West Cork singer songwriter Molly O’Mahony shares a new EP, an extension of ‘The House of David’, her 2022 debut album. The EP titled ‘Extension’ is out on streaming platforms, and Bandcamp, Friday 1st December. https://mollyomahony.bandcamp.com/album/extension
Molly says: “In the midst of a housing crisis, why not go ahead and build what you can, says I…
The first track ‘Quietly’ had to be dropped from the original A-side of my album, because it ran too long to be pressed to vinyl. I don’t think it belonged as part of the album arc though, in hindsight. It was supposed to be released separately. It’s a very wholesome track about first love and being madly in it. I wrote it when I was twenty-two. My youngest brother Gabriel features on bass vocals in the chorus, one of my favourite features of the arrangement.
‘Tomorrow’s Lunch – Reimagined’, is an orchestral version of an album track of the same name, recorded with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra for a broadcast called ‘Sounds of the Summer’ last year, produced by Rachel Breslin. The arrangements are by Áine Delaney. I love the contrast between this version of the song and the album version, which is the smallest, simplest track on the record. This version has all the bells and whistles, and the kitchen sink too. Though broadcast in the summertime originally, I think the track has a distinctly old Christmas movie feel to it. Thus my decision to release it in December this year.
The third and final track ‘Golden Thing’ is a song I wrote just after releasing the album, which felt like an addendum to the collection somehow. This version was recorded for the same broadcast at RTÉ as ‘Tomorrow’s Lunch – Reimagined’. It’s a moment in time I care to mark. I intend to record a studio version of this song going forwards.”
Molly O’Mahony has been paving her own unique creative path over the past decade. She formed the art-folk group Mongoose with three friends upon graduating from UCD in 2012. Within this container, she explored her abilities as a songwriter and instrumentalist, and honed her distinctive singing voice, holding the position of lead vocalist, guitar player and in later years, drummer, in the band.
Molly’s power lies in her ability to feel deeply and to convey that feeling through her words and her voice. Her main mark on the music of Mongoose, both in writing and performance, was the raw emotion at its core.
In 2020, she returned to her home place of West Cork after a decade of living in Dublin. With a back pocket full of personal songs – extensions of her compulsive journaling habit – she was compelled to strip it all back and make an album that reflected her emotional experience of moving through the world.
‘The House of David’ is the product of her two years under lockdown. Sound boarded against the musical ears of her siblings Matilda & Fiachra, and utilising their complimentary voices to sit alongside hers, the arrangements were carved out with vocals at the fore. The songs were recorded in a concentrated haze of musical alchemy at Black Mountain Studios, Dundalk, with producer Alex Borwick at the helm.
Her highly anticipated album, ‘The House of David’, was finally released in its entirety, on November 10th, 2022. It held the ‘Album of The Week’ spot on RTE Radio 1 in December of last year, and was nominated in the ‘Best Debut Album’ category at The Hot Press Awards, 2023.
As this year rounds to a close, she will complete the album edifice with an ‘Extension’ EP, an addendum to the record, which showcases two previously unheard tracks, and includes a reimagining of the album track ‘Tomorrow’s Lunch’ with the RTE Concert Orchestra, recorded in June of 2022 for RTE Radio 1’s ‘Sounds of The Summer’ series.
Molly also tours Ireland throughout November & December to promote the EP and mark the album’s first birthday, culminating in her first Vicar Street appearance, supporting the mighty Damien Dempsey, on December 23rd.
‘Extension’ is out now on Bandcamp: https://mollyomahony.bandcamp.com/album/extension
More info and streaming: https://linktr.ee/mollyomahony
“…her dulcet, often melancholic, tracks sizzle through the crowd, scorching her name into the minds of fans and newcomers alike.” Alexandrea Hopper, Hot Press
“A multi-hyphenate artist…her debut album ably showcases this with a collection of songs that…document years of a life fully lived, loved, lost and then, gradually, reclaimed.” Tony Clayton Lea, The Irish Times
“One of the best albums of 2022 – Molly’s voice echoes ethereally like a cherubic Patti Smith, like a celestial PJ Harvey soaring…” Barry Egan, Sunday Independent
“Mingling romantic vignettes with loving dedications to platonic friendships, sibling adoration and familial loyalty, her undeniably rich, soothing voice tells each story with passion, delicacy and care.” Kate Brayden, Hot Press
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