''Sea Sew'' is the debut studio album released by Lisa Hannigan. It was released in Ireland on 12 September 2008, with the lead single, "

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

", 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 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR 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 programming ...

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

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

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

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 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 award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

and

Choice Music Prize The Choice Music Prize (), known for sponsorship reasons as the RTÉ Choice Music Prize is an annual music prize awarded to music from a band or solo musician who is born in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland or holds an Irish passport. ...

. 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 singer-songwriter and guitarist. 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 Wo ...

led to Hannigan supporting the

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-nominated

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n singer-songwriter on a 42-date US tour in late 2008. Hannigan signed with

ATO Records ATO Records (or According to Our Records) is an American independent record label based in New York City. The label was established in 2000 by Dave Matthews and manager Coran Capshaw. ATO's roster includes My Morning Jacket, Brittany Howard, ...

in the US, where the album was released on 3 February 2009. ''Sea Sew'' was released in the United Kingdom in May 2009, where ''

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'' 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

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page. The album also features musical personnel such as Donagh Molloy, Tom Osander, Shane Fitzsimons, Lucy Wilkins, Vyvienne Long and Gavin Glass, whilst Cathy Davey and Rhob Cunningham provided backing vocals on some of the songs.

Personnel

*Lisa Hannigan - vocals, guitar, harmonium * Tom Osander - drums, xylophone *Shane Fitzsimmons - bass *Donagh Malloy - trumpet, melodica, glockenspiel *Lucy Wilkins - violin * Vyvienne Long - 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 (, 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, across a myri ...

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 to ...

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

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, 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 ...

'', 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 the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

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

Awards

''Sea Sew'' was nominated for both the

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 M ...

in January 2009, with Hannigan's artistic prowess leading to her recently obtaining tax-free status from the

Office of the Revenue Commissioners The Revenue Commissioners (), commonly called Revenue, is the Irish Government agency responsible for customs, excise, taxation and related matters. Though Revenue can trace itself back to predecessors (with the Act of Union 1800 amalgamating ...

in Ireland.

Choice Music Prize

''Sea Sew'' was nominated for the

in 2009. It lost to Jape's third studio album, ''

Ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

''. , - , 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 2000s in Irish music