Ellie O'Neill announces debut album Time of Fallow

Ellie O'Neill has announced her debut album Time of Fallow, out March 20 via St. Itch.

The album's title is pulled from the lyrics of track 'Anna with the Silver Arrow', one of our picks for New Irish Songs last month.

The Co. Meath-born singer-songwriter cites her coming of age alongside Ireland's legalisation of gay marriage and repeal of the abortion ban as inspiration for the LP.

O'Neill's music is informed by queer temporality—the theory that queer lives challenge the traditional linear flow of time—which she studied while writing her thesis for her undergraduate English degree. The structures of her songs follow similar nonlinear paths, rejecting typical verse-chorus arrangements in favor of more winding trajectories.

New single 'Half Immune' accompanies the album announcement.

Much of the LP was recorded over ten days during the pandemic, when O'Neill had moved back in with her family. You can hear her brother yell at her to "shut up" in 'Half Immune', which was recorded late at night at home.

"I cried a lot all throughout it," O'Neill says of her recording process. Though the album centres around a specific "love object", O'Neill discovered how to trust her independence through these songs.

"It took all this to see it wasn’t about that person, but it was about me and the wider world. It was a portal for me to learn through."

O'Neill has announced an April 10 show at Dublin's Bello Bar. Tickets are available now.

Check out the tracklist for Time of Fallow below:

1. Silent Water
2. Anna with the Silver Arrow
3. Half Immune
4. Sister Of The Sea
5. Bohemia
6. Little Sister
7. Aconite
8. Sean’s Song
9. Witness
10. Seabird