Fans of off-kilter yet catchy songs should check out Sive when they play Monroe’s Live this Sunday, August 26. Sive is the brainchild of Kildare native Sadhbh O’Sullivan and the band released their debut album We Are Moving back in April.

We Are Moving is a beguiling collection of songs that manage to be both breezy and haunting as Sive fuse alternative rock with a variety of genres and draw influence from jazz, folk and progressive music. Sadhbh, who wrote the songs for We are Moving, recalls making the album.

“It was recorded over the space of about a year,” she says. “I had a low budget, so instead of getting an expensive studio I just decided to work with an engineer that I knew was good. So I recorded with a guy called Peter Lee, in a variety of places.

“I knew him from before. We both went to college in Ballyfermot; he did the sound engineering course. He basically got in touch with me, saying that he was trying to get a business up and running. He wanted bands for his website to showcase his work. So we went and recorded one song with him, and I just ended up being really happy with it.”

The “we” in question are Sadhbh and her fellow band members, bassist Eoin Hartwieg, drummer Paddy Hopkins and guitarist Mark Dudley, who have been performing together since early in 2010.

Sadhbh began writing songs just over 10 years ago. Are the songs on her debut recently written, or did she draw from older material?

“I think the oldest on it is about five years old, and then the newest one was written a few months before I started recording,” she says. “So it was kind of just a collection of the ones I was most happy with over a period of a few years.”

There’s a lot riding on a debut album; artists try to give their best to songs they may have had for a while, but also have to create something vital and new. How did Sadhbh find the recording process?

“Sometimes you get the red-light syndrome where you start freaking out,” she says. “You make mistakes you never normally because you’re kind of nervous. Studios can be kind of sterile but the thing about recording with Peter was that it was very relaxed. In general, it wasn’t that stressful or nervy at all.”

Ballyfermot College has played a pivotal role in Sadhbh’s career, instilling self-belief as well as helping to bring this band together.
“Eoin, the bass player, and Paddy, the drummer, we were all in Ballyfermot together,” Sadhbh says. “Then Mark, the guitar player, he’s from Naas which is where I’m from. I played in band with him years ago, when I was 17 or something.

“[Ballyfermot] was great for me, because I went into it straight out of school,” she adds. “Totally naive, not knowing anything, not even having the confidence to sing in front of anyone. It does teach you about the realities of being in the music industry. I got to play with loads of musicians, loads of different types of music so it was really beneficial.”

If Sadhbh were to point people to one song on We Are Moving, what would it be?

“I find that really hard to say,” she says. “The last single off it was Sunkissed; we have a decent video made for that. So I suppose that’d be the one I point people towards.”

The video for Sunkissed was shot in Glending Forest, Kildare. It’s a well-realised piece, and catches the eye – essential, really, given the millions of clips it has to compete against on YouTube.

“It was myself and Bob who directed it,” Sadhbh says. “I’ve known him for a while and he’s always saying ‘let’s make a video’ and I knew I wanted to have a dancer. I liked the idea, because the song’s got a lot of weird, jerky times in it.”

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.