Leni Morrison Interview – Leni for your Thoughts

Last year, Leni Morrison broke up the band. A difficult ending to the story of Darling Sins, a hotly-tipped Wexford duo she formed with Joe Harpur, it was the kind of event that can sour people towards the whole music-making enterprise. Instead, it had the opposite effect, reigniting her love for the art and allowing her the space to reinvent herself. Quite fitting for a songwriter whose first tune as a teen was entitled ‘Rising Like A Phoenix’.

“You know what?” she says today. “It was the best decision I’ve ever made. I don’t like compromise. I don’t mean to be a hard ass… but I’m an extremist. I like to do everything full-throttle. I love being in control of what I’m doing and making decisions myself. As hard and heartbreaking as it was, it was the most empowering thing I’ve done in my life.”
Morrison admits that, despite outward signs they were building a successful base, she felt Darling Sins had been “plodding along” for a long time.
“There were so many near-chances to do something huge and then something wouldn’t work out. It was too stressful. When you’re carrying someone else’s stress, it just became too much. I have an amazing mentor in Martin Mills of Beggars Group. I was introduced to him through my original mentor in Wexford, Pierce Turner.”
Having made a name for herself in the South East as an adept purveyor of “sultry killer ballads”, the past year has seen Leni branching out, her newfound freedom resulting in a creative purple patch.
The songs are spilling out. Of her recent work with Dublin DJ Rez Lowe, she says that that it is “a completely different avenue. It’s taking my dark vocals and putting it into a sweet disco sound. I’m also working with another producer in LA on some lo-fi dance tracks... For me to do this is just a whole new world.”
Still, she’s operating within a universe she’s known since childhood. Growing up in a musical family, her father and brother played guitars and encouraged her to take part.
“As early as seven, I was singing with my dad,” Morrison recalls. “We’d be jamming and I’d be singing two-part harmonies on Eagles and Stones songs. Do you remember that MASH song? “Suicide Is painless…” Can you imagine a seven-year-old singing that?!”
As a teen, the influence of strong female artists such as Patti Smith took over.
“Her whole attitude is incredible: don’t focus on making a ton of money. Get a name out there that has a currency and a weight. Do everything that you absolutely love and respect, don’t sell yourself short. Do it for the love of it.”
Like Smith, Morrison places great importance on lyrics.
“My biggest influences are the Romantic poets. Keats, Shelley, Coleridge… That’s what started me writing and I absolutely fell in love with them in my teens. Things can get very powerful with the right words at the right time.”
The right time seems close at hand. Last year, the Dublin-based artist headed to LA when an old school pal-turned producer invited her over to play with some “neighbours” who loved what she was doing.
“The neighbours were Robert Plant’s drummer, Jay Bellerose and Stevie Nicks’ bass player! A super band. We did all the recording in about 35 degrees heat and LA sunshine. It’s got that nice feel to it.”
Making that trans-Atlantic trip could seem a daunting prospect, but Morrison says she wasn’t nervous at all.
“It sounds weird to say, but I think I was just so excited to be playing with such incredible musicians. Literally, we did everything in one take, it was ridiculous.”
The next step, that debut album, is “all about timing” right now.
“I’ve got some connections that I’m going to meet over in New York,” Morrison concludes. “I’m quite hopeful that, if not by the end of summer, by the end of this year I’ll have something released. I’ve got another three albums ready to go after this is out! I’m super excited that I’m going to be doing this for a long time to come. It’s gonna take however long it needs.”

Leni Morrison’s four-track EP is available now on lenimorrison.com