Julie Feeney
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Julie Feeney (born 1978) is an Irish singer-songwriter, whose first album, 13 songs, became one of the most acclaimed and sought-after albums released in Ireland in 2005[citation needed].
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[edit] Background
A native of Athenry, Co. Galway, Feeney played with the Galway Youth Orchestra, studied music and psychology at University College Cork, and after moving to Dublin, graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 2002 with a master's in music and media technologies. She also later spent time at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, in addition to earning her master's degree as a primary school teacher.
Since then she has been working as a professional choral singer and composer; singing with The National Chamber Choir and performing with the BBC singers, Riverdance, Lord Of The Dance (lead soloist), and Anuna. She published three CD-ROMs for music in primary schools. She has composed soundtracks for plays and short films, one of which, 'Nun', premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September 2005.
[edit] 13 Songs
A multi-instrumentalist, Feeney plays eleven instruments on 13 songs, including keyboards, alto recorder, treble recorder, harmonium, accordion, violin, harmonica, melodica, and xylophone. However, according to The Irish Times of 5th September 2005, "the most impressive sound is Julie's sustained vocal note on Aching, which clocks in at a lung-bursting 28 seconds." The album gained a four-star review.
The RTE Guide stated that "13 songs" is unquestionably one of the most refreshing Irish debuts in recent years". The Tuam Herald described it as " ... adult contemporary ... it would resonate with the likes of Bjork and Stina Nordenstam. Certainly it is far from airhead pop-I can't see it being the most requested item at the teen disco. But it is highly sophisticated, European music and Julie's clear, high vocals paint abstract pictures of love, life and friendship froma twenty-something perspective."
Finally, the Sligo Weekender again drew attention to her voice: "By far the most impressive aspect of Feeney's musical spectrum is her voice. With little rivalry for purity, it ranges from infant-like wonder ("Judas") to quite sexy and sultry (Under My Skin). The album opens with one of the top three tracks on the album "Aching". Julie sings "I'm aching for you", just three times on the single, but each one weighs in at 20 to 28 seconds long, a phenomenal achievement for any voice."
The album won the Choice Music Prize for Irish Album of the Year 2005.
[edit] The future
Feeney was selected as one of only five Irish acts to have a video done by Hot Press in conjunction with New York University (NYU) Film school. She will also shoot a music video for 'Fictitious Richard' in early December with director Vittoria Colonna.
She will be the featured composer in a documentary to be aired on TG4 next year. The subject matter is 'Cosan Dearg' a contemporary dance piece resulting from the collaboration between Julie, choreographer Fearghus O Conchuir and theatre director Jason Byrne. It ran at the Project Theatre in Dublin in July.
[edit] References
- http://www.juliefeeney.com/press - extracted from press media reports.
