.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds?

Hearing the north Atlantic waves crash up around Malin where we made Cold Sea was very moving. I wrote “Empire” one night while staying at a hotel in Malin after a day sea swimming.



Many animals communicate through sound. Based either on experience or intuition, do you feel as though interspecies communication is possible and important? Is there a creative element to it, would you say?  

Birds communicate in an incredible way - way beyond our knowledge and beyond human intellect. They have warning calls and secret signals. I find this very interesting.

I once heard a recording of a group of birds that had traveled hundreds of miles to Ireland and had just come through a ferocious thunder storm. To hear them celebrating their safe arrival was mind blowing.

The older I get the better I get at listening.

Tinnitus and developing hyperacusis are very real risks for anyone working with sound. Do you take precautions in this regard and if you're suffering from these or similar issues – how do you cope with them?

Yes I am very careful to not listen to music too loudly and I have a ear plugs too at festivals. I plan on doing this for a long time so I mind my ears.

We can surround us with silence every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

Silence is golden - it’s like a blank canvas upon which you can project anything you want from the imagination or from you life.

Seth S. Horowitz called hearing the “universal sense” and emphasised that it was more precise and faster than any of our other senses, including vision. How would our world be different if we paid less attention to looks and listened more instead?

The world is very concerned with speeding everything up. That’s ok, but what’s the cost?

I think we could all benefit from slowing down and listening to each other more and being more in tune with the magic around us both in nature and between one another.