Alison O’Donnell entered the music scene with Mellow Candle who released the highly acclaimed cult LP, Swaddling Songs in 1972. Alison continues to attract acclaim with her solo music including for her latest album Hark The Voice That Sings For All – new songs in the ancient tradition. Jason Barnard speak to Alison about her music from the 1960s to present day.
Hi Alison – I really enjoyed listening to ‘Hark The Voice That Sings For All’. It manages to be contemporary while drawing on historical themes. What inspired its lyrics?
Occasionally I start writing a song from a few lines of melody. On the other hand, I frequently start with a theme with some nonsense lyrics to begin with, which then take shape slowly as there is often considerable research involved, especially with my recently released album, which is firmly in the traditional idiom.
‘Hark The Voice That Sings For All’ draws from a traditional folk style more than some of your other solo material – was this a conscious decision and what are your favourite folk songs and why?
I wanted my Irish heritage to be the centre of the songwriting on this album. I sang on five or six Zoom weekly singing sessions held round the world over the two years of the pandemic and was able, for the first time ever, to sing every single song on the album at those online sessions. I had written a few of them a couple of years before then but decided to expand into an entire album. This is a bunch of songs that I can sing unaccompanied or with limited accompaniment in any setting, something I have been unable to do before.
I have 9 favourites but it would be unfair to the other two to mention them. The most accessible are probably ‘The Unwelcome Tide Of Tomorrow’, ‘Farewell To The Strawberry Tree’ and ‘The Birds Of Belfast Lough’. Most of the songs have very familiar traditional themes which are evident for several of the past centuries: tragedy at sea and on land, emigration, betrayal, historical political heroes, and a more recent theme of animal cruelty.
I don’t have standout folk song favourites. In the genre, Sandy Denny and Joni Mitchell would be my favourite voices.
What was its recording process – were you affected by the pandemic, and who did you collaborate with?
This album was recorded mostly during the pandemic and was the least file-sharing album I’ve recorded in many years. My cousin Anthony Bools, known as Booster, recorded it less than an hour’s drive away from where I live, in his home studio. We demoed them unaccompanied. He then wrote up the chords and worked up the arrangements over time. I recorded all but one lead vocal in a studio with an engineer well known to both of us. Anthony and I had long since intended to do a project together. We had worked together in live settings occasionally over 20 years but we put our minds to doing this whole album together. He was the engineer and producer. He also did the mix and the artwork photography and design. We called in a few musicians for lead instrumental overdubs. All in all, I took full advantage of the pandemic to sing, write and record like there was no tomorrow.
Mellow Candle has seen a huge resurgence including the recent RTE radio documentary Swaddling Songs at 50. What do you think it is about Mellow Candle that continues to attract new followers?
Mellow Candle continues to cast influence and attract attention because there is nothing else quite like it. It was a perfect example of zeal and intensity by a very determined group of musicians to produce something of beauty and value. At the time we had no idea that it would stand the test of time. We were always in the moment. We thought the songs and arrangements were a good fit for that era. The RTE radio documentary, Tim Burgess’ Twitter Listening Party and nods from younger musicians keep Mellow Candle’s legacy alive.
What music did you listen to growing up and what was the music scene like in Ireland?
I listened to a lot of soul, Motown, Beatles and Rolling Stones and then American bands, Joni Mitchell, Zappa and British folk. The music scene in Ireland in the late 60s/early 70s was a mix of rock bands like Thin Lizzy and folk rock, psych folk bands like Dr Strangely Strange and Tir na nÓg. There were many others jockeying for position. The showband era was still flourishing and they were making serious money.
You were still at school when the first Mellow Candle single ‘Feeling’ High’ was released. What led you to get signed with Simon Napier Bell’s label and what was the group’s line-up at the time?
Clodagh, Maria and myself, aged about 13 or 14, made a number of reel-to-reel recordings which Clodagh posted off to various overseas DJs. One, Colin Nicol, replied and got the ball rolling. He set us up with Simon Napier Bell for the first incarnation of Mellow Candle on record.
When did you start writing songs, and were your first songs on ‘Swaddling Songs’ like ‘Heaven Heath’ or were they never recorded?
Heaven Heath, Messenger Birds and Sheep Season were the first songs I wrote. I guess I must have been 16/17 at the time.
Mellow Candle’s sound evolved. Who influenced you at the time?
The Incredible String Band, Jethro Tull and Yes would have been influences on the ultimate MC line-up but we vowed to make our music as original as possible. That came from Clodagh and I working together from the age of 10, after we dropped the soul and pop songs.
