Track of the day: ‘Too Many Have Gone’ by The Breath
The Breath reveal their first new music since the release of their third album, Land of My Other. A new track, Too Many Have Gone, comes as a two-track digital single out today.
The Breath are Ríoghnach Connolly (voice, shruti and flute) and Stuart McCallum (guitar, effects).
“an’ all the marks, an’ all the minds of those families left behind too many suffering on empire’s road, too many seasons have been swallowed, swallowed whole too many bodies left out in the dust, hearts out breaking and what of us?”
Too Many Have Gone comes in two differing versions, a live rendition recorded by RTÉ Radio 1 at the Séamus Ennis Arts Centre in Naul, near Dublin, during the band’s February Irish tour, alongside the studio version that was recorded with Thomas Bartlett (Sufjan Stevens, St. Vincent, Florence Welch, The Gloaming), in Manchester, as part of the album sessions for Land of My Other.
“It took a while for us to find an interpretation of it live – for it to be expansive and dramatic, but to not lean into the blues canon too much,” says McCallum. “The studio version is more introspective, layered, and atmospheric. We wrote the initial idea for the track in the dressing room at a venue in Belfast called The Duncairn and whilst we didn’t end up including the track on the studio album, it’s always felt like an important song for us to play live, particularly given the current geo-political events creating such tragedy and suffering.”
This song has scared me a little live, it has overwhelmed me how much pure rage and grief I feel that there was almost no authentic way of documenting it in a produced recording at the time. The live versions since then capture the difference and are the closest thing in feel to a keening for Palestine and the continuing barbarism of genocide across the world.
Ríoghnach Connolly
The release of the single coincides with The Breath’s return to the WOMAD Festival, for a prime Sunday slot at Soundscape Stage by d&b audiotechnik. This will be a special immersive-sound performance not to be missed:
“We’re very much looking forward to playing at WOMAD, for our third gig with the Soundscape system (we’ve used it previously at Kings Place, London and New Century Hall, Manchester.) Those two previous concerts have been in-the-round with us playing in the middle of the room, surrounded by the audience and Soundscape system. What we are aiming for at WOMAD is a subtle use of the technology to augment the audio experience and enhance the feeling of inclusion and immersion within the songs for the audience.”
Gallery
Stuart McCallum of The Breath photographed during the making of Land of My Other in Manchester.
Photo: York TillyerOpen full screen image
Thomas Bartlett photographed during the making of Land of My Other in Manchester.
Photo: York TillyerOpen full screen image
Rioghnach Connolly of The Breath photographed during the making of Land of My Other in Manchester.
Photo: York TillyerOpen full screen image
Having already had a busy year for live work, the band will be back on the road throughout the latter part of the year, with the following shows already on sale and more to be added:
July
28 WOMAD Festival
August
2 PRESTON The Continental
3 WATERFORD All Together Now
8 SIDMOUTH Folk Festival
September
1 LONDON Green Note
14 PONTARDAWE Arts Centre
26 FINDHORN BAY Festival
October
4 HARTLEPOOL Folk Festival
11 CARDIFF Llais Wales Millennium Centre
November
15 BRIDGNORTH St Leonard’s Church
Land Of My Other is a place of memories and melodies, lyricism and lore. A place of sunlight, faerie-tales and rowan trees; of grief, incarceration and thunder in darkness. A place where ancestral trauma and colonial injustice meet blazing pride, romantic self-rule and hands held in a circle in the sea. Where songs are sung with feeling, instruments are everywhere and music lives deep in the bones.
