LITTLE OAK - DARK FALLS
(2012)
Unless you have had an issue with your human rights over the past several years, it’s unlikely you’ll have heard of Doireann Ansbro, qualified human rights lawyer by day and a very fine (gently spooky) singer-songwriter by night. Dark Falls is an aptly titled, generally sombre and sober album of astute indie-folk that references the likes of Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver without being slavishly indebted to them. Fire-crackling late-night tunes such as Snow, You’ve Got the Shoes, Twilight, Moshi’s Song, Breathe and The Sunset Groupies provide evidence of Ansbro’s talents for fashioning deft lyrics that drip with elemental imagery. Ditto the music, which fuses subtle alt-folk with Blair Witch-like naturalism and found sounds. As honest a statement of intent as you’ll hear? Yes, m’lud.
- Tony Clayton-Lea, The Irish Times
LITTLE OAK - BREAKING LIGHT
(2018)
Six years to the week that she released her debut album, Dark Falls, Doireann Ansbro returns with a tardy follow-up. The wait has been worth it. Where the debut tipped a hat to US indie-folk acts such as Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver, Breaking Light takes its lead more often from classic UK folk. Songs such as Reds and Golds, Stones Across the Water, Slow Burning Blossoming, and Fire reference virtually forgotten singer-songwriters such as Bridget St John, Annie Briggs and Jaki Whitren, and fondly recalled groups such as The Pentangle and Mellow Candle, but Ansbro’s characterful songwriting remains very much in focus.
- Tony Clayton-Lea, The Irish Times
