Sinead O’Brien – “Strangers In Danger”

Siobhan Bailey Turner

Sinead O’Brien – “Strangers In Danger”

Siobhan Bailey Turner

A couple months ago, the Limerick singer/poet Sinead O’Brien announced Drowning In Blessings, her debut EP. After a couple of early singles, she teamed up with the English producer Dan Carey for this material — making her the latest exciting artist to come out of the Speedy Wunderground orbit. Along with the announcement, she shared a track called “Roman Ruins.” And today, she’s back with another one.

The latest single from Drowning In Blessings is called “Strangers In Danger.” Here’s what O’Brien had to say about it:

I had a strange epiphany during a gig. “Plastic flowers in bloom and the sound of soccer.” I couldn’t make sense of it — I wrote it down and later began to take it apart. It’s about a kind of duality where something is divided by having two apparently conflicting meanings. A feeling is mirrored in an external scene and illustrated in another language. The image simplifies the problem because it just is. It exists. With all of its complexities and contradictions. I felt connected to various images and occurrences around me and began sound-tracking these mini scenarios.

Scenes play out in windows, on streets, inside homes; It’s about spaces, claiming personal space in the city, naming things, bringing them closer. Feeling out the distance and tension between people. You are carried through the rooms and immersed in the different levels and sequences of the piece. I experience it in a linear format from left to right — like a stretched out painting.

Similarly to “Roman Ruins,” “Strangers In Danger” is an idiosyncratic work. It finds O’Brien throwing her voice in strange directions, a sort of unsteady sing-speak delivery over a vaguely post-punk/no wave arrangement. Check it out below.

The Drowning In Blessings EP will be out 9/16 via Chess Club.

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