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In March, The Gloaming will play seven sold-out shows at Dublin’s National Concert Hall, their only live appearances of 2018 (5th, 6th, 7th 8th, 10th, 11th, 12th March). To mark this occasion, they will release Live at the NCH, a live album recorded at the venue which has become their home from home.
In the last number of years, The Gloaming have truly become a live force to be reckoned with. The annual NCH residencies have each sold out quicker than the previous one and faster than new shows can be added. Away from home, their international touring schedule has been equally impressive, including such notable nights out as the Ceiliúradh at London’s Royal Albert Hall (a celebration of the Irish president’s first-ever state visit to Britain), Sydney’s Opera House, New York’s Lincoln Center, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Mexico City’s Teatro de la Ciudad, and Philharmonie de Paris.
To put Live at NCH together Thomas Bartlett, the band’s producer, sifted through two years of performances and settled on six tracks: “The Booley House, “Cucanandy”, “The Sailor’s Bonnet”, “The Pilgrim’s Song”, “The Rolling Wave” and “Fáinleog”. Using the studio recordings only as points of departure, these performances stretch out and roam in unexpected new directions, incorporating new tunes and rearranging old ones, filled with the excitement and delight of five master musicians coming together as one.
The Gloaming concert experience consistently raises the roof and leaves audiences breathless. This band of trailblazers take contemporary Irish music into hitherto unchartered waters, enhancing the traditional rich, melancholic tones with modern hues of jazz, contemporary classical, chamber, post rock and experimental music.
The Gloaming
It’s too late to stop now. What began as an experiment has turned into something truly compelling, enthralling and thrilling. Something which never fails to lift the heart or lift a roof. Something which connects you to old souls and wild ways and fierce times. Something which certainly didn’t exist before, but which often feels as if it has been been part and parcel of the furniture forever.
In many ways, The Gloaming began with a question: what would happen if you amplified and enhanced traditional Irish music’s rich, melancholic, soulful tones with modern hues of jazz, contemporary classical and experimental music? In many ways, the musicians who started out on this odyssey are still answering that question every night they go onstage to play another sold-out show in some of the most prestigious concert halls around the world. It’s an answer without a full stop in sight.
The Gloaming brings together five musical masters. Steeped in traditional Irish music since birth, fiddlers Martin Hayes and Caoimhin Ó Raghallaigh and sean-nós singer Iarla Ó Lionáird are joined by New York pianist Thomas Bartlett (Doveman), and Chicago-born guitarist Dennis Cahill.
The backgrounds of The Gloaming’s three Irish members show the strength, diversity, history and colour of the traditional music ecosystem. Hayes hails from County Clare, where a slow, contemplative, and melancholic sweep of fiddle music holds sway amongst its musicians. A move to America burnished his sound with new idioms, ranging from Arvo Pärt to Sigur Ros. Still very much an East Clare fiddler, Hayes has brought this age-old sound into a modern setting without losing any of its essence.
Hayes’s fellow fiddler is Dublin-born Ó Raghallaigh, whose head was turned by minimal, experimental sounds. His ability to mine the space and texture between the notes with his customized fiddle, part Norwegian Hardanger and part viola d’amore, has produced a mesmerising body of groundbreaking solo and collaborative work. As a player, Ó Raghallaigh is fearless and peerless when it comes to following a musical hunch or nudge across the fields and hills.
Ó Lionáird hails from West Cork, where sean-nós singing – solo singing unaccompanied by any instrument – is the lingua franca. Passed down the generations, the songs cover a multitude of material: historical events, love poems or bittersweet accounts of loss and emigration, and, of course, songs about drinking and devilment. An exponent of this dark, passionate, and ancient art, Ó Lionáird has taken a unique, indelibly Irish voice and lyrics drawn from Irish literature into new terrain. He has recorded a number of albums for Real World Records and became a choice collaborator for composers like Nico Muhly, Gavin Bryars, and Donnacha Dennehy.
The cast of The Gloaming has found new depth and width with the addition of guitarist Cahill, an American from Dingle, County Kerry stock, and producer / pianist Bartlett, who has worked with Antony and the Johnsons, Sufjan Stevens, The National and many more. With Cahill and Bartlett’s musical dexterity and shaping, The Gloaming’s reels and jigs attain new and exhilarating heights. It’s a bold and brave combination that creates the distinctive, bracing sound of music then and now, perfectly in tune.
The Gloaming’s debut album was widely considered as one of the finest recordings of 2014, featuring on many year-end best lists including Mojo, NPR Music and the Irish Times and selected by The Guardian as The One Album You Should Hear This Week. It won a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award in the U.K. and the prestigious Choice Music Prize for Album of the Year in Ireland.
The band’s second album 2 was released in February 2016. Recorded over one inspired week at Real World Studios, 2 again received a ticker-tape parade of positive reviews (“an exquisite album from a virtuoso band”: The Guardian). At year’s end, there were more accolades for the mantelpiece from such sources as The Irish Times (Best Traditional Album), The Daily Telegraph (Best Folk Music) and The Irish Independent (“the coolest supergroup since the Million Dollar Quartet”).
