A year on from her success in our Kickstart competition, we finally got to hear the fruits of AOIBHA‘s labour.
Recorded with her band in Half Bap Studios with George Sloan, ‘Little While Ago’ is an understated indie folk gem.
AOIBHA is a master at crafting music that exudes serenity and it shows on ‘Little While Ago’. Meticulously layered with subtle flourishes and instrumentation, the understated approach serves to let those crystal clear vocals shine through.
If there was ever music for late night listening while getting lost in your thoughts, this is it.
Thoughts from AOIBHA
I can’t quite believe that ‘Little While Ago’ is finally being released into the world. My process for writing this song was quite unconventional, and it seemed unlikely it would be heard beyond the four walls of my bedroom not too long ago.
The guts of ‘Little While Ago’ sat in the dustbin of my voice memos app for a long time before I finally finished it. The song was originally written with a different chorus and a completely different musical feel to it, and I never thought much of it until it resurfaced in mid-2023.
I was clearing out old voice memos when I came across the original demo and decided to give the song one more chance. Thankfully, with new lyrics and chords, the song came to life in a way that resonated with me and how I was feeling at that point in my life. The re-writing of Little While Ago coincided with the exciting news that I had come runner up in Chordblossom’s Kickstart competition and would be able to choose a song to record a few months later.
Around the same time, I was rehearsing with my band in the lead-up to our debut headline gig in the Deer’s Head when we started diverging from the set list and trying out some older songs for fun. I had no intention of playing ‘Little While Ago’ live but somehow it ended up on the set list and turned out to be a lot of people’s favourite song that night. Sometimes the right songs find you at the right time and this was definitely the case for ‘Little While Ago.’
It was a real pleasure getting to record ‘Little While Ago’ with George Sloan at Half Bap Studio. George and Graham have created such a comfortable, cosy atmosphere at Half Bap and that definitely influenced the recording of the track. The studio was alive with music and laughter the whole day and I’m really grateful to everyone who helped make it such a magical experience.
I’d like to say a huge thank you to the team at Chordblossom for making this recording possible through the Kickstart competition, to George Sloan for recording ‘Little While Ago’ at Half Bap, to my band (Darren Hill, Matt McIvor and Owen Gray) for playing on the track and performing with me live, and to Joel Harkin for mastering the song. I’d also like to say a huge thanks to Jonah Gardner for capturing our day in the studio and to Aaron Cunningham for all the press photographs surrounding the release.
George Sloan, AOIBHA & Band Outside Half Bap Studios - Photography by Jonah Gardner
