Julie Feeney

"The Emerald Isle's Original"
The Washington Post Express
"… She is an innovator, an original; incomparable with any of her contemporaries…" The Irish Times
"…pages… is a wee masterpiece…" Hot Press
"…The world will listen" The Guardian
"…a charming, urbane and dreamy record"
The New York Times
"This album marks the blossoming of a major talent"
The Observer
"… captivating form of art… pages is a remarkable achievement… Feeney towers over her contemporaries…" Sunday Tribune
"…pages is a spellbinding second album… Listen to it…" Sunday World Magazine
Check out a recent podcast with Julie by Andrew Hamilton
http://www.clarepeople.com/wordpress/?p=1013
Dramatic Irish Star And "Eccentric Pop Genius" Julie Feeney At Joe's Pub In NYC March 9



NY Time's Ben Ratliff Calls Her Chamber-Pop Music "Charming, Urbane, And Dreamy" Stylish Singer/Composer/Orchestrator's New Album 'Pages' Out This Spring



Dramatic and stylish chamber-pop singer/composer/orchestrator Julie Feeney --winner of the Choice Music Prize for 'Irish Album of the Year' (Ireland's equivalent of the Mercury Music Prize) -- has engaged a small orchestra of strings, accordion, trumpets, singers, recorders, pianos and sticks for a special performance at Joe's Pub in New York City March 9 at 7pm. Feeney, known for her "mesmerizing stage presence and eccentric pop genius" (Hot Press), takes an avant approach to her innovative sound and live show, which, while rooted in classical music, straddles the pop and theatrical worlds.
Take a listen to samples of Feeney's fetching sound here:
http://bit.ly/hyJrt8
Watch this mini documentary of her Dec, 2010 Paris show here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOyva4v21mg
Feeney's debut U.S. tour, which spans from New York to California, is part of Culture Ireland's Imagine Ireland, a year of Irish Arts in America in 2011. She'll headline Joe's Pub in support of her forthcoming new album, 'pages' out late this Spring, and will perform additional guest spots around the city throughout the rest of the week.
Hailed by The Washington Post as "The Emerald Isle's Original," Feeney is a genuine star in Ireland, with her music widely broadcast on TV and radio and her recent sold-out performance at Ireland's National Concert Hall receiving a 10-minute standing ovation. The Sunday Tribune gushed that Feeney's debut album, '13 songs,' was "a remarkable achievement," adding "Feeney towers over her contemporaries." The Guardian simply said, "the world will listen."
WHO: Emerald Isle Original Julie Feeney
Julie's second self-produced album, 'pages', she orchestrated it for voice and orchestra with no midi. She conducted the orchestra and later recorded the singing over the orchestral music. The orchestra included trumpets, french horns, trombone, vibraphone, clarinet, flute, oboe, bassoon, violins, violas, cellos, double bass, glockenspiel, sticks and more. All of the singing and mixing was done athome. Instead of playing lots of instruments like she did on the first album, all of the music was this time played by the orchestra while she did again of the singing, conducting, composing and producing. She spent a considerable amount of time working at the Artists' Retreat in Annaghmakerrig in County Monaghan working on all of the words for the work.
Julie works as a composer, a singer, a producer, a musician, a songwriter, a theatre artist and as an educator. She composes instrumental music and also songs with full orchestrations. Before her first album she worked mostly with composition of electronic music, and since her first album she has been exploring the orchestral sound-world.
Her instrumental compositions have been for the Crash Ensemble and Icebreaker, and the electronic scores for Corp Feasa contemporary dance company, Loose Canon Theatre Company and for her own one woman shows where she incorporated live singing. She has orchestrated for and conducted the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra string section and she orchestrated '13 songs' for the 65 piece Ulster Orchestra at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast in 2007 when she sang solo with them. A video link to one of the songs is here http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/atl/omb_julie.shtml
She has worked as a theatre artist with Loose Canon Theatre Company; in a one woman show to her own electronic score; and in 'Slat' at Galway Arts Festival and in Paris in 2008 at the Centre Culturel Irlandais.
Her debut album '13 songs' won in 2006 the 'Choice Music Prize - Irish Album of the Year'. She played most of the instruments and did all of the singing, and produced and released the album. (The album cover sleeve and all of the credits can be seen on her main website). After that she signed a record deal and was able finally to pay back all of the money she borrowed to make and it and the first video (seen below which features the Beetle car, her favourite vehicle of all time). Just before her debut album, after graduating from Trinity College Dublin, she worked all over the world as a professional choral singer with various ensembles on numerous cds, dvds and broadcasts. She has her own record label, mittens, called after her mother's favourite cat. She cannot drive a car.