All music

Debut EP · Spring 2012

The Coming Storm

Four voices step forward—one on each track—as a family repertoire becomes a band’s first record.

The Coming Storm EP artwork, showing Sisters Erie at Stonehenge beneath dark storm clouds

The first record

What they carried. What they became.

Sisters Erie had been singing together for years before they made their first record. The Coming Storm begins with two songs already woven into their musical lives, then turns toward two songs written from within the family.

The sequence gives every sister a lead vocal and lets the shared language around each voice come into focus.

Four tracks · Four lead voices

Track list

Each sister takes one song forward. The other three gather around her.

  1. 01

    Step It Out Mary

    Written by Sean McCarthy · Arranged by Sisters Erie

    Lead vocalAileen Flynn

  2. 02

    The Queen of Argyll

    Written by Andy M. Stewart · Arranged by Sisters Erie

    Lead vocalGael Flynn

  3. 03

    An Ode to Nuada

    Written by Mary Flynn · Arranged by Sisters Erie

    Lead vocalMary Flynn

    Song story
  4. 04

    The Castles of Ireland

    Another Feckin’ Castle

    Written by Ryanne Flynn and Mary Flynn · Arranged by Sisters Erie

    Lead vocalRyanne Flynn

    Song story

Songs carried forward

Behind the arrangements

Track 01 · Aileen

Step It Out Mary

The Flynn sisters had known Step It Out Mary for years, and having a Mary of their own ensured that it was rarely sung without a certain amount of family teasing. But beneath its buoyant chorus lies a story in which a young woman’s refusal is repeatedly ignored.

Their arrangement allows that darkness to emerge gradually, with Aileen’s measured lead carrying the song toward a final chorus that no longer feels quite so carefree.

Track 02 · Gael

The Queen of Argyll

The Queen of Argyll had long been part of the sisters’ musical orbit, but it became a Sisters Erie song in Glasgow. During their January 2011 Celtic Connections visit, an informal session gave Gael the lead, the other three found the chorus around her, and the arrangement took on the warmth and momentum heard on The Coming Storm.

It became a joyful counterweight on the EP—and a reminder of the moment their family music began reaching beyond the family.