INTERVIEW: Jessica O'Donoghue on her new album 'Rise Up': "I’m passionate about telling women’s stories with my art...it’s time for women to have control of the narrative."
Image: Daniel Boud
Australia’s Jessica O’Donoghue creates pop music like you have never heard it before. Mixing electronic pop with opera, medieval music and jazz her music is an eclectic and invigorating listening experience.
She has released recently her new album, Rise Up, produced by Alyx Dennison. Its eight tracks remain true to her creative ethos and are darkly atmospheric and moving that challenge and confound you in the best possible way as O’Donoghue pushes the envelope on what pop music can be.
‘Good Grief’ has elements of a traditional pop structure but turns it inside out with soaring operatic vocals, orchestral strings and an intensity that builds and builds. ‘Reawakening’ is probably the strongest electronic-synth song on the album with it’s glistening, mechanical beats teemed with O’Donoghue’s almost ad lib, deconstructed vocals gliding over the top, whilst ‘Lullay My Liking’ is this gorgeous, ancient, almost spooky folk sounding track which feels like it has come directly from several centuries ago just polished up with an 21st century sheen.
With her background as an opera singer which has included performing as Young Artist with Opera Queensland and a guest Young Artist at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden (London), alongside performances at festivals such as Vivid and Dark MOFO, O’Donoghue is a remarkably accomplished artist. Rise Up is testament to her broad creativity as well as her immense talent to reinvent and remould music into something fresh and completely left of field. We recently caught up with her to find out more about the creation of the album and her musical journey.
Hey Jessica! Lovely to chat with you, how is everything in your world right now?
Hello! Thanks so much for listening to the new album! My world is kind of hectic right now, but in an awesome way. Feeling very blessed to be busy doing all the things I love and working with amazing and inspiring people.
That album is of course Rise Up and it is a really remarkable album, congratulations! This is your first body of work since 2017’s Emerge, how does it feel to have it out in the world?
Thanks so much. Yes it’s been an epic journey getting this album created and out into the world, so there is a major feeling of relief right now. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling that Covid really did make life pretty hard for a while there (understatement of the century!) When I create new music, I feel it has a life of its own, like a little being or animal, and I feel like this album has been caged up in lockdown with us all, busting to get out for so long, so it feels wonderful to now be able to release this little living body of work! There is also an immense feeling of excitement as in many ways for me my art doesn’t fully exist until it’s been heard by others, until its made that connection. It’s then when the music comes to life and is fully born and complete, and that connection piece is the main reason I create art in the first place, to move humans in some way, so it’s a great joy to finally have this album at that stage and I can’t wait to see what it becomes in the hands of the listeners.
What was the inspiration behind this album, and was there a particular story or message you wanted to project with it
This album is in many aspects a process of awakening. I lost my Dad under tragic circumstances when my baby was 2 months old, and this juxtaposition of experiences marked a turning point of sorts in my life, and I knew there was an album that would emerge from this moment. It took a few years before I was ready to really process all that had happened, and when I went to draw it all out, it became a wonderful journey through some really dark places, but ultimately into a place of healing acceptance that held a lot of beauty and peace, but not without knowledge of a painful past. Alongside the journey of grief, loss and letting go, it also became a growing and an awakening as a woman, an artist and a mother. I grieved past versions of myself and unfulfilled, or unwanted expectations and I could celebrate and honour where I find myself now. It became a deep dive into what it is to be a woman through my own experiences, but also looking further afield to woman’s journeys over time and place, creating new perspectives, priorities and values, and a renewed appreciation of feminine strength and power.
Can you talk to me a little about the creative process with the album?
This album was a really different process than anything I’ve done before. My amazing producer Alyx Dennsion, engineer David Trumpanis and I were fitting the sessions in between other work and family commitments as well as covid lockdowns, so it was created bit by bit over a period of about 3 years. It ended up being an incredibly deep and rewarding process as between each session, the music really settled to a whole new level and each time we came back to it we heard more, felt more and finessed more, and I feel in the end it is an extremely layered and complex album because of the longer process overall. Creating the album over so many years meant that the work really had time to mature and ferment in a way, like a really great sourdough, and I’m so proud of what we have created. I don’t think it would be anywhere near the same body of work if we smashed it out in a few consecutive weeks. And I have to say that working with Alyx and David was such a dream. They really held my vision so close and gave me the strength and confidence to create the album I had always wanted to create, and I am so grateful for that.
