For this week’s Spotlight On feature, we spoke to Irish singer and musician Lisa Canny.
The Mayo native is a 7-time All-Ireland champion on harp and banjo, and she has toured all across the globe as with groups Celtic Crossroads and The Young Irelanders, playing to live crowds of over 50,000 people.
Lisa is known for her enchanting covers and captivating live performances, and her original music is truly unique.
In her exclusive interview with Goss.ie, the singer talked about her “obsession” with music from a young age, the most surreal moments in her career to date, and her new single ‘Know It All’.
Read our full exclusive chat with Lisa below:
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Have you always dreamed about pursuing a career in music? When did you first discover singing was your passion?
Short answer is yes! I toyed with the idea of pursuing a career in medicine for a while and always had an interest in studying architecture but at the end of the day music was always going to be the winner for me! It bit me in the ass pretty early on in life and I was hooked! I started playing banjo when I was five years old and since then haven’t gone a day without some sort of music making.
I was an obsessive child who couldn’t be told to chill, according to Mammy Canny. She recalls blood dripping from my fingers and tears popping from my eyes, still only 5 years old, practicing my tune-of-the-week for the thousandth time, insisting that it still wasn’t “perfect”. Jaysus! I’m sure my poor mother was worried she had birthed a future serial killer! I’m not sure who I was trying to impress, I really don’t remember it. But I know that it was my identity from a very young age and music had a huge impact on many aspects of my life. It taught me discipline and reward, gave me an outlet to express myself and filled my heart with joy (once the tune was “perfect” of course!) My first memory of singing was at family occasions – weddings, birthdays, and funerals.
Like many Irish families every occasion would end in a round-the-house singsong, with each person in the circle knocking out some greatest hits record while the rest of us provided backing vocals and harmonies. In a ridiculously big family like mine (65 first cousins) these singsongs often went on for 3-4 hours to get around the room… So I got plenty of practice time.
I learned to sing Sean Nós in school and have vivid memories of singing Mo Roisin Dubh at every Scór, Readoiri and Fleadh Ceoil competition the length and breadth of the country. Of course, I’d then go home, put on my short shorts and crop top, grab the hairbrush as a mic and spend the rest of the day standing in front of my bedroom mirror singing and dancing to Spice Girls songs. Even at that young age I had a massively diverse interest in musical genres, something that is still evident in my music-making today.
How would you describe your music style? Who are your biggest musical influences?
My new project is called FOLK+ and that is how I now describe my music too! It’s folk at the foundation – my first musical language – but then its walls are made of pop, its furniture is made of electronic dance and its roof is RnB. And then sometimes I demolish the whole lot and build a completely new house on top of the foundation, made of different materials like funk and hip-hop.
FOLK+ works as a genre marker for me because my music always has folk at the foundation and the “+” represents whatever the hell I want it to represent, whatever it is I choose to put on top of that foundation. I’m just out here building weird looking houses really!! (Girl still holding on to that architectural dream!) My biggest influences range drastically in style from FKA Twigs and Rosalia to Laura Mvula and Laura Marling to Kate Bush and Tori Amos to Gerry O’Connor (banjo genius) and Dolores Keane!
You were discovered by Miles Copeland of The Police – tell us about that experience.
I didn’t know who he was at first. He came up to me after a performance I did in LA and said something like “I’m going to make you a star! You will come to my castle in France!” I’m not joking. It was something as ridiculous as that.
Lo and behold, a couple of months later I’m on a plane to France, to his castle, to join 18 of the industry’s top artists, producers and songwriters at ASCAPS’s annual songwriters retreat. It was here I wrote my first songs, surrounded by multi-Grammy-winning-
Have you had any other surreal moments in your career to date?
Yes. That whole retreat was definitely a big one. Selling out the Jazz Café in London last September is another. I’ve wanted to play that venue since I moved to London 6 years ago. To sell it out, on my own, as an independent artist was a real high point for me!
Who would be your dream person/ group to collab with? (Living and dead)
Living: Rosalia, FKA Twigs, Jazmine Sullivan, St. Vincent, Beyonce or Anderson Paak. Don’t make me choose one! Dead: Elvis… if only for the glamour of it all!
Tell us about your new single ‘Know It All’. What inspired the track?
“Know It All” is disguised as a song about pretending to know what you are doing when you haven’t actually a clue! It’s REAL meaning, however, is much more personal and not nearly as P.G. as that! You’ll have to listen to the lyrics to try to figure it out for yourself.
What are your goals for the year ahead?
My main goal is to release FOLK+ in its entirety – both as an E.P. and as a short film. Coinciding with that will be the first installation of the FOLK+ live immersive experience, happening first here in London, June 1st.
With this I plan to create a new culture of performance for my fans, one which moves away from the traditional “stand and listen” culture of gigs and towards a more fully-immersive experience including live music performance that opens up a whole new way to consume music and art for my fans and allows me to collaborate with other incredible artists in London from a range of disciplines including dance, installation, sculpture, art, film and motion graphics.
Other creatives are of huge inspiration to me. London is overflowing with opportunities to collaborate!
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Think bigger. Trust the process.
