Irish artist Aoife Nessa Frances kicked off her UK tour on Tuesday at Brudenell Social Club in Leeds. It’s in support of her second album Protector which dropped on 28 October, along with the latest single Chariot, the fourth from this sophomore offering.
The floating sonics of Chariot is about the powerful testament to the strength and bonds of family and friendships when distance is greater than ever. Protector will include the previously shared offerings This Still Life, which arrived with a video directed by Ella Margolin, Way to Say Goodbye and Emptiness Follows.
Aoife shares about how the song came together, “I wrote “Chariot” soon after packing up my things in the city and moving to the west. It’s very much about this time, the process of moving away and making a new life.”
“I wanted to communicate the beauty of transience and how my acceptance of all kinds of endings brought me closer to the people who I love. It’s about surrendering to the cycles of death and new life and owning the sense of freedom that follows. More than anything it’s about universal love and the fragility of human life. “Chariot” is the song that feels most central to the message of Protector – which is about self-preservation, finding strength within and growing closer to the part of myself that guides me towards a better path. It’s about being uprooted from what is familiar and experiencing a deepening connection with my family and friends.”
Protector was born in the spring of 2020, when Aoife packed up her things in Dublin and moved to rural County Clare on the west coast of Ireland. It was there, amidst the stillness, that she began to work on the songs that would become her second album: a personal, mystical journey of self-discovery through dislocation, transformation, and restoration.
Recording took place in a small house in County Kerry, at the foothills of the Annascaul, with Brendan Jenkinson (producer, keys, bass, synth, clarinet), Brendan Doherty (drums), Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh (string arrangements) and Conor O’Brien (horn arrangements). The resulting body of work deftly juxtaposes golden hours and arguments, affection and alienation, and above all marks a crucial period of her life that was transformative and left her wiser. Protector follows Aoife’s debut full-length album Land of No Junction, which released in 2020 and features the stand-out songs Blow Up and Here in the Dark.
Check out Aoife on her remaining tour dates:
11/05 – Nottingham, UK @ Bodega
11/06 – Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade
11/08 – London, UK @ Moth Club
11/09 – Brighton, UK @ Prince Albert
