Foxlight

Iarla Ó Lionáird

Released 25 September 2011

  1. The Heart Of The World
  2. Daybreak
  3. Fainne Geal An Lae
  4. Glistening Fields
  5. Eleanor Plunkett
  6. Foxlight
  7. The Goat Song
  8. For The Heavens
  9. Hand In Hand
  10. Imeacht
  11. Seven Suns
  12. Stay

Liner notes

For his third solo album, Foxlight, the acclaimed singer Iarla Ó Lionáird delivers an impassioned and sublime set of personal songs, combining the twin urges to write more new material and yet also work with an intriguing set of collaborators. Ó Lionáird began writing new songs, secluding himself in his home studio on Herdman’s Hill in remote Kilkenny. Joined by guitarist and producer, Leo Abrahams, the album took shape as Ó Lionáird and Abrahams split their time between rural Ireland and Abrahams’ own studio in Bow, East London.

These disparate settings and the varying tonality of the contributing artists make this a record that shimmers with versatility. Whilst rooted in certain traditions, it is also unclassifiable and refuses to be located in one genre or another. It’s one of Ó Lionáird’s most organic, naturalistic records to date. Instrumentation and layers are embedded in each song, but ultimately it’s about Iarla’s exquisite, sonically unique voice.

From his early days as a sean-nós singer, to Afro Celt Sound System and his collaborative and solo work, Ó Lionáird has always ploughed his own artistic furrow. His work is very connected to the totems of traditional Irish music— sean-nós, the Irish language, traditional instrumentation —but various projects have broadened his experience and understanding in the multi-faceted nature of music.

Nurtured on childhood songs, the Celtic rhythms that underpin the Afro-Celt sound and collaborations with composers Gavin Bryars and Donnacha Dennehy, there is much more to Ó Lionáird’s exceptional gift than merely being a sean-nós singer. “People ascribe a lot of things to me musically— Cuil Aodha, Sean-nós, traditional… all of those sacred cows. They’re certainly there, but I’ve always been a journeyman. With this record, I wanted to do things I hadn’t done before and that’s also because my way of listening has changed.”

Watch Iarla and producer Leo Abrahams talk about the making of Foxlight.

A host of diverse musicians contribute to these songs. Composer Jon Hopkins, strings duo Geese, folktronica innovator Leafcutter John and fiddle and hardanger player Caoimhín O Raghallaigh, helped provided the eclectic, epic sweep of these compositions.

Central to the album’s inception was producer Leo Abrahams. Ó Lionáird produced the last record himself, but this time around decided that “singing, writing and expressing” were his priority. “This time, I’ve tried to just experience the voice, I wanted to reach new levels of expression”. Abrahams is a talented guitarist who has gravitated towards the production end of music. Having worked with Brian Eno, Paul Simon and Ed Harcourt, Abrahams brought a huge amount to bear on the record, according to Ó Lionáird. Iarla cites an acute observation Abrahams made on ‘Eleanor Plunkett’, which sums up the trust that lies in their working relationship. “The song was a blizzard of ornamentation, because I was singing it the way harpers play it. Leo said there was “an over abundance of melismatic activity”; it was a joke we had, but he was right so I stripped it all away.”

Photo credit: Feargal Ward

The ensemble of musicians involved is just as intriguing, given their varied musical backgrounds and disciplines. Abrahams plays guitar on the songs, as does Neil McColl; Leafcutter John offered multi-textured electronics, while accomplished players, Sarah and Vince of Geese provided strings. Jon Hopkins’ complex piano compositions feature heavily too. On ‘Daybreak’, Iarla is joined by a female singer, from a vocal tradition with a similar aural history to his own sean-nós. Sara Marielle Gaup of Norwegian act Adjagas is a Sami singer, expert at yoiking. The two performed together at a church in Dublin and the shared narrative of the relationship to time and land is something Ó Lionáird was drawn to, and calls “quasi-shamanic.” His old friend fiddler Caoimhin O’Raghallaigh is central to the album. Ó Lionáird describes him as “an explorer who creates these large, deep sound fields around a note. He puts this beautiful dirt back in to the traditional.”

“I’ve learnt to sing a certain way because of the way I listen to music,” says Iarla, of his approach to singing. “I really feel that before I even said I decided to be a singer, my body, my mind and my psyche had been co-moulded with songs, to such an extent that I wouldn’t be able to sing the way I do where it not for the fact that my body wants to, and I get intense joy out of doing it. It’s a complete sort of feeling.” That complete feeling echoes throughout the songs. ‘The Heart of the World’ opens with an atmospheric vocal of compressed wisdoms and proverbs. Shot through with pastoral rhythms and birdsong, it introduces the countryside setting that prevails throughout. “It’s a song about renewal”, says Ó Lionáird, “I’ve known people who’ve had to lose everything to get anything. This song talks about what is profound and important in life. It’s about the loneliness of the soul, but it’s an ecstatic loneliness”.

