''Sea Sew'' is the debut studio album released by

Lisa Hannigan Lisa Margaret Hannigan (born 12 February 1981) is an Irish musician, singer, composer, and voice actress. She began her musical career as a member of Damien Rice's band. Since beginning her solo career in 2007 she has released three albums: '' S ...

. It was released in Ireland on 12 September 2008, with the lead single, "

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

", made available as a free download on lisahannigan.ie on 25 August. ''Sea Sew'' was a critical success, earning rave reviews and being named by some music critics amongst the best Irish albums of the year. It garnered airtime on American radio station

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to program ...

and earned early praise from press across the US, including the western ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'', which called it "charmingly idiosyncratic" and the eastern publication, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', which described it as "exquisitely ethereal". The album was nominated for the

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

and Choice Music Prize. Lead single "Lille", released on 25 August 2008, became an airplay hit on Irish and American radio stations. Her song "I Don't Know" was also featured as free single of the week by iTunes UK in 2009. The admiration of

Jason Mraz Jason Thomas Mraz (; born June 23, 1977) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, ''Waiting for My Rocket to Come'' (2002), which spawned the single " The Remedy (I Won't ...

led to Hannigan supporting the Grammy-nominated

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

n singer-songwriter on a 42-date US tour in late 2008. Hannigan signed with ATO Records in the US, where the album was released on 3 February 2009. ''Sea Sew'' was released in the United Kingdom in May 2009, where ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' described it as "wonderfully creaky and raw", a record of "welcoming intimacy and ear-pleasing consistency".

Track listing

Recording and production

The album was recorded in a cold barn in the Irish countryside and produced in the studio of one of Hannigan's friends over the course of a fortnight. Jason Boshoff produced, recorded and mixed the whole album. Prior to its release in Ireland, Hannigan previewed tracks "Lille", "Pistachio", "Some Surprise" and "Sea Song" on her MySpace page. The album also features musical personnel such as Donagh Molloy,

Tom Osander Tom Osander aka Tomo (born John Thomas Osander Jr. on 6 October 1966) is an American percussionist and producer. Osander co-founded seminal New York City based Jam band God Street Wine. He is also associated with Damien Rice, Lisa Hannigan, and ...

, Shane Fitzsimons, Lucy Wilkins,

Vyvienne Long Vyvienne Long is a musician from Co. Dublin, Ireland. A classically trained cellist from the College of Music, Dublin and the Escola de Musica in Barcelona, she also sings and plays piano and writes music for her quintet which comprises 2 cel ...

and Gavin Glass, whilst Cathy Davey and Rhob Cunningham provided backing vocals on some of the songs.

Personnel

*Lisa Hannigan - vocals, guitar, harmonium *

- drums, xylophone *Shane Fitzsimmons - bass *Donagh Malloy - trumpet, melodica, glockenspiel *Lucy Wilkins - violin *

- cello *Gavin Glass - piano, harmonium *Justin Carroll - hammond organ * Cathy Davey - vocals * Rhob Cunningham - vocals

Artwork

Hannigan knitted the needle-work featured on the

sleeve A sleeve ( ang, slīef, a word allied to ''slip'', cf. Dutch ) is the part of a garment that covers the arm, or through which the arm passes or slips. The sleeve is a characteristic of fashion seen in almost every country and time period, acro ...

herself along with her mother, Frances. US television host

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program '' The Colbert Report'' from 2005 ...

quizzed Hannigan on this when she appeared on his show ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show fo ...

'', asking if she had sewn the instruments as well – Hannigan is reported to be sewing Colbert a note of thanks for asking her to perform on his show.

Title

Hannigan chose to call the album ''Sea Sew'' because of the number of references to the sea in the lyrics.

Chart performance

''Sea Sew'' entered the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

at number 58 after an appearance on '' Later... with Jools Holland'' in May 2009.

Awards

''Sea Sew'' was nominated for both the Choice Music Prize and Best Irish Album at the

Meteor Music Awards A Meteor Ireland Music Award was an accolade bestowed upon professionals in the music industry in Ireland and further afield. They had been bestowed each year since 2001, replacing the IRMA Ireland Music Awards held in the 1990s. Promoted by ...

in January 2009, with Hannigan's artistic prowess leading to her recently obtaining tax-free status from the Office of the Revenue Commissioners in Ireland.

Choice Music Prize

''Sea Sew'' was nominated for the Choice Music Prize in 2009. It lost to

Jape Jape is a synonym for a practical joke. Jape or JAPE may also refer to: * Jape (band), an Irish electronic/rock band * JAPE (linguistics), a transformation language widely used in natural language processing * JAPE, an automated pun generator * J ...

's third studio album, ''

Ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...

''. , - , 2009 , , ''Sea Sew'' , , Irish Album of the Year 2008 , ,

Meteor Music Awards

''Sea Sew'' led to Hannigan receiving two nominations in the Best Irish Female and Best Irish Album categories at the

in 2009. , - , 2009 , , ''Sea Sew'' , , Best Irish Album , , , - , 2009 , , Lisa Hannigan , , Best Irish Female , , , -

References

External links

Official site

with ''

'' (features video of Hannigan explaining the song meanings) {{Authority control 2008 debut albums Lisa Hannigan albums