What are your memories of recording ‘Swaddling Songs’?
We hung out with Thin Lizzy a fair bit at one time because we had the same manager, Ted Carroll. Gary Moore was also around where we were all staying in Belsize Park, London. MC played a few concerts with Lizzy. We all got on very well. It was a very friendly time amongst musicians both in Dublin and London at that time.
Did you have much contact with Thin Lizzy when you were touring with them?
Our manager got a lot of gigs for Thin Lizzy in clubs and rock venues but it was much more difficult to get gigs for Mellow Candle after 1971. In the earlier period we didn’t have a drummer so we were able to play pubs and folk venues. When William Murray joined us, we were too rocky for those gigs but still regarded as too folk-rock for clubs. We played some festivals and concert halls in Ireland and Britain but it was too difficult to sustain the band as there weren’t enough of those bookings. We had to take temporary jobs in order to pay the rent and feed ourselves. This led to a very downhearted period and inevitably different musical directions as we had no proper focus. Decca failed to back us up with promotion, which still mystifies me to this day, especially after giving us an advance and excellent studio facilities. It was a bleak period which led to us all going to far-flung geographical locations. Our big concerts with the likes of Thin Lizzy, Steeleye Span, Donovan and others were highlights from that time and also the many fascinating discussions whilst being immersed in listening to music with like-minded friends.
What led you to move to South Africa and what were your musical highlights from that period?
Dave Williams was born in South Africa so we got an assisted passage to go there, an unpopular move in many circles. We were desperate though. There was a three-day week in progress and we didn’t have enough funds to survive. Dave and I left music behind for a few years until we got going on the expat SA folk and traditional scene, joining forces with Barrie Glenn and Jo Dudding to form Flibbertigibbet.
When did you become aware that Mellow Candle were becoming increasingly collectible and were influencing other artists?
Mellow Candle started to make waves again in the mid-90s, in terms of collectability and influence. However, years later I heard from Greg Weeks of Espers that cassette recordings of the album were being handed around circa 1988 in Pennsylvania mainly. There were probably lots of other pockets of resurgence in the U.S. and other countries.
‘Hark The Voice That Sings For All’ follows a run of excellent albums including ‘Exotic Masks And Sensible Shoes’ and ‘Climb Sheer the Fields of Peace’. What songs of yours from the last 20 years would you recommend and why?
A few singers outside Ireland have learned a couple of the songs from the new album: ‘I Wish We’d Sailed On The Jeanie Johnston’, ‘Farewell To The Strawberry Tree’ and I’ve been singing ‘The Birds Of Belfast Lough’ a lot in sessions, so those songs already have legs beyond my rendition of them. The first of those is about a harrowing journey on a Famine ship from Ireland to America mid-19th Century, the second is a song of emigration, something I had to do in the early 70s and the third of those songs evokes my love of birds. I’ve recorded ‘The Blackcap’ twice in my career, which is about growing up in a very beautiful part of South County Dublin. It is a song I often sing. ‘In The Snowmelt’ also covers the influence of flora and fauna on my writing, in that instance, a part of Canada. ‘Come Unto Me’ is about the horrendous abuse visited upon innocent children by adults in a position of power in numerous countries. David Colohan, my United Bible Studies associate and good friend and long-time collaborator sings the song with me.
It has a chilling feel to it. ‘No Meek Chrism’ is my story carrying on from Clodagh’s song ‘Reverend Sisters’ – the highs and lows of following that path, with a wonderful string arrangement by Kevin Scott who contributed a lot of piano, organ and harpsichord to ‘Exotic Masks and Sensible Shoes’. ‘A Penny For The Wrenboys’, a tale of St. Stephen’s day traditions in Ireland, on the digitally-released ‘Five Forests’ with Head South By Weaving lets me have another crack at a slice of rock. ‘The Man Who Taught The Nation’ on the new album is a big song about the 1916 Easter Rising heroes, a murder ballad really. It feels like an important song for me to have written and one which took a lot of meticulous work.
What are your plans for the next year?
In terms of variety, I have an album coming with Gayle Brogan, all about birds with a single to be released soon. I also contributed a track to ‘Above and Below – The Music of Allan Holdsworth, compiled by Leandro Kalén and the reissue of the track ‘Aztec Energy’ on a compilation by Colin Harper. There’s also the regular writing and performing with the collective United Bible Studies. I’m in my 14th year with them. I hope I can get a few solo mini-tours and more gigs in 2023. The songs from this album can be performed unaccompanied, with a duo, trio or quartet, depending on the occasion and venue. At last I have an entire set of my own songs that can be played in public settings.
