Breithlá Sona Dúinn! // Fangirling is IN
Hello angels :)
This last letter of the year comes from my fourth(!) address of 2024. It feels homely and there are two magpies clicking at one another on the roof outside. It’s been a chaotic and changeable year, reflected in this e-mail and podcast I think!
I’ve had conversations with a few people recently about how succeeding in media and music industries means playing down the fact that you are a fan, as coming across as a fan can delegitimise your professional status. Fair to a point, fan coming from fanatical which literally implies excessive eagerness. On the other hand, I hear musicians and friends in the industry repeatedly express frustration at the fact that they are sitting in boardrooms with and having creative or editorial decisions made by people who are not music fans, don’t listen to music, don’t personally engage with new artists, don’t... care. I actually think we need more fans in boardroom seats and studios. The idea that there are radio DJs who voicelink without listening to playlists they’re assigned, or who listen to the bare minimum few seconds of a new song to suss its’ vibe before adding it to a playlist is mad to me. Obviously I’m not suggesting we throw professionalism out the window (or am I) or make anyone uncomfortable, but at the end of the day you should be working in a creative field because you love - or at least understand - it.
Or maybe I’m just defensive because I am a fan. I love musicians and have massive respect for anyone who takes the time and courage to create something, even if it’s not something I personally enjoy… and I think that makes me better at my job. Or at least it gave me something to talk about on the podcast!
The last Big Fan of the year comes with a twist! You may have heard Sinéad Ní Scolaí on our Mac Miller episode (listen back here), in one of my favourite conversations to date. When Laura Marling released Patterns in Repeat, Sinéad came to me with a suggestion: what if someone were to interview me? And what if it was her?! It felt like the perfect addition to the Big Fan universe. Creating space for heart-to-heart conversations is the point of everything and I love that that’s what we’ve done!
This chat (on and off mic!) was so good for the soul, gave us a chance to catch up on each other’s lives, have a coffee, sit in the morning light and exchange thoughts on legacy artists, motherhood*, the ever-fluctuating ebb and flow of the masculine and feminine parts of our identities, and skipping the nightclub Leaving Cert night. It was also a gorgeous reminder that fangirling can help us translate art and use it as a lens through which we can better understand ourselves and each other, aided by the fact that Sinéad is a dream interviewer!
*Relistening to the conversation I realise we gush a bit about motherhood without getting into any of the realities of it, maybe in a bid to ease our own fears. Listening to the album I thought a lot about friends who have recently had children, even considering gifting it to some of them, but obviously parenthood is incredible personal and I would never want to assume that one person’s experience is the same as another. I’d like to think that the light and dark of it are both true but am obviously very much ignorant to the overall experience, all additions to the conversation welcome!
References:
Seo an píosa a scríobh mé faoi Doireann Ní Ghríofa do Comhar.
Here is the Laura and Marcus Mumford’s Jolene.
The podcast interview Sinéad mentions is Midnight Chats and you can listen to it here.
And here is a touchstone playlist of some of the tracks and albums we gave special mention to during the conversation
We didn’t get into side projects, but Laura has many and I’d really re commend her Reversal of the Muse podcast (includes an interview with Dolly Parton and EmmyLou Harris!) and her musical sidegig LUMP.
I love love that Sinéad felt like she could add to the project or podcast and reached out to do so, so if you ever feel the same or feel like you have something or someone to talk about, please do get in touch!Final note - bring back listening parties !
Lá breithe sona dúinn!
Today, 4th of December, we celebrate three years of this newsletter (crazy). It started with some notes on Town’s Dead in this first post. The most revisited letter has been The Creative's Toolkit and the most read is this one: BIG FAN | A New Podcast 🥰.
The content might not always be consistent, but the constant has been the response from you, from readers, listeners, strangers and friends, who send impassioned voicenotes defending (or offending) albums, who open elaborate monologues on ‘the culture’ in the snug after a few too many, or who send a photo of the coffee and sweet treat you sit down to open the newsletter with. It’s so special, I really love it and you, and all the chats we’ve had because of it - go raibh míle maith agat!
Three years feels like a long time, and three, in mythology and scéalaíocht anyway, is a magic number! In celebration I’m proposing and end-of-year ritual. Myself and three friends (read: witches) took it upon ourselves this on the autumn equinox to write down three things we wanted to take with us into the rest of the year, and three things we wanted to leave behind. The latter of which we burned in a chalice in the back garden under the full moon after a Chappell Roan night in the Róisín Dubh, obviously. There was cackling. It was silly and unserious but all of my intentions have come true since and I’d really recommend trying it for the new year. Here are mine!
Takeaways:
Trust into your intuition, or whatever mad things you’re drawn to: make brash decisions based on the moon. If it seems like a good idea, your gut instinct is probably the driving force and is rarely wrong.
Lean into your delusions, there are no coincidences.
Surround yourself with people who make you feel sparkly and light. Some of your greatest romances and soulmates will exist in the form of gorgeous friendships. Fall in love again and again and again and again etc
Leave behind…
The need to be productive.
Feeling too small to make a difference.
Anything that makes you feel like you are in a state of lack: marketing; social media accounts; wishlists; personal style essays. Burn them. Anything that paints you as a project as opposed to a person. You’re meant to be an effervescent everchanging and multifaceted imperfect being.
End of Year Playlists
My Spotify Wrapped is always a nightmare. I expect this year’s to heavily feature that one Maccabees song I obsessed over in January (did I manifest their comeback?) on a playlist punctuated by Raidió Rí-Rá chart toppers, and the evidence of late nights spent zoning out to Brian Eno and Talk Talk.
Instead, I thought a collaborative playlist could be fun - 2024 favourites among Big Fan listeners and newsletter readers - listen and add yours here!
Special mentions:
Laura Marling’s Patterns in Repeat, Nilufer Yanya, Mk.gee’s Two Star, Amyl and the Sniffers, Khruangbin, Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat, Róis’ Mo Léan (EP), Night Golf by Yenkee, Bricknasty’s mixtape, and athPhort by Súil Amháin (review and track by-track breakdown anseo).
November’s playlist feature’s very cute Everybody’s Here by Brién, a side project by Lord Ormond (who was unbelievable in the Button Factory this month!) called Famille Rose, peter o sullivan and new Joshua Burnside.
We’re also doing an Alternative Christmas Song Advent Calendar on Instagram. There will be a highlight on my page and you can follow the playlist here until December 24th :)
Final note, while you’re listening to Christmas songs and heading towards the end of the year, the gift drive for children living in direct provision is open for 2024 and you can donate here.
The Rebel Matters podcast is back too and is an incredible source of information on the situation in Palestine and what can be done.
Abolish Direct Provision Ireland also look for volunteers to help wrap and distribute gifts (super wholesome lovely day out!) here, or you can donate to their Winter Coat Appeal here.
As ever, go raibh céad míle maith agat as a bheith anseo, an litir a roinnt, do thuairimí a sheoladh chugam, na seinnliostaí a chasadh, moltaí a chur chugam, I love it all!
Go raibh Nollaig mhór mhaith agus bliain úr nua ar do thoil agat, níl a mhalairt tuillte. Beannachtaí na féile agus athbhliain faoi shéan agus faoi mhaise ort 🎄
Grá mór
Em xxxx