Danger Here
She’s the Irish chanteuse on everyone’s lips. Even if nobody is quite sure who she is. Here, The Danger Is breaks her silence for an exclusive interview
Roe McDermott, 24 Jan 2011
Having had very little luck finding information on The Danger Is, one of the acts chosen to perform on the IMRO stage of RTÉ’s Other Voices, I wasn’t sure what to expect. With that name, surely it’s some kind of hardcore, edgy instrumental band? Or maybe a psychedelic indie dance duo? A member of the X-Men?
Actually, The Danger Is comprises one Niamh Farrell, an unassuming and model-esque indie-pop singer whose alluring melodies and warmly honest lyrics have been garnering great reviews. With a voice that effortlessly moves from a sultry jazz whisper to a sweetly vibrating shrill, the quirky vibes of Farrell’s debut EP have earned her support slots with Ellie Goulding and The Coronas. Not bad for a girl who only started playing music seriously two years ago (and no, she isn’t related to the singer from Ham Sandwich).
“I’ve played guitar since I was a kid, and always jotted down vague ideas for songs or scraps of lyrics. And I’ve always sung in a choir. In fact I still do, and am performing in the Wexford Opera House and the RDS soon. But I didn’t do music in college. I did art. After college I was at a bit of a loss. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I ended up coaching gymnastics for nearly a year, and I don’t know how I stuck it out that long – any job that requires wearing a tracksuit every day is not where I want to be! So when I finally went ‘what am I spending my time doing sport for?’ it seemed like a good opportunity to throw myself headfirst into music… and some new clothes.”
After a chance meeting with prolific songwriter and producer Ken McHugh, Farrell recorded her debut EP in Wicklow, and only then began gigging. “It seems a bit backwards doesn’t it, but I think that’s becoming the norm now, that you record on your laptop and then use it to promote yourself and get gigs. And I’d always been very wary of becoming known as an acoustic act before moving on to anything else because I just think, especially at the start when your style could still change, that it’s important not to pigeon-hole yourself. So I knew I wanted to record first.”
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