Cork-based singer/songwriters on their new single, Eurovision dreams and a cervical cancer diagnosis

WHEN composers and songbirds Victoria Keating and Áine O’Gorman released their paean to Bridgid, the patron saint of Ireland and Celtic druidess, last February they never anticipated the reaction the song would receive.

Played on radio stations right across the country, and online downloads by the hundreds on the various music-platforms, it was also chosen for the RTÉ Recommends Playlist.

It really was a dream come true for the musical duo who had met and become instant friends while students in UCC almost two decades previously.

Now, they are planning to release an album of their original compositions and are in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign to help defray some of the recording costs.

They have written a song for next year’s Eurovision competition, which they hope will bring Ireland back to the “glory days of Eurovision”.

And have also just released their new single, Sweetbird, a beautiful, moving homage to the themes of “inclusion, acceptance and equality”.

Written as a conscious statement against the toxic energy and voices of fear and hatred emanating from the rise in global fascism.

“There is an awful far right sweeping in like a bad wind over the sea that is bringing with it racism and distrust and fear”, observes Victoria. 

“And in recent years, it has been given a voice and a platform. I think it is coming from a position of fear itself but we needed to write about it.” 

Words have always been Victoria’s vehicle of expression.

They have been my companions throughout my life.

From a very early age, she was an avid reader and ‘consumed’ a book a day.

“While I had a very happy childhood, I was diagnosed with OCD from the age of seven and this impacted on every aspect of my life.

“Books offered me an escape and a refuge from my own head. I lived in their world. I could get lost in them. The characters were my friends.

“One of my school teachers gave me a notebook. She thought I should be a writer. I’m sure she was thinking more along the literary style of John McGahern, but my real literary comfort food was the vast library of Mills & Boons books I found at home!”

The transition of her words into music was a smooth and effortless one. Though entirely unplanned.

“I have never had a plan in my life,” she insists. “I have always followed my heart and there is an awful price to pay for that in some ways. I never thought about the consequences. I ignored all of that.

My attitude was let the hammer fall where it may. 

Her “best friend and sister-in-harmony”, Áine, shares her passion for music and creativity.

A hugely talented and versatile musician, all the instruments (piano, guitar, strings) audible on the song are played by Áine herself, who also wrote the musical arrangements.

“Our live performances are described as ethereal”, she explains. “And we set out to recreate that similar vibe in the studio.”

The studio in question is Wayfield Studios in Clonakilty, run by Sarah Mahony and Brian Casey.

Sweetbird’s lush string arrangements and seamless vocals, with harmonies woven so closely together it is hard to tell one voice from another, is like a gentle and safe antidote to the cacocophony of angry and fear-engendering voices that dominate the airwaves and online chatter.

Everything about Áine and Victoria comes from a place of kindness and connection. Family is key. Áine has one son age 13 and Victoria four kids and one grandson (“a marvellous bubble of a kid!”).

And they are all about lifting each other up.

Now more than ever, as Victoria was last month diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer and has embarked on an intensive regime of chemotherapy.

“We started making the album some time ago”, explains Áine, “before Vickie’s diagnosis. And we have loads of plans in gestation. The Eurovision song, the album. And we still want to do all of that. 

Everything is ready to go with the album. We have just four more songs to record. Then it will be ready for release at the end of September.

This album is a veritable labour of love and the ladies are passionate and excited about sharing their music with the world.

Moreover, Áine believes that the therapeutic value of creating, the perpetual “forward motion” of designing, writing, recording, magic-making is giving “Victoria something to think about other than her diagnosis.”

Victoria herself is a beacon of positivity who is facing her treatment with strength, determination and a firm belief that her body will “respond brilliantly” and “it will go to sleep”.

“The path flows where the energy goes”, she insists.

And that energy is flowing full and free.

“There is no other way to be.”

That is not to say there aren’t days when it is tough. However, Vicky has a great infrastructure of help and she is hugely grateful to her family and sisters for their continued love and support.

And to Áine.

She has been just amazing, taking me to every single treatment, make dinners and dropping them to my door. She even sourced me a recliner chair, as it is the only thing I can sleep in with the pain. She is an earth angel.

Angelic and celestial are apt descriptions for the heavenly symbiotic sound that Victoria and Áine make when singing together. Sweetbird has it all. And then some.

Sweetbird is available on all usual platforms (spotify, apple and youtube) Kickstarter Victoria Keating and Áine O’Gorman is available on 8 July.