Cathy Jordan and Peter Crann – Crankie Island Songs
Dervish singer Cathy Jordan and visual artist Peter Crann have just released a number of videos under the title Crankie Island Songs. The songs are named after the vintage machinery of the Crankie Box, which creates moving panoramas to accompany songs and stories. Among the songs that the pair have recorded are ‘Eileen Óg’ (The Pride of Petravore), ‘Eastersnowe’, ‘Úna Bhán’, ‘Pat O’Brien’, ‘Fill A Rún Ó’, and ‘Deartháinín Ó Mo Chroí’. The project also includes collaborations with John Doyle, Mike McGoldrick, Nuala Kennedy, Claudia Schwab, Irene Buckley, Slow Moving Clouds, and Roger Tallroth.

Watch their version of ‘Fill A Rún Ó’ below. Find out more here.

Tansy Davies – Nature
On the NMC label, English composer Tansy Davies has just released her first orchestral album, Nature, bringing together four works from the last decade. The title work – which ‘questions the very nature of a piano concerto’ – features pianist Huw Watkins and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group led by Oliver Knussen; Re-Greening hands features the 164 teenage musicians of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain; What Did We See? weaves together material from her opera Between Worlds into four orchestral movements; and Dune of Footprints features the Norwegian Radio Orchestra under Karen Kamensek.

Visit www.nmcrec.co.uk.

Louise Gaffney – Until
A visual artist, composer and electronic musician from the west of Ireland, Louise Gaffney has just released her debut single ‘Until’, the first release from the forthcoming 5-track EP Not Even Here. Gaffney was previously a part of the bands Come On Live Long and Dirty Dreamer. Writing about her new song, she says, ‘With “Until” I tried to deconstruct the elements of what makes a “song”, fray it around the edges a little to achieve something unique. I wanted to keep things more loose and open to interpretation, focus on the melodies and how a catchy synth melody or using rough field recordings can be just as evocative as what the vocal is doing. Part soundscape, part song.’

Visit http://louisegaffney.com/

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Atlantic Arc – My Son David
Dónal Lunny’s latest band Atlantic Arc have just released their first single, ‘My Son David’. Sung by Pauline Scanlon and Jarlath Henderson, the track is a dark murder ballad, a conversation between a mother and her son, and the instrumental section is a composition by Aidan O’Rourke of Lau, who is also part of the group. Atlantic Arc also features Pádraig Rynne on concertina, Graham Henderson on keyboards, Ewen Vernal on bass, Davie Ryan on drums, and Sharon Howley on cello. The band is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to record their debut album. Donate here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/donallunny/atlanticarc.

For more, visit https://atlanticarcmusic.com/

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Soda Blonde – In the Heat of the Night
Dublin alt-pop band Soda Blonde have just released a new single, ‘In the Heat of the Night’, taken from their debut album Small Talk which will be released on 9 July on Velveteen Records. ‘Our goal was to create a song that had everything we wanted to hear,’ says lead singer Faye O’Rourke. ‘It allowed me to write uninhibited by the labour of self-analysis. It’s a song about conflict, and getting a kick out of it – the thrill of the fight.’

Visit https://www.sodablonde.com/

 To submit your music for inclusion, please email newreleases [at] journalofmusic.com.