INSIDE STORY: No filter on Cahill’s new single
Seamus Enright
A lot has happened in the two years since Áine Cahill performed live for the BBC’s Glastonbury TV coverage, thus catapulting the Castletara singer-songwriter into the public consciousness. But one wouldn’t think it as she nestles onto a high-stool in Cavan’s J&B Hope, taking a sip of her Mocha coffee before the interview begins, for the 23-year-old appears as always remarkably unaffected. She retains the same bubbly character, eager to chat at staccato pace, as when The Anglo-Celt first spoke to her long before Warner Music’s East West Records came knocking in a scramble to add her to their burgeoning stable of talent.
The scene is a perfect juxtaposition to the image portrayed in the video accompanying the release of Cahill’s fourth and latest single, ‘Beauty is a Lie’, last Friday. Skilfully directed by Will Dohrn (MIA), Cahill appears positively damselesque, her regular shock mass of bright seemingly uncontrollable red curls sleeked down to fit perfectly her facial frame.
‘Smiling for the cameras, flashlights on the inside, we all take pretty pictures, but beauty is a lie’ - Cahill croons the song’s catchy chorus, a scathing assessment of “the bullshit we see day to day on social media”. She is animated on the subject, and not just for the sake of selling the single.
“I’m getting really fed up with it,” Cahill mutters darkly about the trapping of living an online alter-ego, before ultimately accepting, “but we all do it. People only show their best side, the edited version of their lives, and we’re putting more and more importance on that. So much now that if we do fail, the fall is seen as that much harder.”
Unforgiving
When pressed on the matter, Cahill admits to having become somewhat battle-hardened by an industry so unforgiving for so many.
After all, she has had to learn the myriad of ropes in rapid quick time. “There’s a lot more goes on behind the scenes than you think,” says Cahill, who since bagging a major international recording contract, received a crash course in how the industry officially works.
Along with a label, she now has a publisher, a radio slot buyer, booking agent and promoter, even an accountant.
“I’ve got one of them now, yeah,” she exhales exhaustedly. Still, she is hugely grateful for their support, in particular the guiding hand of her manager Neil Ferris, a “head” in the business having previously represented the likes of David Bowie and Erasure.
Behind the scenes however, and much like the facade of social media, there have been testing times for Cahill. A fire in the family home last year, from which she and some of her younger siblings were lucky to escape, coupled with elongated stints working away in London have at times played on the mind of this self-confessed “home bird”.
Beyond the steady Monday to Friday studio interactions, she chuckles at the notion of dragging her 4’9 frame around the otherwise unfamiliar streets of North London at night.
“That’s not happening!”
Stale
Still, Cahill remains buoyant about her impending return to the English capital, where she will once again strike up what has been a positive working relationship with songwriter Jessica Sharman. The industry renowned Sharman is credited with helping pen ‘Beauty is a Lie’, a song inspired by a tattoo Cahill got on her forearm age 17.
“Up until November last year I’d been working on music on my own, lyrics, everything, that was all me. But I found it had become stale. One of the things for me is I always want to improve, and I’ve found that collaborating with people like Jessica has helped me do that. Music is about expressing yourself. Rather than me being precious about being an individual artist.”
As a result, Cahill has embraced the process of shared writing responsibility.
“It works for me. I’d gone into one song-writing session writing something completely different, about the house fire we had, but lyrically it just didn’t click. Jessica popped out for a cup of tea when I noticed the words of the tattoo, it’s something that has always stuck in my head, and the rest just flowed from there.”
Meaning
It’s not as if Cahill will be searching the ink on her arms for more inspiration, but she isn’t ruling it out. Other tattoos, all of varying significance includeher cousin's car reg, a cup of “tae”, a quill, a heart “on her sleeve”, a ying to her sister’s yang, and a pizza slice because she and her family are “all part of the same pie”.
“That seems like the silliest, but it has the most meaning out of all of them,” confides Cahill, who has found leaving home for the first time in her life at times difficult.
Another song in the pipeline, under the working title ‘Disconnected’, co-written by Cahill with assistance from Corey Sanders and record producer Jonathan Quarmby, explores those emotions.
“That was written when I was coming to terms with the fact that now, all of this, is going to be taking me away, and for parts of it I’ll probably be on my own. I never did the college thing, apart from Cavan Institute, I never lived away from home, so this is really my first experience of that," says the former hotel employee.
One particularly large inking, that of a proud male lion’s head though, not only symbolises Cahill’s star sign Leo, but as she puts it, “reminds me to be a proud, powerful bitch”.
“Be big and be brave and be prepared to do things that might seem scary but ultimately can help me grow as a person. I’m getting better at it, so it’s good to have a reminder where I can see it.”
So far 2018 has seen Cahill steadily work on new music, as well as play two special intimate shows in London and Dublin.
She turned out too as a star guest at this year’s Great Escape Festival, and as the festival season kicks into full gear there is plenty of interest to add her to various billings. She is understandably determined to make her chance at stardom work for her, and dreams of filling an album one day, but for now and her ever growing fan-base, each single is being released piece-meal, in their own right and her terms.
Cahill hasn’t released a selection of songs since her critically acclaimed Paper Crown EP, but believes a full album isn’t far off.
“My voice has gotten stronger I think. I’m in the studio every day, using it in different ways. I’m singing in lower tones, doing harmonies and using my head voice, something I never did. In terms of style too I’m definitely improving, and where I want to go with that, I’m heading in the right direction.
“I know with the sessions I’m doing now it feels the natural progression would be one where [the songs] all fit on an album together. But it won’t be rushed. I want to do it right and get it right, and I know with the support of the people I’m working with now that’ll happen.”