I am really intrigued by ‘Lullay My Liking’ on the album, which is really ethereal, hypnotic and just beautiful. Can you talk me though the inspiration for this song and where it came from?
Yes I love it too! This track is an arrangement of the traditional lullaby ‘Lullay Mine Liking’. I came across this piece years ago singing with a medieval group called The Renaissance Players and I have always loved the melody. I used to sing it to my babies when they were in utero, and I find it to be one of the most beautiful melodies I’ve ever come across. On the album it serves as a lullaby of sorts for the listener, calming the soul and facilitating a healing process, assisting the transition from dark to light.
You have such a unique sound, a mix of electronica, pop, opera, musical theatre, world music….Where does this gorgeous mix come from?
I’m a classically trained opera singer that has had a very eclectic career, spanning across jazz, pop, early music, classical and opera, musical theatre and cabaret. I’m truly passionate about all forms and styles of music and I find when writing my own music, it is the only place where all those parts of myself can come together in a really unique sound that encapsulates all the beauty, drama and epicness of the feelings I’m working to express. When I write my own music, I don’t think about sticking to a specific genre or set of rules around what I should or should not do with my sound. I just go for whatever sound is the most effective to express the emotion that I want to express at that time, and I guess the palette that I’m drawing from is fairly vast and varied, so it comes out as this eclectic mix that I feel works as long as it’s always rooted in authentic emotional expression.
What role did music play in your childhood?
I grew up in an incredibly musical family. My grandparents on both sides were professional musicians, performers and artists, and my Dad Rory O’Donoghue was a professional composer, comedian and musician. I have been singing for as long as I can remember and never considered doing anything else, so just naturally pursued music as a career. I now realise that this is quite unusual! But I feel extremely blessed to have been brought up in an environment that valued the arts and artists with a family who encouraged me to follow that path.
For those that are new to your music and career, what is your background? How did you become a recording artist?
I started out in jazz and musical theatre, then went to Uni to do my Bachelor of Music and Diploma of Opera before moving into traditional opera. While I loved the drama and grand scale of opera, I really didn’t feel at home in this genre that felt so stuck in the past and was in many ways so creatively stifling. I felt uncomfortable perpetuating not only out of date, but damaging stories and narratives, so I branched out and away from traditional opera back to more contemporary forms of music, both in the classical and pop scenes. I started composing and recording my own music quite late in my career. It was a long time coming, but it was the final step in carving out my own artistic niche and it gave me the opportunity to really say what I wanted to say with my music and be an active part in creating current and important narratives in music that send powerful and inspiring messages.
The music industry in all its forms has traditionally not be kind to women ever since its inception, due in part to the fact it has been run for so long by white, older, straight men. What are your views on sexism and gender equality in the music industry?
My experience is that for way too long the narrative has been created and owned by men, and there haven’t been enough (or any!) women in decision making positions within the industry to instigate change until very recently. There has recently been a lot of discussion about the shocking extent of discrimination, sexual harassment and abuse towards women in the music industry that has been going on for decades, which will hopefully result in some much needed change in how the industry operates. In addition to that (and perhaps partly as a result of that), I feel like because the stories we see and hear on stages, on the radio, on screens, are curated and controlled by men, women therefor have not had the opportunity to really have a significant ‘voice’ in the industry. I’m passionate about telling women’s stories with my art, about celebrating those stories and adding that critical voice to the repertoire of what audiences are listening to. It’s time for women to have control of the narrative and for us to hear and witness those epic and inspiring stories and experiences loud and clear.
Rise Up is out now, what else do you have planned for the rest of 2022 and into next year?
I’ll be doing a live album launch show at The Great Club on Thursday November 3rd with my amazing 8-piece band so make sure you all come along to that! Then I have some other shows that I’m performing in with Sydney Chamber Opera Company, one of which will feature as part of Sydney Festival in January 2023. I’m also working on an album length film to go with Rise Up which is an extremely exciting project that will premier early next year, so watch this space for more info on that!
Rise Up is out now via Art As Catharsis. You can buy and stream here.
To keep up with all things Jessica O’Donoghue you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook.
