Folk and trad in the mix as Niamh launches debut EP

Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell – tribunegroove@live.ie

Niamh Regan from Kilrickle outside Loughrea will celebrate the release of her debut EP in Galway’s Róisín Dubh on Thursday, June 29. Before that, there’s also an appearance at the Citóg showcase in the city venue on Wednesday, June 14. The singer-songwriter is a recent graduate of the Irish, Music & Dance BA degree in the University of Limerick, and these gigs are her first solo shows in Galway.

Niamh’s voice brings Laura Marling and Joni Mitchell to mind, but the list of influences on her artist profile also features a lesser known name – Ensemble Ériú. The sublime seven-piece are putting their own spin on Irish traditional music, and that’s something Niamh can relate to.

“I know (Ensemble Ériú co-founder) Josh Talty. I’ve done some recording with him, and I know them through the fact that I’m a trad musician, first and foremost,” the 22-year-old says. “I was really taken by their first album, and I do think they’re innovative. I find them inspiring. They’re holding on to the tradition and still pushing boundaries, without upsetting too many people – but you’re always going to upset the purists.

“I always admire people who are doing it for the love of music, and exploration,” adds Niamh who has been praised by the Irish Times for her “sweet, pure folk voice bursting with potential”. Also, I saw them live and I thought ‘these guys are doing their own thing, and using the reference of traditional music as a base.’”

Before embarking on this project, Niamh had been a member of the Dublin-based trio Juhn Echo, but quit after five years, and “was feeling a bit deflated” with the business.

“I was going, ‘right, I’m going to do this solo.’ I thought, I don’t know what I’m doing, and there’s that feeling that you’re never going to get a hold of the dream, the music. But you’re still in love with what you can’t have. I came back to folk music as the core of where I started.”

And how has she been getting on?

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.