Landmark gig underlines need for designated cultural spaces

Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

James Vincent McMorrow’s Iveagh Gardens performance on June 10 was a landmark moment for Irish music. The pilot gig may have been dry, socially distanced and limited to an audience of 500 – but, for those in attendance and those on stage, it represented an emotional return.

McMorrow’s quote early in his ninety-minute set has been popularised by media outlets in the show’s aftermath: “I didn’t realise how much I needed this until it gets taken away…”

Unsurprisingly, the Dublin singer-songwriter is now acutely aware of the role live music holds for him. And as grateful as he was to be given the opportunity to pioneer the country’s move back into venues, he has been vocal in his criticism of the opportunities afforded to Irish musicians in a live setting. The dearth of artistic spaces, as well as the housing crisis in Dublin and nationwide, is the subject of McMorrow’s new collaborative project Co-Living Culture.

The group is completed by Cody Lee and David Anthony Curley, previously of Otherkin. Their single Renegador is out June 25 on Faction Music Group’s newest imprint Lost Decay.

The song is something of a separation from the indie-folk singer’s personal catalogue. A noisy, anthemic EDM track, it is a tune intended for a bouncing electronic venue – the likes of which, McMorrow and his bandmates suggest, is lacking in the capital.

“Renegador started out as an incredible amount of fun in the studio one day,” they recall. “The more we worked on the song, the more we talked about places in Dublin where you might hear a record like this being played.

“Honestly, we struggled to come up with any. In the last five years so much has changed, we are of the opinion that cultural and art spaces are the beating heart of a city, but so many of them have been taken away and replaced with structures that aren’t meant for those who occupy the city at all.”

If Co-Living Culture is a criticism of the issues facing Irish musicians by way of arts spaces, it is also a celebration of the resilience and adaptability of the good people working in the industry.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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