Lisa O’Neill and Colm Mac Con Iomaire – Peggy Gordon
‘Peggy Gordon’ by Lisa O’Neill and Colm Mac Con Iomaire is the latest single from In The Echo: Field Recordings from Earlsfort Terrace, due for release on the Ergodos label on 30 September. The song is a newly arranged version of a Canadian folk song, and features O’Neill’s arresting vocals over a simple accompaniment on banjo and lightly strummed guitar, with Mac Con Iomaire’s gentle and affecting fiddle. In The Echo: Field Recordings from Earlsfort Terrace is an eight-track concept compilation album curated and produced by multi-instrumentalist Ross Turner and featuring works by Irish artists including Eileen Carpio, Sean Carpio, Conor O’Brien, Cian Nugent, Brigid Mae Power, Saileóg Ní Cheannabháin, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, Lisa Hannigan, Crash Ensemble and more. ‘Peggy Gordon’ follows ‘Empire One’ by Katie Kim and Seán MacErlaine, the first single released in April. Pre-order In The Echo: Field Recordings from Earlsfort Terrace on vinyl via Bandcamp: https://ergodos.bandcamp.com/album/peggy-gordon

Niamh Regan – Happy Again
Following the release of her debut album Hemet in 2020 (and a RTÉ Choice Music Prize nomination), Galway singer-songwriter Niamh Regan has today released a new single ‘Happy Again’. The new song is the first from Regan’s upcoming EP In the Meantime, due for release in October. The mellow, enticing vocals and instrumentation feature double bassist Caimin Gilmore (of Crash Ensemble), Dominic Mullan on percussion and Alex Borwick on trombone, electric guitar, piano, and synths. Borwick also produced the track. 

Commenting on the song, Regan said: ‘this was the first song I wrote after releasing Hemet, and it was in the middle of lockdown. It’s roughly about the work you do to turn things around or feel better again. And I suppose this kind of work can go unrecognized and feel quite isolating. So, this song was an opportunity for me to acknowledge this process in all its glory… It’s a simple song but I’m really proud of it and feel very happy to have the chance to share it with you now.’ 

Purchase ‘Happy Again’ on Bandcamp: https://niamhregan.bandcamp.com/track/happy-again 

Liam Kelly – At Home With McKenna
Liam Kelly of the group Dervish has recently released a new album of flute music, accompanied by Kevin Brehony on keyboard. At Home With McKenna is a collection of eighteen tracks, all performed on a flute once owned by the great Leitrim flute-player John McKenna (1880–1947), who made such influential recordings in New York in the 1920s and 30s. All of the tune selections were also recorded by McKenna, and the album has been recorded in his original homestead. It doesn’t try to replicate McKenna’s approach, however, with Kelly’s style smoother and the renditions at a slightly slower pace; it’s wonderful to hear the instrument brought to life like this. The flute was sold by McKenna to Joe McAuliffe in New York in the late 1930s and it passed down to his nephew John McAuliffe, who sent it to the John McKenna Society. The flute had a crack in the ivory head that made it unplayable but it was repaired by Hammy Hamilton. The album has been issued by the John McKenna Society, bringing the work of the legendary flute-player full circle.

Purchase the album on the society website: www.johnmckenna.ie/liam-kelly-at-home-with-mckenna

Deirdre Gribbin and Crash Ensemble – Invitation to a Journey
Crash Ensemble have this week released a new recording of Deirdre Gribbin’s work Invitation to a Journey, which was inspired by the Irish architect and designer Eileen Gray. The music was written for a film installation of the same name which premiered at New Music Dublin in April and also featured at Kilkenny Arts Festival earlier this month. Invitation to a Journey comprises three sections, ‘Building Cities’, ‘Triangle of Desire’ and ‘Lines are no Longer Frontiers’. Purchase the record on Bandcamp: https://crashensemble.bandcamp.com/

Chris Newman – Breaking Bach: Flatpicking the Partitas
Guitarist Chris Newman’s new album is a project born out of the pandemic. ‘Along with just about every other musician on the planet, I suddenly found myself without live work in March 2020,’ he writes on the sleeve notes. ‘After a brief period of wondering what “what on earth do we do now?” it occurred to me that this would be the ideal opportunity to work on something that had been in the back of my mind for some time.’ The result is an album of works by Bach including excerpts from a range of compositions, including two Violin Sonatas, the Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor BWV 1004, the Flute Partita in A Minor BWV 1013, and the Cello Suite No. 1 in G major BWV 1007 (transposed to D major). Unable to read music, Newman learnt the movements by ear and memorised them before recording them on flat-picked steel-strung acoustic guitar. The result is a feat of musicality but also shows the endless possibilities of Bach’s music, bringing the works closer to the folk world.

Purchase the CD here: www.oldbridgemusic.com/maire_chris_cds.htm

Lethal Dialect – Vintage
Dublin rapper Paul Alwright, performing as Lethal Dialect, has this week released a new track, ‘Vintage’, taken from the upcoming album Songs Of A Dead Dreamer, due for release this September. The sharp lyrics and lo-fi sound blend together for a piece with an old school hip hop sound. Commenting on his new track, Alwright said ‘the song is about perennial things, vintage things that get better with time or even just persist. The music we make has a vintage hip-hop sound and it might never be trendy but it’s still going from strength to strength. Like the Ralph Lauren I wear in the video, it’s never in vogue but it’s never out of it either, it’s timeless. It’s also a nod to vintage Dublin too with the old phone boxes, horse and carriages…’. Visit Lethal Dialect on Bandcamp: https://lethaldialect.bandcamp.com/ 

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