When the Leevy breaks, soulful music pours
Amhlaoibh McSweeney singer and musician with Leevy, a band who are enjoying soaring popularit with West Cork audiences
Creeping along the border with Kerry, the Muskerry Gaeltacht (Múscraí) is never less than breathtaking. Places like Gougane Barra — with St Patrick’s Oratory nestled on a reflective lake and sweeping mountains behind — are examples of the wild beauty of the region.
Amhlaoibh McSweeney, singer and guitarist in Leevy, a five-piece band from just up the road in Ballyvourney, says there is a certain feeling to the place.
“I’ve heard people say the air is thinner in Múscraí, that this area is closer to the other side,” he says. “It is also steeped in Irish rebel history, like much of West Cork. Ballyvourney was considered a no man's land by the British Army and being sent here was essentially a death sentence. And when you see the landscape, it’s thick forests, jagged hills, and endless rock; you can understand why. Living in these stories has certainly influenced me. It’s in the water, the air, the sod, and in my blood.”
Leevy’s debut album, released at the start of May, is called Baile Mhúirne or the Soldiers March the Paps of Anú. The title is layered with meaning. Baile Mhúirne (as opposed to the official Baile Bhúirne, meaning town of the rocky land) translates as “the town of the beloved” — an idealised, almost dreamlike place that exists in tension with the harsh realities of the landscape and history.
The subtitle references the distinctive ‘breast-shaped’ Paps of Anú, visible from Ballyvourney, and opens into broader themes: The destruction of the natural world, the divine feminine, and colonial legacies that echo in Irish masculinity and society.
Completed by Darren Faul (drums), Johno Kool (guitar), Bobby Wolfe (banjo, flute, whistles), and Diarmuid Wolfe (bass), McSweeney says he has carried some of these songs with him for over a decade.
“Leevy started as a solo writing and recording project for me near the end of college,” he says. He and the lads had been making music together since their early teens in various line-ups and things became more focused during their college years. Covid delayed things, but the project gathered momentum.
McSweeney says eventually: “The solo project really became a band, just out of the sheer joy of playing together and having the great excuse of gigs and practices to take time out of our own adult lives and hangout”.
The first gig as Leevy took place in Levis’ in Ballydehob — “I swear the name similarities are a coincidence,” he laughs. Since then Leevy have played all over the country, winning over new fans and turning gigs into communal sing-alongs — but it all comes back to West Cork.
“We always love playing in Levis’ Corner House, Joe and Caroline have been a huge support for us over the years and there’s always a great crowd! We always take the opportunity to hang around and spend the day there, it’s like nowhere else in the country.”
Music runs in McSweeney’s family. As a teenager, his brother Diarmuid brought him to the Spailpín Fánach in Cork city to play guitar and sing with his folk/trad session group The Thirsty Scholars.
“Every Wednesday and Saturday night,” he remembers. “It had a massive impact on my life.” His grandfather (also Diarmuid McSweeney) played accordion for set dancing and alongside his wife, Mary Free, they were known all over for teaching and dancing.
His maternal grandmother Peig also sang constantly and told stories of fairies and the banshee. Croisín, one of the 13 tracks that comprise Leevy’s record, is an ode to them all.
McSweeney continues: “I am also a descendant of a man named Con na Phucaí, who, according to local legend, could be in two places at once and would play fiddle in ringforts for the fairies on moonlit nights.”
The album was written, recorded, and produced by McSweeney in Baile Mhúirne itself, mostly in his granduncle’s farmhouse, in the very room where his grand-aunt taught his grandfather music. There is really no need these days to go to Dublin or London to record, says McSweeney.
“It’s so much more rewarding to let the character of a room and house and surrounding area seep into the song, instead of reaching for that perfection that just doesn’t exist and frankly isn’t interesting.”
Thematically, the album explores the interplay between the “old world” of fairies, ghosts, goddesses, and céilís, and the “new world” of recession, malaise, violence, and personal failings. “It’s an album in conversation with itself,” McSweeney says.
Growing up during the recession while immersed in stories of magic and landscape created a natural tension that fuels the work.
“It all came from life around Baile Mhúirne and life in post-colonial Ireland in general, with all of its beauty and faults. It came from growing up during a recession, but hearing about all of this magic, seeing it in the landscape and feeling it in my bones.”
Meanwhile, coming from one of the few Gaeltachts peppered around the country, McSweeney promises that a full album or EP as Gaeilge is in Leevy’s future. Do they all speak Irish?
“We all do, except for Johno, although he can understand us fine — and has quite a long streak on Duolingo in Irish.”
Leevy - Baile Mhúirne or the Soldiers March the Paps of Anú is available to purchase digitally or on vinyl at leevy.bandcamp.com
