On the line to Hot Press from Malin Head, on the northernmost edge of Ireland, Lyndsey McDougall is captivating company. Switching over subjects as varied as they are interesting, she displays an astute and galloping mind. She kicks off remembering how New Pagans were assembled Oceans 11-style: Lyndsey and her husband, guitarist Cahir O’Doherty – a veteran of Jetplane Landing and Fighting With Wire – began writings songs together.

Lyndsey showed some of their work to her friend Claire Miskimmin, the bassist from Girls Names, who immediately wanted in. They soon convinced drummer Conor McAuley, who had sworn off the rock business, to enlist, and finally they signed second guitarist Allan McGreevy, completing the quintet. Their debut album, The Seed, The Vessel, The Roots And All, received rave reviews. Follow-up Making Circles Of Our Own proves wonderfully elusive – a masterfully layered record that rewards repeated plays.

“We recorded it at the Badlands Studio,” Lyndsey tells me, “which is a studio that Cahir and our guitarist Allan McGreevy have set up in the Glens of Antrim. On the first album, we tried a few different places to record and it just wasn’t working – doing it ourselves just works for us. It buys us more time, freedom and space. We’re not stressed about paying a giant bill at the end, which is really difficult for bands.”

I wonder about New Pagans’ creative process.

“Most of the songs start with Cahir, he puts together the music,” explains Lyndsey. “But ‘A Process Of Becoming’ started with Conor’s drum beat, and ‘Comparable Reflections’ started with Claire’s bassline. So sometimes it has different starting points, then Cahir takes it away, and later he’ll give me the music. I take it away on my own because I can’t write in a room with other people. I have to literally get into a sheltered dark room, light candles, listen to the music and then respond. And usually then I take the melodies and vocals to Cahir. He’ll change some of the melodies or make suggestions, and then at that point, we all work together on it.”

During breaks from recording, what was spinning on the band’s record player?

“Probably the strangest one was, I had a wee flashback to my childhood and was listening to Enya in the car,” laughs Lyndsey. “I tried to channel her writing, there is something special about the way she writes melodies. Also, we love Sonic Youth and PJ Harvey’s early stuff – the rawness that she has was the energy we wanted to put across on the album. I was also going back to stuff that my grandparents would have listened to, like Julie London, and thinking about how it was recorded.”

Last year’s supporting tour with Skunk Anansie appeared to be successful and fun, but appearances can be deceiving.

“Coming back off that tour we felt a bit deflated,” admits Lyndsey. “It was a difficult tour – some pandemic restrictions were still in place, petrol prices had tripled, and venues were trying to take up to 50% of our merch. Just surviving that financially was really difficult. It was a make-or-break moment. We don’t regret doing it at all, there were up to 7000 people at some of the gigs.

“And Skunk Anansie were fantastic, really friendly and lovely people, we had a great time. But I’m a mom as well. I’ve got two kids and you’re leaving your children for three weeks. You come home and you don’t have anything to show financially. In fact, you’re maybe in debt, and you have to question yourself as to why you’re doing it? But on stage for those 30 minutes was an amazing experience.”

The band were back in Europe for last month’s Eurosonic festival showcase event in Groningen, where they road tested new song ‘There We Are John’, which is about the legendary artist Derek Jarman.

“When we moved to Inishowen, my dream was to have a coastal garden,” notes Lyndsey. “Wanting to find inspiration for it, I came across Derek Jarman’s coastal garden at Prospect Cottage in Dungeness, Kent. It has beautiful sculptures contained in a very barren landscape. He created this amazing piece of art and I was really inspired by the work. Claire told me to check out his films and his life. He’s a really interesting person.

“So, of course, it evolved into a song. I write about people that I don’t want to forget. I am dyslexic, I forget information about things, I forget people’s names. I’m not very good at bringing that stuff to the forefront of my brain. So, it’s a way for me to remember. If there’s something I want to be able to talk about at a dinner party, I’ll put it in a song.”

Artists as diverse as Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Lily Yeats and, on the new record, Karin Bergöö Larsson have all received the McDougall treatment.

“Carl Larsson was a painter married to Karin Bergöö Larsson,” she says. “He used to paint her interior designs, essentially their home in Sweden. And he became a really famous painter. But his paintings were very much her home and her interiors. In the 1990s, there was an exhibition at the V&A Museum, sponsored by IKEA, about Karin being the inspiration for that Swedish, stripped-back interior that is in so many of our homes.

“Her home is really beautiful. It’s still there, you can go visit it. It looks amazing and has lots of textiles, which links to my PhD in Irish embroidery.”

In an interview last year with Hot Press, Lyndsey was actually in the midst her doctorate. Where is she at with it?

“I’m at the editing stage,” she says. “So, I’m nearly there. As I said earlier, I’m pretty dyslexic. So, it’s been the biggest challenge probably of my life to write this, but I’ve had support, so it’s good. I’m glad to get it finished.”

Finally, I wonder about the meaning of new single ‘Fresh Young Overlook’.

“It’s about ageism in the music industry,” Lyndsey replies. “I’m going to be 40 by the end of the year, and I’m starting my music career, which seems unusual. There’s a theme throughout the album about not letting anybody hurry you through life. Do things in your own time and your own way. Mostly, I’m thinking about young women being  told they need to hurry up.

“You don’t need to hurry up, you can take your time. The music industry is set up for young people, and particularly for women, it’s harder. But I think the audience actually does want new and different perspectives, and I think it’ll evolve and change. Even the fact that I’m talking about it, and feel more comfortable, is probably a sign that it is.”

• Making Circles Of Our Own is out now.