Inside Teanga Teanga's Dreamlike Reinvention of "Around The World"

New York artist Pamela Sue Mann and Dublin composer-producer Paul Murphy discuss transforming the Nat King Cole classic while revealing the creative partnership behind Teanga Teanga.

Teanga Teanga is the transatlantic collaboration between New York ethereal art-pop artist Pamela Sue Mann and Dublin composer-producer Paul Murphy (pxmurphy), two musicians whose shared fascination with cinematic storytelling, texture, and emotional depth has evolved into one of the more distinctive creative partnerships in contemporary independent music. Mann—whose work was famously described by Laurie Anderson as “a masterpiece”—has collaborated with artists including Suzanne Vega, Donna Lewis, and Gerry Leonard, while Murphy is known for his work across television, theatre, film, advertising, and as a member of the critically acclaimed Electric Penguins. Together, they create music that feels both intimate and expansive, blurring the lines between dream pop, avant-garde electronica, orchestral composition, and visual art.

Their latest single, Around The World, released on June 26, is a bold reimagining of the classic made famous by Nat King Cole. Rather than simply covering the beloved standard, Teanga Teanga dismantles and rebuilds it into a haunting meditation on memory, longing, nostalgia, and connection. Layering cinematic synths, spectral textures, sweeping strings, and Mann’s enigmatic vocal performance, the duo describe the recording as “time travel through music”—a journey through the romance of classic Hollywood, ambient electronica, and surrealist imagination. In this interview, Pamela Sue Mann and Paul Murphy discuss how Teanga Teanga came together, their collaborative creative process, and the emotional landscape behind their remarkable reinterpretation of an enduring classic.

How did Teanga Teanga come together as a creative partnership, and what first drew you both to making music together?

Paul X Murphy: We met while I was working on a record in NY in 2005 – we enjoyed our abstract conversations about art and music. Over the years we had some small collaborations but with the aftermath of lockdowns we realised we were starting to share more material online. Pamela visited Dublin in 2023 and we made room for a little studio session which grew into a… well… PROJECT. Three thousand miles of ocean just added to the enigma.

What does each of you bring to the project that the other person unlocks or inspires?

Pamela Sue Mann: Paul is in Dublin, and I am in New York. We co produce, we both do everything, it’s pretty simple, and straightforward. The most important thing is that we both like what we end up with.

We are a dream team haha…

We both instinctively think very cinematically, visually, and texturally in our approach to music arrangement and production. The story is the thing, the characters, the landscape, the WORLD of the piece. It’s a great pleasure and honor to make music with someone (Paul X Murphy) who is so aligned and committed to this way of experiencing music (sound and vision).

PX: Connecting our dreamscapes to reality via music is something I realised Pam got from day one, so I was in. Dream team indeed!

The name Teanga Teanga feels connected to language and communication. How does that idea relate to your music and the way you work together?

PX: The word ‘Teanga’ is Gaelic for language.

Teanga Teanga just sounds good (pronounced “Changa”) and represents the way we (Pamela & I) connect and explore our own and the many other cultures that inspire us.

So good we named it twice…

“Around The World” is a reimagining of a song made famous by Nat King Cole. What was the first spark that made you want to revisit this particular piece?

Pamela Sue Mann: Paul had begun the track and sent it to me. I fell in love with the song and his take on it, then I had my way with it.

We spoke A LOT about what it meant to us musically and what we “saw” in it (like an old Ziegfeld-inspired film bursting with characters coming and going).

The arrangement was paramount (no pun intended) to us, and we really lovingly belabored how the whole story would unfold.

When approaching such an iconic song, how did you balance honouring the original while creating something unmistakably Teanga Teanga?

Pamela Sue Mann: To my mind the only way to do honor to such an iconic song as Around the World is to not attempt a “cover” but to completely and fundamentally reinterpret it.

We (Teanga Teanga) have been creating songs together for a bit and, as such, have begun an exploration, excavation, into what we are (collectively) about.

We have been drawn to the idea—for some time now—of reimagining and reconstructing the romantic noir, the perceived innocence of years gone by, coming back from this foray with a bona fide Teanga Teanga take on “nostalgia core,” an intersection of past and present, taking the essence of a less culturally inundated and speedily bombastic time, along with the filter of what is possible through the current electronic studio medium. We messed with the time signature, the order of the lyrics, and delivery, while making it our mission to respect what we feel is the sentiment of the song written by Victor Young and Harold Adamson and made famous by the velvety-voiced earnest hero that is Nat King Cole.

You’ve described the recording as “time travel through music.” What eras, sounds, or memories were you travelling through while creating this version?

PX: Firstly the song was from 1956. The story is from a film based on Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).

Our instrumentation uses strings similar to the Nat King Cole version, but our electronics range from theremin (beloved of eerie and spacey soundtracks since 1928) to modern synths and sequencers with a groove from the seventies.

