LISTEN: Athlone songwriter starts anew with release of debut single
Leonard Cohen once clarified that, despite what some people thought, he was not a pessimist.
"I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin," he said.
His words came to mind when listening to Start Again, the excellent debut single released last week by singer-songwriter Ellen O'Meara from Mount Temple, Athlone.
Ellen explained that the song emerged last year at a time when she was grappling with an existential crisis.
"I didn't know what I was doing. I was just finished college, and I didn't really like the degree I did. I had also gone through a break-up, so (Start Again) was a mix of all of that.
"I actually wrote it very quickly, in about half an hour. It was a stream of consciousness, just genuinely talking about how I felt," she said.
The song's cinematic lyrics explore this period of emotional turbulence, balancing bleakness with sardonic humour. "They say time heals all, but what if I'm the one exception?" she sings.
The emotional honesty of the song is something that, Ellen acknowledges, adds to its impact.
"When I started writing songs I found that, the less personal they were, the worse they were. They just came across as cheesy and insincere.
"It is a bit awkward having that out in the world - all of my personal issues - but I think it makes for a better song if I'm honest."
When asked about how her friends and family have reacted to it, she said, "It's been a mixed bag of - that's funny and that's a bit depressing!
"They're all like, 'this is class', and then they actually listen to the words, and they're like, 'are you alright?!' But, no, the reaction has been positive so that's nice."
You can listen to 'Start Again' here:
Ellen wrote the song "in September or October" and then recorded it in Wavefield Recording Studios in West Cork, having received a free recording session there as the prize for winning a singer-songwriter competition in University College Cork.
She is not the first talented singer-songwriter from Athlone to record her work in West Cork, as Eva Coyle has recorded in the same studio previously.
Ellen, who is based in Dublin, is a project worker with the Peter McVerry Trust. A daughter of Anne Russell and Paul O'Meara, she has a brother, Jack, and a sister, Molly.
Looking ahead, she hopes to continue putting out new songs in the coming months as she works towards eventually releasing her debut album.
One of the songs she hopes to release got a massive reaction when a clip of it was posted on TikTok, attracting some 700,000 views.
"That one doesn't have a name, I'm terrible at naming songs, but it's a song I wrote about body issues and it did really well.
"It was technically a rewrite. I took the chords of someone else's song and rewrote the lyrics, but I'm planning on changing it up to make it more original."
She is also looking into organising more live performances, after appearing at a 'Women of Note' concert in Dublin's St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin in January.
"I have a lot of songs. I don't know if they're all as good as each other, but I am hoping to get the ball rolling and start performing more, and recording more," she said.
* 'Start Again' by Ellen O'Meara can be streamed now on Spotify, YouTube and other platforms.