Limerick songwriter Laura Duff spoke to Limerick Post’s Eric FitzGerald about the recording of her emotional debut album dedicated to her late father
LIMERICK singer-songwriter Laura Duff is preparing to release her debut album Sea Legs—an emotional and heartfelt exploration of grief and healing—in advance of a hometown headline show at Dolan’s this Saturday May 24..
The album, shaped over a year in Mícheál Keating’s Knockderry-based home studio situated in rural West Limerick, reflects Duff’s personal journey in the wake of losing her father.
Laura has made a beautiful album that documents at times in a quite literal way her experiences over the past few years.
Talking to Laura this week, I told her that it was a brave thing to do – to put those words on paper, build this album, and record these songs with her band who are also long-term friends.
“It’s funny when you say brave, a few people have said that to me in the last little while as we’ve been releasing the singles but I just think, for me, it’s just how I get through and how I process and make sense of grief, you know, and everything that comes with losing a parent.”
The songs on Sea Legs, including singles such as the title track and ‘Fondness of You’, are deeply intimate, with lyrics that don’t shy away from emotion or memory.
The songs are conversations the writer is having with her late father. Her music and melodies ebb and flow like a calm hazy summer day on the west coast.
Lyrics of ‘Fondness of You’
Sorry to bring it up, but Laura we miss him so much
He was so loved, and so proud
He’d start talking, and it would all pour out
The fondness of you
It is a very emotional listen and so much of it is perfectly relatable to anyone who has lost a loved one in any circumstances.
“One of my friends said, ‘You’re really not hiding behind any metaphors here,’” she recalls.
“It makes me quite emotional, when anybody tells me how much they’ve connected with it, or how it makes them feel, and that they can relate to it in one way or another.
“I’ve had a lot of time to process the songs, to get used to listening to them, and I’ve gotten used to actually singing those lyrics in front of people.”
The recording process was deeply collaborative, with Duff working closely with bandmate and co-producer Mícheál Keating (of Bleeding Heart Pigeons) at his home studio in Knockderry.
“It was a low-pressure, comfortable environment. I feel incredibly lucky to have had that space and that group of people around me.”
Keating’s influence is central to the record’s sound—lush, spacious, and a change in approach from the upbeat indie bangers of Duff’s earlier Heavy Summer EP.
The band’s arrangements (Laura-vocals, guitar, keyboard; JJ Lee-bass; Mícheál Keating – guitar, piano, violin; Christopher O’Sullivan – drums, percussion) delicately support her expressive vocals and reflective lyrics.
“I feel so incredibly lucky to have the people that are around me. I have been able to create that kind of safe space, it was very comfortable, and we moved as we wanted to in terms of the gradual process, working like two days at a time as soon as the songs were ready.
“So it was low pressure in terms of the timing. I think it’s just such a gift because it’s obviously an emotional recording.”
The journey to performing the album live has been a careful one. “Some songs we’ve never played live,” she says.
“But over the past couple of years I’ve been really intentional about introducing them gradually, so I could be emotionally ready.”
Laya Kenny along with Hugh Hefner and Graham Patterson crafted the videos and artwork that root the project in the coastal landscapes of West Clare—places like Lahinch, Liscannor and White Strand, where Duff’s memories and inspirations reside.
Duff’s musical roots stretch back to her childhood in Limerick, where she was part of the pilot programme of Music Generation.
It was here that she transitioned from piano to guitar and began performing.
“Music Gen was a real turning point for me. I got to write, perform, and learn from people who had actually done it—Pa O’Brien, Steve Ryan, Tony Monahan, Andy Connolly. Playing at Dolan’s at 16… it was incredible.”
Laura Duff and band launch ‘Sea Legs in Dolans this Saturday May 24.
Tickets www.dolans.ie STREAM / SUPPORT at https://lauraduff.bandcamp.com/
