Cork’s Ger Wolfe brings top-class songs to the Crane

Date Published: {J}

One of Ireland’s most gifted songwriters, Ger Wolfe plays The Crane, Sea Road on Wednesday, December 23. This year Ger released No Bird Sang, his fifth album, which was recorded in Cúil Aodha, a small village west of Macroom in the Múscraí Gaeltacht, Cork, where Wolfe is based.

He recorded No Bird Sang with Peadar Ó Riada after Peadar, composer and leader of the renowned Cór Cúil Aodha singers, invited Ger to his studio.

“We were talking one day and he said come back and try something out,” Ger recalls. “‘Try out a few microphones’ was how he put it – so we ended up making an album. We found out we shared a lot of things; ways of looking at music and the world.”

The idea was to make an unadorned album that captured Ger’s acoustic sound in its purest form.

“I wanted to make a simple album,” he explains. “It’s my fifth one and it’s come around, I suppose, full circle. The first album I made was in 1998, Word & Rhyme and that was very simple. This one was strictly myself and we did it live. Peadar suggested that; I said ‘we’ll try it’ and I think it worked out alright. What you hear is exactly how it happened.”

Working alongside Peadar Ó Riada sounds as far from a ‘pressure-cooker’ studio atmosphere as you can get.

“We basically did every Thursday for two months, or maybe more,” Ger says. “Between Christmas and the Spring, early this year. I really enjoyed it; Peadar would be so relaxed and he has a good way of working with people. That’s what you want in a producer – someone who would bring out stuff that you won’t be motivated to get out yourself.”

This is not to say that Ger’s other studio albums should be disregarded. Far from it; the excellent Heaven Paints Her Holy Mantle Blue (2004) and The Velvet Earth (2007) saw his inspired songwriting fleshed out by accomplished musicians.

“I enjoyed it all but it just took longer because there were more people involved,” he says. “[No Bird Sang] was just going back to step one, to measure the ten years since I started recording really. Hopefully a few things have improved along the way, like the voice. But I don’t know if that’s true!”

In his 10 years as a recording artist the quality of Ger Wolfe’s work has shown a lightness of touch rare among his peers. His writing life is an ongoing process, one that requires regular attention.

“I think you have to have fertile ground, and that doesn’t happen from not writing,” he muses. “It’s from years and years of writing, discarding stuff and gathering bits and bobs. Then you get to a stage when things start coming to you. It’s the result of loads of work, really; you might get an idea some day walking down the road but it could have been distilling somewhere in your mind for years.”

Although Ger’s songs contain many references to the natural world he is reluctant to be pigeon-holed as a songwriter.

“I’ve a lot of that and maybe people say it’s pastoral work or pastoral poetry,” he says. “But I think there’s other stuff too. Going right back, I think I’ve dealt with stages in life and inner geography. I know a few people have accused me of ‘oh, why don’t you get a bit angrier?’. I do get angry; there’s an awful lot of political stuff going on in what I write too, but maybe it’s just not in your face.”

Ger wrote The Lark Of Mayfield about his brother moving to England (he also says the song could be about ‘emigrating from yourself’) but listeners would find it hard to find any specific ‘message’ in Wolfe’s subtle, folk style.

“I would be very angry about political things but I suppose don’t like any aspect of life – spiritual or political, environmental even – getting shoved down my throat by other people. I hope I don’t do that because I hate it myself.”

Ger Wolfe comes into his own when playing live. The Cork man’s well-crafted songs sit well alongside his stand-up quality banter and airing his work in public is something he relishes doing.

“It makes sense of it all,” he says. “Otherwise you’re in a bit of a bubble. I always think that you have to be able to entertain people. Even though some songs would be heavy enough, people still want to go out and have an old laugh.”

Between songs, Ger can find himself talking about diverse subjects like astronauts and Velcro on children’s shoes. These unplanned tangents are often hilarious.

“I like having a bit of banter going. A lot of my songs would be serious enough but as a writer, and as a performer, I think it’s good not to be one dimensional. Your writing is going to be influenced by everything anyway, and there’s nobody happy all their life, or sad.”

Ger Wolfe’s gig in The Crane comes just two days before Christmas. He may well acknowledge the season that’s in it but, above all, this will be an entertaining night in the company of a gifted performer.

Ger Wolfe plays The Crane Bar on Wednesday, December 23. Doors 9pm, tickets €15/12.50 members.