Áine Gordon has recently started a new chapter in her artistic career with the release of her first EP The Stray (produced by Joshua Burnside). The 4-track release has garnered a positive and unexpected reaction. People are resonating with different songs in unique ways, often hearing things even Gordon herself hadn’t initially perceived, which she finds quite exciting: “I didn’t really know what to expect. So, any kind of positive response has kind of blown me away.”

The reaction I had to hearing her first single When You Like was just as positive and when I like something that much, I instantly want to film it. Luckily, Áine Gordon was able to make the trip down from Belfast to Kilkenny during Kilkenny Roots and recorded that song and covers of Miss Misty by Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker and Buck Meek, and Ye Vagabonds’ Half Blind.

While she finds the creative part of painting and songwriting quite similar, she admits to having ‘put off releasing music for so long,’ instead throwing herself into painting. The transition, however, felt less daunting after her first solo exhibition last year. “I had my first ever solo exhibition last year and I was extremely nervous in the lead up to it. That almost felt like a trial run before releasing music. It’s actually quite lovely the way it’s happened. And they do feed into each other as well.”

The exhibition helped her overcome a significant block, as she realized that even negative reactions to her art didn’t faze her. “I’m able to do whatever I really feel is fully me.”

The key difference, Gordon notes, lies in the vulnerability of music versus painting. “With paintings, I feel protected because viewers don’t directly see me in the same way they do when listening to my voice or seeing me on stage or in music videos.” Despite this increased exposure, she’s enjoying it more than she anticipated.

“It’s in my blood.”

It’s no wonder Áine Gordon became an artist really, coming from a musical family on one side and having painters on the other side of her family. Her mother and her six sisters were in a band called The Leddy Sisters, who performed folk music. Growing up in Belfast, Gordon experienced this vibrant musical heritage firsthand during annual holidays in County Kerry, where all the Leddy Sisters and their two brothers would sing together.

This tradition trickled down to her cousins, some of whom formed the band Old Hannah, further imprinting the beauty of blood harmonies on Gordon. “I’m so drawn to that. It activates some kind of deep family wholeness or something, even when I listen to families singing together. It just does something special. So yes, I’m incredibly lucky to have come from that and still to experience it in my life. They all sing together still. I am lucky with my family. It’s in my blood so, why wouldn’t I carry the torch in that way?”

“So much of my taste has come from my family; my cousins introducing me to Lisa Hannigan and the Felice Brothers. Later, people like Andy Shauff and Jake Xerxes Fussell as well. My family’s music taste seeped through into mine.”

Driving as a creative catalyst

Gordon’s musical taste and folk influences developed from an early age, when her father would play artists like John Prine, The Band, and Tammy Wynette during long drives to holidays in Donegal. These experiences ingrained in her the role of driving in her creative process. “It probably comes back to those times, being in the car, listening to these songs and being able to really sit with them. I consider myself so lucky to have not had a phone growing up.”

Given her love for blood harmonies, her choice to cover Ye Vagabonds comes a no surprise. “I find their songwriting so exciting. And I’m so drawn to it, it digs into a vulnerability, but it maintains some self-protection. It’s such a stunning arrangement, a beautiful song, gorgeous melody. But I think what did draw me to it was the way the brothers’ voices intertwine, as the song progresses,”

“It feels like such a gift to exist at a time where Buck Meek and Adrianne Lenker are writing.”

Miss Misty, from Buck Meek and Adrianne Lenker’s a-sides, fascinates Áine Gordon due to its delicate yet playful storytelling. “I love the twists and turns. I admire the quiet intensity and unforced nature of Buck Meek’s songwriting; his songwriting never feels forced. I find that with Adrianne Lenker as well, and they’re obviously very intricately linked creatively. The song’s portrayal of someone slipping away feels like you’re overhearing it. They create a beautiful picture that almost feels like a sketch. Close to the original spark of inspiration. It’s like they are just thinking as they’re singing. It’s special.”

Gordon deeply admires the constant, high-quality output, and major influence of artists like Buck Meek, Adrianne Lenker, and Big Thief, and sees other musicians being influenced by them as much as she is herself. “They’re just everywhere at the minute. They’re such influential songwriters. It feels like such a gift to exist at a time where they’re writing.”

A beautiful place to be in.

Gordon aims to set a scene and tell stories in a delicate way, often drawing inspiration from everyday life and raw moments. “It’s more about day-to-day life, which is what I love about Adrianne Lenker’s writing where she’s setting a scene, and it’s just everyday life, but she just describes them so beautifully. I do take a lot of inspiration from that style of songwriting. I’d put John Prine in that as well, where there’s a meandering story. But yes, I do try to tell a story in some delicate way.”

“I’m writing so much at the minute.” In the past, she would have kind of looked at her own memories and unpacked certain things that are happening. “I feel quite free now that the EP has come out. I’m writing constantly and not sure really where it’s taking me. Lots of quite fun twists and turns. I’m in that exciting time where nothing’s fully formed so there’s so much possibility. A beautiful place to be in.”

Photos

Keep watching

Thank you for watching and enjoying this session. You’ll probably like some other sessions from The Influences’ archive too, like these earlier ones we filmed.

2025 Adrianne Lenker Áine Gordon Áine Gordon interview Áine Gordon music Áine Gordon painting big thief buck meek folk music influences Joshua Burnside Miss Misty song Northern Ireland music Old Hannah band Songwriting process The Leddy Sisters The Stray EP Ye Vagabonds cover