Sinead O’Brien

About

" Lyrical prodding from a sharp, poetry-loving punk. "

Raised amid the rough beauty of Ireland’s rugged west coast, Sinead O’Brien’s a distinctive artist, one who eschews comfort, preferring to be consistently challenged as she forges a career in the world of punk poetry.

She started out by spending a year saying yes to everything. O’Brien’s often spoken-word music started, in fact, when she agreed, utterly unprepared, to play an open mic night in Brixton. What came from there was sublime: a quick growth into a unique style that made O’Brien stand out in a John Cooper Clarke meets Kate Tempest type way. ‘A List Of Normal Sins’, her 2018 debut EP, saw O’Brien lay down her stall with gripping, punchy poetic lyricism, and subtle wit.

Amazingly, O’Brien combines her music with a job in high end fashion, something her look often reflects. In 2020’s ‘Drowning In Blessings’, O’Brien she shreds the world of social media and emphasises again her love of a state of permanent flux, rallying against the mundane. Simultaneously, O’Brien draws her own inspiration from lapping up culture, frequenting art galleries, changing cities and dropping into spells of what she’s called “intense creative flow” that delivers in the form of stark individualism.

On debut album ‘Time Bend and Break The Bower’ ,which came out in june 2022, O’Brien builds track by track, adding a sense of ticking time to a pulsating layering, alongside poems that fade in and out. O’Brien is a cultural tour de force, an unlikely but incredibly vibrant, punching outlet for high art and cultural frustration.