Entertainment
Folk and R&B mix pays off for Wyvern Lingo
Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell – tribunegroove@live.ie
Wyvern Lingo bring an alternative sound to folk music while also incorporating the influence of American R&B acts like Erykah Badu and TLC.
Hailing from Bray, the harmony-driven trio play Róisín Dubh on Saturday, December 5. The band are Karen Cowley (vocals, keyboards), Caoimhe Barry (vocals, drums) and Saoirse Duane (vocals, guitar). When Karen takes the call, she is in the middle of a ‘press day’.
“We got signed in April, so since then things have become a lot more official,” she says. “We’re doing press and pr all in one day. I’m only just back from Australia; I was singing backing vocals with Hozier. Our very clever publicist had this idea to do all the PR in one day, we’re in the zone now.”
The label Wyvern Lingo have signed to is Rubyworks, whose stable also includes Wallis Bird and Ryan Sheridan.
“They’re a great independent Irish label,” Karen says. “The last act they signed before us was Hozier – which is nice and encouraging! We get on with them really well, they’re very encouraging. It’s just being going from strength to strength.”
Wyvern Lingo’s latest single is Subside, a track that fuses the band’s three piece harmonies with an R&B groove. How did it come about?
“We recorded it in Germany in July,” Karen says. “We went to Cologne to work with a really great producer called Patrice Williams. He’s Sierra Leonian/German – which is a bit of a mouthful! He’s a very interesting mix of R&B, hip-hop and reggae, with a European perspective.
“Poor Patrice might’ve been a bit confused at first because we were referencing Jimi Hendrix and then TLC. It was quite a mix. But he was able to see what we meant with those American R&B references and then gritty rock as well.
“He saw that as a re-invention of the Bristol, trip hop sound from the nineties, bands like Massive Attack and Tricky,” she continues. “We hadn’t really thought of that, but it made a lot of sense to us when we listened to those albums.”
Thanks in no small part to their association with Hozier – whom Wyvern Lingo have opened for and played with – the trio drew an impressive crowd at this year’s Electric Picnic.
“It was incredible,” says Karen. “We’d been working really hard all summer, looking forward to the Electric Picnic. It was a big slot, we opened the Electric Arena, the second biggest stage.”
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.
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