New York Doll

“I started gigging when I was 15, just playing whatever they asked for in the bar, whether it was an old fella looking for ‘The Goose Flies Over The Bar’ or a young lad asking for Metallica.” Luckily for singer-songwriter Áine Duffy, she’s now able to play exactly what she wants.

She’s already amassed a following in Toronto, LA and Texas, but the Bandon native says that New York is where she feels most comfortable.
“I could get away with wearing anything there, without the neighbours telling my mam, ‘Oh, I saw your daughter in a pair of whatevers in the shop yesterday,’” she laughs. “You see it all in New York – stuff like a dolly bird walking down the street in recycled rubber!”
She may not be in the market for rubber yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Áine’s own distinctive style turned a few heads. “People do come up to me on the street and say ‘Where did you get that?”. In this city everyone talks to each other anyway. They’ll yell across the street, ‘Ooh Mr! Nice suit!’”
She adds: “My style is very personal. I’m not trying too hard to be different. But I definitely don’t dress the way everybody else does.”
And how did she go about cultivating such a unique look? “I look at things and if they look nice to me, I’ll wear them,” she says.
Surely Áine’s had some sartorial disasters along the way? “Well, there have been times when I’ve walked to a gig and the guitar has been pulling up my skirt.”
Citing everyone from Madonna to quirky Australian label Sass & Bide as fashion influences, Áine says she has to put a little more thought into what she wears on stage.
“Because I play the guitar, there are certain things I can’t wear. For instance, it’s not a good idea to wear jewellery on my right hand. But I can play in heels! It took me a while but I can use the guitar pedals with heels. That was a big achievement!”
Áine is clearly a bit of a sentimental soul. “I have two chains that I never take off, one piece my mam gave me and another I got from my friend Helen. And I still have some stuff I got from my first love, a dress and a jumper. And I just think why would I ever give it away, like?”
Besides gigging, shopping and pointing out the uncanny similarities between the Jamaican and Cork dialects (think about it...), Áine spent her time in New York working on debut album Put Your Money On with producer Roger Greenawalt (best known for discovering Ben Kweller).
“As soon as I landed, I knew I could just do whatever I wanted. Everything came together. In New York I suddenly knew who I was.”