This week, Eve Lonergan caught up with Jodie Lyne and Zoe Callanan of Mirrors to talk songwriting, cultural storytelling and the Cork music scene.
“The music that’s going to be released next year is a full embodiment of what Mirrors is and will be,” promises Zoe Callanan, bassist for Leeside rockers Mirrors.
Consisting of vocalist and guitarist Jodie Lyne, bassist Zoe O’Callanan, Charlie Cullinane on rhythm guitar and Fionnan Sheehan as lead guitarist, Mirrors hold their Cork roots close to their hearts, citing legendary Cork bands and current up-and-comers on the scene as some of their biggest influences.
“All four of us have such different tastes in music, but I think we overlap with Irish acts,” Jodie says.
“Local bands are a huge influence on us as well,” the Douglas native continues, “When we were 18, seeing The Love Buzz play in Cyprus was like the coolest thing.”
Zoe agrees, describing how the Cork scene has shaped their style and sound: “My songwriting has been established from going to all these gigs; like I’d watch a band thinking ‘oh my god, that’s so cool’, and I’d get all these bits of inspiration.”
Combining their varying influences couldn’t be an easy task, but given their close personal friendships, writing songs is more like hanging out than work for the four Corkonians.
“I think what really works for us is we just enjoy meeting up as a friend group regardless,” Jodie says. “And it just so happens that we get to be really vulnerable and creative with each other.”
“I think it’s really seamless,” Zoe agrees. “Everything that is people’s first instinct of what they put on in terms of melodies, guitars, whatever it is, always seems to become a fully-fledged song in a matter of an hour.”
Mirrors’ songwriting often connects to a deeper cultural instinct: “I think for us we're really in contact with our Irish identity,” Jodie reflects.
“Especially in Ireland coming from the home of storytelling, like it’s so difficult not to be immersed in that culture. And I think especially for songwriting, it helps so much because it effectively is storytelling.”
Zoe chimes in, reflecting on recent recordings for the upcoming EP: “every song instrumentally I feel like it is painting the story that Jodie is telling through her lyrics.
“It’s all a massive story. And we’re depicting the feelings and emotions through the noise that we’re making.”
The Irish cultural influence seeps through the music, particularly in ‘Na Soilse’, in which lyrics ebb between English and Irish.
“With ‘Na Soilse’, the guitar has a jig or reel feel to it,” Jodie reflects. “Like Zoe was saying, usually when we’re jamming out a song, the first instinct of ideas that come stay.”
“But with ‘Na Soilse’, there were so many different versions. Like it was written in English and then we changed the guitar so many times. We still always had that kind of rhythm to it.
“And then it came to a point where we were like, I don’t think this song can actually be written in English. It has to be Irish.”
The Envious of The Faithful EP, released in January of this year, is a patchwork of intense rock and delicate shoegaze, each track underscored by a potent vulnerability in their soulful lyrics and the artfully complex voice of lead vocalist Jodie Lyne.
Though punctuated by caustic guitars and bruising drums, signalling their rock influence, an ethereal shoe-gaze undercurrent cuts through many of their songs, weaving threads of see-sawing sound, which sewn together by a powerful bass line ensures they remain forcefully self-defined and free from any prescription to a singular genre.
“With the last EP, we’re definitely so happy with how cohesive that came out,” Jodie reflects, recalling how they created a distinctive sound that distinguished itself from their indie-pop debut of ‘Take Me Home’.
“We wanted to immerse more into shoegaze and rock,” Jodie says, “and so I think we were so focused with that EP that we needed to make something that sounds like this, and these are our influences and we were so dead on.
“But I think with this EP we’ve given ourselves so much more freedom that if we play a song or if we start jamming with a song that isn’t like a ‘Mirrors-type’ sound, we’ll just keep going with it and then that’s some of our favourite songs.”
Zoe agrees: “Yeah, there’s no boundaries anymore. It’s just whatever feels right.”
“The stuff that we recorded, like we have such a love for it already. We’re so excited to put it out there already and just play it live.”
From the famed Cyprus Avenue to the iconic Fred Zeppelins, Mirrors have played at some of Cork’s most legendary venues.
“People call us ‘Leeside’ artists”, Zoe laughs, “because we live by the Lee and the culture of music is so strong in Cork.”
Zoe, whose love for music was passed down through generations, reflects: “When our parents would have been younger, there was such a big gig culture, especially with Sir Henry’s, this venue in Cork that got knocked down in 2003 - that’s when we were born!
“This is a sign. We’re the rebirth,” she jokes.
Of course, Cork’s music scene is no joking matter for the young musician: “There’s such a big push for promoting music in Cork, like I’m involved with the UCC music society, so is Jodie.
“I think it’s really important that there’s a body of students pushing out Cork music,” Zoe says, “a lot of people who are behind that are Cork musicians. So, it’s almost like a little force giving Cork the recognition that it deserves.”
This style of grassroot support is where Mirrors grew from.
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