The first time he heard her sing

The summer of 2003 found him wretched, watching the BBC coverage of the Glastonbury Festival on cable, cursing at his stupidity as he had left it too late to buy tickets. Through the TV screen the sun stuck out its tongue as he remembered in earlier years hasty retreats to see if the tent had been washed away yet.

Then she started singing. Jo Whiley introduced an act who played in the acoustic stage, Damien someone. ‘Damien? That bloke sounds like a woman,’ he thought. Looking up, he saw a vulnerable, absorbed lady singing the first verse to ‘The Blower’s Daughter’, a song by Damien Rice, who accompanied her on vocals and guitar.

Capable of anything

Listening to Dubliner Lisa Hannigan’s voice is like:-

• putting your feet in a swimming pool warmed by the sun and watching them ripple
• staring at a painting by Degas
• eating a fresh fruit salad dressed in brandy, only someone forgot to tell you about the brandy
• hearing a small bird sing, and wondering how such a fragile little thing could make such a noise

A resonant, rich, wispy spirit, incredibly expressive and capable of anything.

This entry is by no means the first article to praise Damien Rice and his band. Rice enjoyed success in Ireland with a band called Juniper many years before the radio-friendly remixes of songs on his debut album, ‘O’, were flattering the airwaves. But many reviews casually mention his ‘backing singer’, Lisa Hannigan, and that doesn’t really do her justice. She sings lead on several songs and the secret track at the end of ‘O’ shows a promising start in songwriting. (Fans of Hem’s Sally Ellison and her breathy, acapella renditions of children’s songs have now found another mother to sing them to sleep).

One to watch

At Glastonbury 2004, the set by Rice and his band mirrored the weather: turning on a sixpence, thundering one minute, with Rice making full use of his effects pedals, and tender and bright the next. Lisa contributed some keyboards and guitar, as well as the customary vocals on ‘Cold Water’, ‘The Blower’s Daughter’, and a haunting, Joni Mitchell-esque contribution to ‘Delicate’.

Pray for her debut solo album.