the sweeney

IT'S PROBABLY fair to say that scoring a record deal is the number one priority and preoccupation of most young bands and artists. It must help matters considerably, then, when your dad happens to have his own record company - based in an office attached to the family home! Such is the case with trad/Celtic chanteuse Orla, whose eponymous debut has just been released to general acclaim.
"It was pretty convenient," she acknowledges. "But even though he's my dad, I still had to sign a contract with him. At least if he rips me off I'll know where to find him!"
Orla is the daughter of Oliver P Sweeney, musician, boss of the CBM and Aran labels and regular Hot Press contributor. Orla herself is just 20 years old and in her second year at the University of Liverpool reading Irish Studies and Music.
Given her family background, she surely must've been steeped in music from an early age? "Absolutely," she confirms. "I was at The Ballyshannon Folk Festival when I was just three weeks old. Apparently, I bawled through Christy Moore's entire set. I took up the fiddle when I was seven. I used to sing with a school choir Cantrai na Cille and we recorded two albums."
Through constantly attending gigs with her father during her teens, Orla developed a broad interest in all kinds of musical styles which she brings to her own work: "Anything and everything from trad to top ten," she says. "People like Brian Kennedy, Enya, Clannad, Sinéad Lohan - a few years ago I was in Cannes at the Midem festival and I saw Carol Laula, a Scottish singer/songwriter. She was unbelievably good and I remember thinking I'd really like to do something like that."
Last summer while putting together an album of female vocalists Oliver Sweeney asked his daughter to contribute some backing vocals to a track. It sounded so good that they decided to do a whole album together. With the songs co-written by Orla, Oliver and Seamus Byrne, the result is a highly satisfying blend of traditional, folk and world music styles with Orla's unique and distinctive vocal style indelibly stamped throughout. "So far people have compared my voice with Enya and Sinéad O'Connor but it's early days yet and I'm just waiting to see what happens," she admits.
When she returns home from college early this summer, Orla plans to take to the road in support of the album. "I haven't done that much live work so it's a bit nervewracking, but we'll have a band with keyboard, guitar, and flute player. But right now I'm doing as much promotion work as possible and the reaction has been great." n