Tracks Of My Years: Saoirse Casey

Into the trees… Pic: Jennifer Grey

aving played a sold out show with her pops at The Whale in 2020, Saoirse Casey is back this Friday with a whole new show.

Part of the Emerging Talents showcase alongside Strange Boy and Jacob Koopman, the Casey lass will be showcasing material from her upcoming second album.

Which should please lovers of her 2019 debut Lunaria no end. Especially those rabid fans over in Japan.

To mark the occasion of her return to The Whale, we managed to pull Saoirse away from her beloved pet rabbit, Pipkin, to reveal the songs that made her.

And where this love of music first took a hold of her head and heart…

I write songs about my dreams, experiences and imagination.

I think they’re kind of surreal and also a bit like a page from my journals. I play piano and guitar, a little badly.

I taught myself, as a teenager – usually in the dead of night, before morning comes and everything is quiet.

I started doing gigs, then, too. My first album, Lunaria, came out in 2019, the title coming from lunar and aria. I hope to make another album this year.

More importantly, I have a small rabbit.

Now, the tracks of my years…

Anna Fedorova: Rachmaninov Piano Concerto 2
This was the first classical concerto or symphony that I really loved. It’s so exciting and intricate, and the second movement can always make me cry. Recently I tried to go see it live, but I didn’t read the title right in my excitement and accidentally saw his second symphony. I read that he created this piano concerto after years of depression following a lot of disappointment for his first symphony…

He dedicated this second piano concerto to his psychotherapist.

Tiny Ruins Me At The Museum, You In The Winter Gardens
Hollie has a beautiful voice and way of writing. This song is like a strange, lovely dream that you don’t want to forget. I heard this song at one of my first times playing live, in the sound engineer’s playlist, and I had to know who it was so I could listen again! Years later I got to open a few shows for Hollie…

Art Garfunkel Bright Eyes (from Watership Down)
When I was a little kid, this movie really affected me. I learned a lot of the script from watching so many times, sitting in front of the TV saying the dialogue with the movie. There were rabbits every morning in the fields surrounding my house, and I have one very small rabbit as a pet too, named Pipkin, after one of the Watership Down characters. She also likes to listen to music, I’d love to read her Tracks Of My Years. I think, from seeing her reactions to different music, it would be a mix of jazz and harp music. And she once became very bouncy and alert when I put on The Nutcracker for her, so maybe that too…

I read that Art Garfunkel didn’t really like the song. I’m not sure if that’s true, but I’m very glad he sang it, anyway.

Swetha Pandit Nenani Neevani
I just love this…

Paddy Casey Want It Can’t Have It
This came out when I was very small, and I danced to it around my room. It’s a lot of fun now, seeing audiences at his shows do the same thing! I only recently realised he’s saying ‘Boo-hoo’…

Atowa Yuri Both Sides Now
I love this song by Joni Mitchell, it’s so simple but says it all. I think. Here’s my friend Yuuri’s version on violin, because she plays it so beautifully!

We’ve had many musical adventures together, and I’m so grateful and happy to call her my friend.

You can catch Saoirse at The Whale on Friday, September 16th here, grab Lunaria here, and follow on Instagram right over here.