Time To Leave

Biography

Fiercely independent, female-fronted Irish indie trio I Am Not Lefthanded are known for their lyrical, evocative songs and quirky homemade videos. Playing sparse but uplifting cinematic indie, they've been described as sounding like ‘Natalie Merchant fronting Death Cab for Cutie’. Kathryn was born in a small town in the far west of Ireland. While country life was idyllic, she soon found herself yearning for different skies and traded open fields for the winding streets of Dublin. While playin...

Fiercely independent, female-fronted Irish indie trio I Am Not Lefthanded are known for their lyrical, evocative songs and quirky homemade videos. Playing sparse but uplifting cinematic indie, they've been described as sounding like ‘Natalie Merchant fronting Death Cab for Cutie’.

Kathryn was born in a small town in the far west of Ireland. While country life was idyllic, she soon found herself yearning for different skies and traded open fields for the winding streets of Dublin. While playing in and out of various clubs she encountered Belfast-born Daniel, who was leading his own band at the time. She quickly kidnapped him from what he describes as “a really bad marriage” and they soon found writing together led them to better places. Kathryn tempered Daniel’s starker melodies with subtle undertones and stronger harmonies, while Daniel added a pulsing bass to lift her mellower songs. On a short exploratory visit to London, they encountered Benji, a Cornish drummer. Benji had toured with bands such as All About Eve, but was between projects. They bonded over early Weezer and Jimmy Eat World and started playing together shortly after. They quickly found he brought a harder edge to their sound, giving more weight to Kathryn’s emotive songs.

In 2010, I Am Not Lefthanded released their sophomore EP, Time To Leave, earning them effusive praise online and in print, as well as radio play across Ireland and the UK. The band toured extensively, their focused energy and stirring harmonies leading to invitations to tour with bands such as Duke Special, The Rumble Strips and The Answering Machine. In September, they made their first visit to North America, heading to the US for a 15-date tour across 10 states.

2011’s highlights included headlining a stage at Liverpool’s Sound City Festival and hosting a charity show at London’s Bush Hall. The band’s music was placed in a number of TV shows and indie films - including a global ad campaign for P&G. They also played their first shows in Canada at Toronto’s Indie Week in October and were invited back to NXNE in June 2012.

Fully embracing the joys and perils of the internet, the band recently completed a partnership with fan-funding website SliceThePie.com to raise $11,000 to make their first full-length album. They spent a year holed up in a country cottage, writing, re-writing and recording. The new album, The Fire & The Sigh, was released into the wild on June 3rd, 2012. The album is deeper in scope than previous releases - more time was spent crafting the songs in a studio space rather than simply recreating the live sound of the band, with Kathryn’s lyrics exploring themes of loneliness, distance and hope for an imminent return.
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