Entertainment
Mundy has youth on side for new album
The Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell
Singer-songwriter Mundy will play Róisín Dubh on Friday, May 22, to celebrate the release of his self-titled new album.
This release sees the Birr songwriter reunite with the English producer, Youth, who produced Mundy’s 1996 debut Jelly Legs. Why did the Offaly man feel the time was right for them to work together again?
“A few years ago you would have seen people doing these anniversary gigs around, if they’d had an album out 15 or 20 years ago,” Mundy says. “I just realised that Jelly Legs was nearly 20 years old and Killing Joke, Youth’s band, were playing in town. I just thought it was a funny coincidence. I hadn’t seen him in the time since Jelly Legs.”
Given that it had been a while since the Irishman had seen Youth, he introduced himself by saying ‘I’m Mundy!’ The pair then went for a beer and caught up.
“I said I’d just become a dad, was still in the music business and things had gone well,” Mundy recalls. “I [also] said I was a bit uninspired at that time and he said ‘I know the feeling’. He’d had two kids and it takes getting used to. So he basically invited me over to London to his studio to write a few songs together. He said ‘I have a few ways to open up your mind – everything doesn’t have to come from the heart all the time’. So I went over, and that’s how it began.”
Mundy sounds reinvigorated on this new album, something he credits to the man behind the desk.
“We were doing a session from 12 to 4pm and an hour before it would end Youth would say ‘have you got any lyrics yet? The muse doesn’t wait around, and he’s going to be gone at four, because I have another session coming in’.
“He’s very full-on and straight up. I like to understand what I’m trying to say and he’s like ‘no, no, you’ll get used to them. You don’t have to know what you’re trying to say. Give the songs a chance to breathe’. Just the kind of inspiration I needed.”
Mundy is in good voice too on this release, something he credits to both his lifestyle choices and his producer.
“I was minding myself, I wasn’t staying up late, smoking fags and getting drunk,” he says. “And Youth would say things like ‘sing it softer’, or ‘sing it in a higher register’. Shot In The Dark was quite a struggle to sing. But he said ‘push it to the max, don’t be afraid’. He brought out a little bit of youth in me!”
One of the songs that jumps out on the album is Glory Hole. How did that one come about?
“Youth had been Googling me and Galway Girl came up, live at Oxegen, 12,000 or 13,000 people going nuts,” Mundy says, referring to his performance of Steve Earle’s song at Oxegen with musician Sharon Shannon. “He said ‘wow, did you write that song?’ I told him I wished I had done . He asked would I have liked to. Absolutely!
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Folk duo Niall Teague and Pádraic Joyce are launching their new album What Will We Be, a blend of folk, Americana and acoustic music, this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in An Taibhdhearc.
The success of their well-received 2020 release Taobh le Taobh, as well as recent successes at the Pan Celtic and Oireachtas Song Contests, spurred the duo on to record this new album which represents many years of collaboration and musical development.
It features Niall and Pádraic on vocals, harmonies, and acoustic guitars, Maidhc Ó hÉanaigh on double bass and Neil Fitzgibbon on fiddle. The catchy title track, What Will We Be, features contributions from percussionist Jim Higgins (The Stunning, Christy Moore, Paul Brady) and haunting, driving melodies on vocals, guitar, and fiddle.
Themes of love and hope are woven through Come Away with Me which features interplay between piano and fiddle as well as rich vocal harmonies.
People, places, and broken dreams are celebrated and lamented on Martin and Tom, Guitar Gold, Memories of You and Achill Island. The influence of David Henry Thoreau’s novel Walden features on the tracks Simple and Wise and Walden, with the beauty of nature, escape and simple pleasures at their core.
The album moves from minimalistic folk ballads such as Galway Ghost to swirling, string-laden arrangements on the song Neptune, both of which are influenced by maritime tales from Galway. Much of the work on this album was supported by the Arts Council, including work with musical arranger Eoin Corcoran and the string ensemble Treo.
The album will be launched this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in an Taibhdhearc. Tickets €22, plus booking fee at Eventbrite.ie.
Dunmore is the place to be this weekend for lovers of traditional music, as the Galway County Fleadh will take place there from this Friday, May 19, to Sunday, May 23.
It is 10 years since Dunmore last hosted a fleadh and the local Comhaltas branch, which has re-formed since Covid, is looking forward to facilitating this gathering of music, song, dance and craic.
The official Opening Concert will take place in Dunmore Town Hall this Friday at 8pm with the acclaimed Mulcahy family from Limerick. Mick, Louise and Michelle are well known throughout the country, thanks to their live performances, television appearances and numerous CDs. They were the winners of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Grúpa Ceoil Award for 2023. Tickets for their concert can be purchased on the door and a great night of music is promised.
Two days of competitions will kick off this Saturday at the town’s Community School, with more than 1,500 competitors taking part. Participants will be hoping to qualify for the Connacht Fleadh 2023, which will be held in Ballina, County Mayo, from June 23 to July 2.
Competitions for those aged Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15 will be held in a large variety of instruments on Saturday, as well as in singing and Comhrá Gaeilge. Sunday’s competitions will be for the Under 18 and Over 18 ages groups, as well as in dancing.
On both days a large entry is expected for Grúpaí Cheoil and Céilí Band competitions across all age groups.
Seventeen Comhaltas branches from across Galway will have participants in this weekend’s competitions, which will result in a large number of visitors to the Dunmore area.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the competitions, which offer a great opportunity to hear and see the talent on display. There will be sessions in local pubs over the weekend as well and everybody is welcome to attend these.
For more information on the County Fleadh, go to www.galwaycomhaltas.ie.
Music for Galway’s concert with renowned Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia which had been due to take place on April 27 but which had to be deferred, will now take place next Tuesday, May 23, at 8pm, in the Emily Anderson Concert Hall at the University of Galway.
This concert of German classics with Bach at its core, will brings the Bach element of Music for Galway’s 41st season to an end.
This world-class pianist who won the famous Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, has a repertoire that spans many eras from baroque to contemporary and he is widely known for his elaborate programmes. Cédric Pescia describes music as ‘language and movement at the same time’.
Audiences will have a chance to experience his soft, clear touch as he performs a programme for solo piano that will include classics such as Schumann’s popular Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), a suite of nine short pieces, and the penultimate of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, No. 31. These pieces will be interspersed with French Suites by Bach.
■ Ticket for Cédric Pescia’s concert are available at www.musicforgalway.ie, or by phone 091 705962 and on the door on the night. They cost €20/€18. The price for fulltime students of all ages is €6 while MfG Friends can avail of the friends’ rate of €16.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