THE GLOAMING TO RELEASE ‘LIVE AT THE NCH’ MARCH 2ND, 2018 VIA REAL WORLD RECORDS
Since their formation in 2011, The Gloaming have sold out an unprecedented seventeen consecutive concerts at Dublin’s National Concert Hall (NCH). The band will return to NCH this March to play seven (already sold-out) shows (March 5th, 6th, 7th 8th, 10th, 11th, 12th), which will be their only live appearances of 2018. To mark this occasion, Real World Records will release Live at the NCH, a curated selection of six songs recorded live at the beautiful concert hall.
Made of master Irish musicians Martin Hayes, Caoimhin Ó Raghallaigh, famed sean nós singer Iarla Ó Lionáird, guitarist Dennis Cahill and avant-garde pianist/producer Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman), The Gloaming’s two studio albums have received raves from The Guardian, NPR Music, NY Times, Paste, Boston Globe and more.
“There’s no questioning the bona fides of The Gloaming, or the abundant virtuosity and sheer beauty the group brings to every track. But what’s even more impressive is what these five collectively achieve… The Gloaming brings in harmonies, melodic ideas and textures that darken and expand far beyond “traditional Irish music.” In short, this is the rare album that might well transform the syntax of a whole style.” –NPR Music
The group’s pianist and producer, Thomas Bartlett, is known for his collaborations worldwide including work with The National, St. Vincent, Sufjan Stevens, Rhye, David Byrne, and many more. Bartlett selected the six tracks for this live collection after listening to two years of the group’s performances at the National Concert Hall. The six tracks chosen are: “The Booley House,” “Cucanandy,” “The Sailor’s Bonnet,” “The Pilgrim’s Song,” “The Rolling Wave,” and “Fáinleog”.
The Gloaming’s Live at the NCH gives the listener a sense of their breathless, stunning live performances and showcases their unique fusion of traditional Irish music and post-rock, jazz, and other contemporary influences.
“The Gloaming puts Irish music through prisms of jazz and minimalism….it’s meta-Irish, ruminations on a long legacy”
–NEW YORK TIMES
“The prime minister of Ireland showed up for The Gloaming’s first gig; that’s how big the supergroup’s formation has been for fans of Irish music.”
–NPR MUSIC
“Moving the music of Ireland in captivating new directions.”
–THE NEW YORKER
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www.thegloaming.net
http://bighassle.com/publicity/the-gloaming
www.realworldrecords.com/thegloaming
THE GLOAMING RELEASES ‘LIVE AT THE NCH’ TODAY
VIA REAL WORLD RECORDS
For review downloads, interview requests, St Patrick’s Day features and general coverage, please contact: leigh@bighassle.com
Watch the recently debuted video for “The Booley House (Live at the NCH)” HERE
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“The Gloaming puts Irish music through prisms of jazz and minimalism….it’s meta-Irish, ruminations on a long legacy”
— NEW YORK TIMES
“The prime minister of Ireland showed up for The Gloaming’s first gig; that’s how big the supergroup’s formation has been for fans of Irish music.”
— NPR MUSIC
“Moving the music of Ireland in captivating new directions.”
— THE NEW YORKER
Michael Hann (The Guardian) on The Gloaming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZh9imuoHHk
An introduction to The Gloaming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF2OdTtNZCI
The Making of (2): https://vimeo.com/155411457
The Gloaming at Royal Albert Hall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmq6k0D7w_0
The Gloaming perform The Sailor’s Bonnet at Other Voices: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w7cjXAtpJ4
Since their formation in 2011, The Gloaming have sold out an unprecedented seventeen consecutive concerts at Dublin’s National Concert Hall (NCH). The band will return to NCH this March to play seven (already sold-out) shows (March 5th, 6th, 7th 8th, 10th, 11th, 12th), which will be their only live appearances of 2018. To mark this occasion, Real World Records released Live at the NCH, a curated selection of six songs recorded live at the beautiful concert hall, on March 2nd, 2018.
Made of master Irish musicians Martin Hayes, Caoimhin Ó Raghallaigh, famed sean nós singer Iarla Ó Lionáird, guitarist Dennis Cahill and avant-garde pianist/producer Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman), The Gloaming’s two studio albums have received raves from The Guardian, NPR Music, NY Times, Paste, Boston Globe and more.
“There’s no questioning the bona fides of The Gloaming, or the abundant virtuosity and sheer beauty the group brings to every track. But what’s even more impressive is what these five collectively achieve… The Gloaming brings in harmonies, melodic ideas and textures that darken and expand far beyond “traditional Irish music.” In short, this is the rare album that might well transform the syntax of a whole style.”
– NPR Music
The group’s pianist and producer, Thomas Bartlett, is known for his collaborations worldwide including work with Ed Sheeran, St. Vincent, Sufjan Stevens, Father John Misty, David Byrne, and many more.
He’s a writer on the new Eminem / Ed Sheeran track “River,’ which is #1 in the UK, as well as the song “Mystery of Love.” which he produced for Sufjan Stevens / the film Call Me By Your Name, which was nominated for an Oscar in the best original song category this week.
Bartlett selected the six tracks for this live collection after listening to two years of the group’s performances at the National Concert Hall. The six tracks chosen are: “The Booley House,” “Cucanandy,” “The Sailor’s Bonnet,” “The Pilgrim’s Song,” “The Rolling Wave,” and “Fáinleog”.
The Gloaming’s Live at the NCH gives the listener a sense of their breathless, stunning live performances and showcases their unique fusion of traditional Irish music and post-rock, jazz, and other contemporary influences.
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