We found ourselves moving around random period visuals including 1930s Hollywood and 1960s science fiction.

A cover needs depth, honesty, and empathy. What emotional truth did you discover inside “Around The World”?

Pamela Sue Mann: Well, initially I sang the shapes and literally started recording before I knew what I was going for. As I continued to play with the text it worked its magic into me. This may sound silly but as I kept it up—over many takes—I felt the author’s honest sentiment convey itself to me, and I began to trust in the truth of it all. Then the job was to just get out of my own way and be the protagonist, who has searched and found true love, acceptance.

It becomes existential for me. That is not atypical of my process, even on my own songs. Of course, the chanteuse played with channeling Marlena D, Marilyn, and some Lynchian characters. Paul pulled some unexpected bits out, and I think that makes the end result more fun. Teanga Teanga has some bizarre characters and they all came out to play! One of them, “Boss Lady,” is actually on our cover art.

Paul, how do you approach production when the goal is not just to modernise a song, but to reveal a different emotional landscape within it?

PX: We actually had the emotional landscape right from the start. Playing with a sample of my own voice singing a line à la Nat King Cole over a synth sequence sparked a vision which we both locked on to.

We weren’t sure where we were going but wanted to see how much of the original song would travel with us to this alternative universe…

There’s a cinematic quality to the music—almost like a soundtrack to a memory. Do visual ideas or storytelling influence your writing process?

PX: Visual ideas very much. The story gets written as we go along. Stuff gets cut and added and we work from whatever develops—many conversations and “what if’s,” and “I wonder what happens when you chuck a trumpet into an infinite reverb?”

Pamela, your work has been praised by Laurie Anderson as “a masterpiece.” How has that kind of recognition shaped your artistic journey?

Pamela Sue Mann: Laurie Anderson is G-d. My hubby Gerry (Leonard) has known her for many years and she really championed his solo entity “Spookyghost.” She said that about my album, L’oeuf, and I felt I had died and gone to Heaven.

I felt validated, which is massive for an insecure, self-critical, quirky artist. It’s like Einstein saying, “Hey kid, you’re really smart.” Bowled me over.

I still struggle with confidence; perhaps I always will, but I am ineffably grateful to Laurie, the genius, one of the greatest brilliant visionaries and artists in the history of people, for affirming my sense of purpose. I bow to her.

Your vocal performance on “Around The World” feels both intimate and otherworldly. How did you approach capturing that feeling?

Pamela Sue Mann: Intimate and otherworldly… Thank you!

Firstly I’m outing myself. I do believe in magic (like ONJ). In retrospect I think I was singing to all the lovers in the world, of all times, rolled into one, to the Great Lover in the Sky ;).

I do look at the sky a lot when I sing. Also, because I’ve never had a booming loud voice, over time I have discovered I sound best when I inhabit my authentic (internal) voice. My vocals have, on occasion, been described as creepy and I love that.

The “inner story” has always appealed to me, the at-once deeply psychological, personal, and universal, quantum. Just trust it all and see what comes out.

Paul, you’ve worked across television, advertising, theatre, film, and bands. How have those different worlds influenced your approach as a composer and producer?

PX: I’m quite able to deliberately stand back to see/hear from a possibly jaded viewer/listener’s point of view, which helps a bit, but Pamela usually drags me back to the uncompromising vision…!

Your background includes Electric Penguins. What lessons from that project still appear in your work today?

PX: Listening as deeply as I can to the emotional subtexts of my writing partner.

Unless you are working solo, the big vision is greater than the sum of its parts.

The song explores themes of memory, longing, and distance. What do you hope listeners take away from “Around The World”?

Pamela Sue Mann: For my part, I’d be thrilled if people “feel” something necessary for them when they hear the Teanga version of Around The World.

Nostalgia, missing, being parted from a loved one… these are all such genuine aspects of our human experience. No matter where one is on the search, be it hopeful, melancholic, euphoric, or grateful, it’s all part of the “finding,” isn’t it?

And it’s great to feel “in love.” That is how Nat King Cole’s version makes me feel.

And I believe it’s perfectly acceptable to fall in love with a song 😉

What can listeners expect next from Teanga Teanga?

Pamela Sue Mann: Hmmm, thank you for asking. Our first full album!

Teanga Teanga is a collective tribe as well as a band and studio project, and we love asking our friends to get involved. Sometimes they even talk themselves into it!

We’ve released some singles and an EP. Yes, we are currently deciding which of our (too many) songs and little bits will make the cut. It will be a concept album, a deep dive into the TeangaTeangaverse, sometimes sweet, at times surreal, but always digging and digging.

I think six months from now. What do you think, Paul?

PX: Yep. Six months should do it.

Official website of Teanga Teanga.