By 
I first stumbled on the music of Sister Irene OConnor when in a London studio. We were taking a break from recording and sifting through the studio’s vinyl library to find unusual recordings to draw inspiration from. We pulled out the record ‘Fire of God’s Love’, a 1973 album by the Australian nun, Sister Irene O’Connor.
Before even listening to it we knew we were stepping into weird territory. When the needle dropped, we broke into fits of giggles, a natural reaction when the ears and the brain don’t really know how to process the information they are receiving.
The giggles soon died down though, and we were listening to something quite ahead of its time and a lo-fi masterpiece, without meaning to be or trying.
So we went digging for info…
Sister O’Connor first started making music in the ‘50s while living in a convent in Singapore, and released music in the ‘60s under the pseudonym Myriam Frances to avoid ruffling any feathers in her community.
It was there that she met another nun, Sister Marimil Lobregat, who shared her musical interests and also had experience working with recording equipment.
They became fast friends, and a decade later, back in Sydney, the heavenly duo would meet at the city’s Catholic Radio and Television Centre to work on music together, recording on a dusty four-track tape recorder. The two recorded an album entirely on their own, with O’Connor writing, singing and performing, and Lobregat handling all of the recording, engineering and sound production.
The songs are religious and folky, but teeter on the edge of experimental pop, not because they were trying to be edgy, but because the studio’s drum machine and synth organ were the only instruments they had at hand to play the songs on.
The overall result feels a little like a surreal miracle that belongs in a dream or nightmare. It’s the kind of album that people today would try to make because they think it sounds cool and hip, but really, two nuns did it way better than them back in the ‘70s.
Original copies are rare and go for hundreds, but it was recently reissued and is enjoying some late success and has achieved a cult status among music aficionados.
You should go look it up and have a listen for yourself.
It goes down particularly well on Sundays.
