Choice prize nominees, Halves look forward to free concert in Galway

Date Published: {J}

Experimental three-piece Halves play a free gig in the Róisín Dubh on Thursday next, February 24.

The Dublin band – Brian Cash and brothers Elis and Tim Czerniak – released their debut album, It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) last October and it has been nominated for this year’s Choice Music Prize.

Although their blend of acoustic and electric sounds was generating an underground buzz before the album’s release, critical acclaim is not a priority for them.

“It’s not something we think about whenever we set about to do anything,” says Brian Cash. “With the EPs and singles we did before the album we got a quite a bit of attention but nothing big. We’re used to our place, and our place was people saying nice things here and there but there was no media coverage.”

At the same time, Brian is a pleased to be among the Choice Prize contenders. The award chooses 12 acts, from chart-toppers like Imelda May to more unknown quantities like Halves.

“I kind of like that about the way they pick albums, they do pick a wide span of what’s going on,” he says. “There are so many different bands for such a small country. Personally, we’re looking at the list and think we’re the people who made the ‘weird Irish record’. So I don’t think that’s going to improve our chances but it’s lovely to be included.”

Halves started out as a quartet in 2006 and, in creative terms, hit the ground running.

“We just started and everything kicked off pretty quickly,” Brian recalls. “We decided we didn’t want to waste any time. As soon as we had our first three songs written we went into the studio and recorded them, and that’s out first EP. We never recorded any demos or taped rehearsals;we just made it after playing together for 12 weeks. And we’ve been busy ever since.”

After a string of well-received singles and mini-albums, Halves began to plan their full length debut.

“When it came time to talk about an album it was a weird transition point for the band,” says Brian, “because Dave, who’s one of the founding members, emigrated to Canada. It was very amicable, we’re still amazing friends. We had 80% of the album written.”

Canada proved to a lure for the rest of the band as well. It Goes, It Goes (Forever & Ever) was made in Montreal’s Hotel2Tango studios, where Godspeed You Black Emperor (one of the lads’ favourite acts) also recorded.

“We just decided to set a deadline,” says Brian. “We said ‘we’ll book a studio for six months time’ and we decided we wanted to do it in Canada. We started Googling and then I remembered Hotel2Tango from listening to Godspeed 10 years ago.”

Going to Montreal offered Halves a change of scenery but also gave them a chance to play some vintage instruments.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.