Aoife O’Donovan Traces The Origins Of Malaise On “Age Of Apathy,” Title Track And Spiritual Centerpiece From Forthcoming Album Out January 21, On Yep Roc Records
Produced By GRAMMY-Winner Joe Henry (Bonnie Raitt, Rhiannon Giddens)
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Today, GRAMMY-winning singer-songwriter Aoife O’Donovan shares “Age Of Apathy,” the haunting title track from her first studio album in six years, out January 21, 2022 on Yep Roc Records. As O’Donovan’s hypnotizing vocals wander across sparse but beautiful instrumentation, her lyrics recount memories of a distant New England summer when a relationship was transformed. “Hold me like you held me on the day the towers fell,” she sings, searching for a greater lesson to pull from a small gesture in the shadow of tragedy. “When we stumbled over to the Christian Science Center pool / was it the end or the beginning?”
Listen to “Age Of Apathy” here: https://ffm.to/ageofapathy
Produced by fellow GRAMMY-winner Joe Henry (Bonnie Raitt, Rhiannon Giddens),Age Of Apathy finds O’Donovan in rare form. With melodies distinct and beautiful, delicate yet heartwrenching, she carves out a joyful existence amid apocalyptic forecasts of the future. Last month, the New York Times called her single “Prodigal Daughter” “a musical hint at multi-generational bonds,” adding that “as drama and tension rise, [O’Donovan’s] voice grows quieter and clearer.”
Watch a touching performance of the track with guest vocalist Allison Russell, filmed backstage at Newport Folk Festival earlier this year:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mtABt3iFDY
Recorded through a unique residency with Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL, Aoife worked both on-site at their studio with GRAMMY-nominated engineer Darren Schneider while collaborating entirely remotely with GRAMMY-winner Joe Henry (Bonnie Raitt, Rhiannon Giddens). The result: A singular work that synthesizes O’Donovan’s peerless melodic construction and literary ambition into a statement on self-determination and the need to create your own purpose.
Pre-order Age Of Apathy here: https://ffm.to/ageofapathy
ABOUT AOIFE O’DONOVAN
Aoife O'Donovan operates in a thrilling musical world beyond genre. Deemed “a vocalist of unerring instinct” by The New York Times, she has previously released two critically-acclaimed and boundary-blurring solo albums including In the Magic Hour, which Rolling Stone hailed for its "Impressionistic, atmospheric songs [that] relay their narratives against gorgeous pastoral backdrops."
A savvy and generous collaborator, Aoife is one third of the group I’m With Her with bandmates Sara Watkins and Sarah Jarosz. The trio’s debut album, See You Around, was hailed as "willfully open-hearted” by NPR Music. I’m With Her earned an Americana Music Association Award in 2019 for Duo/Group of the Year, and a Grammy-award in 2020 for Best American Roots Song.
O'Donovan spent the preceding decade as co-founder and frontwoman of the string band, Crooked Still and is the featured vocalist and a songwriting contributor on The Goat Rodeo Sessions - the group with Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile. She has appeared as a featured vocalist with over a dozen symphonies including the National Symphony Orchestra, written for Alison Krauss, performed with jazz trumpeter Dave Douglas, and spent a decade as a regular contributor to the radio variety shows "Live From Here” and “A Prairie Home Companion.”
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