Review: Aoife O’Donovan’s Stunning, Poetic EP, ‘Bull Frogs Croon’

It was great to see this nice review from Atwood Magazine of the new Aoife O'Donovan EP that I had a pleasure of producing and composing for!

In 2015, singer-songwriter Aoife O’Donovan was commissioned by Teddy Abrams of the Britt Music and Arts Festival to write a song cycle using the work of an Oregon poet as source material. Abrams directed her to the work of then Oregon poet laureate, Peter Sears, and for her, the connection was immediate. In her Instagram post announcing the release of the Bull Frogs Croon (And Other Songs) EP (out March 6 via Yep Roc Records), she wrote, “I was immediately mesmerized by his poem ‘Small Talk.’ And then I found ‘Night Fishing.’”

She rounded out the suite with two of Sears’ other poems, “The Darkness” and “Valentine.” She also wrote that, “There was something that told a story across the three poems, all penned in different years.” The piece was performed in full with the Britt Orchestra in Oregon in 2015, with violinist Jeremy Kittel’s string arrangement and the rest by Abrams, who conducts the orchestra. Sears passed away in 2017, but he was able to enjoy the performance of his work. No one else but those at the performance might have ever heard the piece, if not for O’Donovan’s continued dedication to the collaboration. She made the decision to record the piece and asked Kittel to arrange the piece for string quartet, in addition to two other songs: O’Donovan’s arrangement of traditional Irish folksong “Lake Pontchartrain” and bluegrass feminist Hazel Dickens’ song “Pretty Bird.”

In 2015, singer-songwriter Aoife O’Donovan was commissioned by Teddy Abrams of the Britt Music and Arts Festival to write a song cycle using the work of an Oregon poet as source material. Abrams directed her to the work of then Oregon poet laureate, Peter Sears, and for her, the connection was immediate. In her Instagram post announcing the release of the Bull Frogs Croon (And Other Songs) EP (out March 6 via Yep Roc Records), she wrote, “I was immediately mesmerized by his poem ‘Small Talk.’ And then I found ‘Night Fishing.’”

She rounded out the suite with two of Sears’ other poems, “The Darkness” and “Valentine.” She also wrote that, “There was something that told a story across the three poems, all penned in different years.” The piece was performed in full with the Britt Orchestra in Oregon in 2015, with violinist Jeremy Kittel’s string arrangement and the rest by Abrams, who conducts the orchestra. Sears passed away in 2017, but he was able to enjoy the performance of his work. No one else but those at the performance might have ever heard the piece, if not for O’Donovan’s continued dedication to the collaboration. She made the decision to record the piece and asked Kittel to arrange the piece for string quartet, in addition to two other songs: O’Donovan’s arrangement of traditional Irish folksong “Lake Pontchartrain” and bluegrass feminist Hazel Dickens’ song “Pretty Bird.”

For more, check out the full article here and stream/purchase Bull Frogs Croon here.