Iarla and his band perform 'Hand In Hand' during a live session in The Big Room at Real World Studios

‘Fainne Gan An Lae’ comes from the Goodman Collection, and is a song many learn to play on the tin whistle. “I learnt it from the great Steve Cooney and it’s very much like a vision song. It’s very diaphanous, spooky… and is a song about light.” ‘Eleanor Plunkett’ was composed by Turlough O’Carolan and Ó Lionáird likens this version —with piano and guitar— to American folk in the Bob Dylan tradition.

‘Foxlight’, an anthropomorphic ode to nature, is built on the electronic flourishes of Leafcutter John. Originally taught to him by his mother, ‘The Goat Song’ is a traditional song noted as a classic for its simplicity, which Iarla wanted to acknowledge.

Unsurprisingly, the inspiration behind ‘For The Heavens’ came from skywards. Ó Lionáird admits to being interested in stars and owning a telescope. “I’ve always been intrigued by that sense of scale, and when I was small, I would drag my dad out at night to watch satellites tracking across the sky. That song is really about the blessings of home and how they rain down on you. It’s almost a prayer of thanks for the heaven I have here in my home”.

Perhaps the most celebratory song on Foxlight is ‘Hand in Hand’, an exultant love song, with a falsetto chorus. It echoes back to the singer’s childhood, but is ultimately a love song about his wife, featuring strings duo Geese.

Written by a poet friend Domhnall Ó Liathain, ‘Imeacht/A Leave-taking’ is “an inverted vision song”. It laments the loss of human ecology and old rituals.

‘Seven Suns’ is an ancient monastic work of praise featuring huge amounts of instrumentation. “It’s a prayer song, celebrating every day,” says Ó Lionáird. “Despite my atheism, I felt a transcendence at the end of this song, and we did it in one take.”

The album concludes with the circular themes of family and mortality, in the form of ‘Stay’. Jon Hopkins plays piano and lyrically it examines the hereafter and death. All eleven songs are imbued with a sense of time and place, of connections and myths. From ancient rhythms to modern electronics, Ó Lionáird’s exceptional voice is the fulcrum around which everything pivots.

Text edited from original words by Sinead Gleeson

Reviews

  • Ó Lionáird breaks new creative ground with Foxlight... The result is not so much a fusion or synthesis as a melting pot of sublime pure-note singing, a charming sense of almost monastic oddness, and some of the most sky-kissing melodies you'll hear all year. The Irish Times (Ireland)
  • Repeat listening will be justly rewarded by those who enjoy their 'folk' music with a bit of class. Maverick magazine (UK)
  • Foxlight takes listeners to distant musical planets from which they may not wish to return. ...broad palette of sonic textures...Opener 'The Heart Of The World' has seductive Eastern overtones... A meditative stillness... featuring delicious strings... It would be sacrilege to treat this as mere chill-out music... Hot Press (Ireland)
  • This is an outstanding and original album which is both passionate and personal. AAA Music (UK)

Listen

Credits

Produced and arranged by Leo Abrahams. Fainne Geal an Lae co-arranged with Neil McColl. Recorded at Cafe Music Studios, East London. Mixed by Leo Abrahams and Charlie Francis at Real World Studios. Mastered by Mandy Parnell.

A Real World design by Marc Bessant. Cover image: Field – Reeds – Winter by Susan Derges. Booklet photography by Iarla Ó Lionáird, York Tillyer

Thank you to Leo Abrahams for his total commitment to this recording both as musician and producer. Gary Sheehan at &7 for management. Mark Sutherland at Café Music. All of the musicians who made such a tremendous contribution to this recording and to whom I am deeply indebted: Lucy Railton, Jon Hopkins, Graham Henderson, Sarah Marielle Gaup, Leafcutter John, Fred Thomas, Simon Edwards, Emma Smith and Vince Sipprel of Geese, Neill McColl, Caoimhin Ó Raghallaigh, Oliver Coates. Charlie Francis for a great mix. Mandy Parnell at Black Saloon Mastering. Susan Derges for the generous use of her photographic art.

Peter Gabriel, Amanda Jones, Sophie Beck, Sara White, Jo Harbutt and Jon Berry, York Tillyer, Owen Leech and Mike Large at Real World. Paula Henderson at WOMAD.

Adrian Crowley, Dennis Herlihy Paul Scully, Luka Bloom, Steve Cooney, Stephen Shannon, Odhrán Ó Casadaigh, Martin Hayes, Catherine Kirby, Katherine McVicker at IMN, Daragh Bohan and Note Productions. Shem Caulfield, Bill Carroll, Donal Windrim and Gavin Lynch for out of hours consulting.

Professor Micheál ó Suilleabhain, Ellie Byrne, Dr. Aileen Dillane, Dr. Colin Quigley and Dr. Helen Phelan at the Irish World Academy Of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick.

Clann Uí Liathain i gCúil Aodha. Liam Ó Muirthile agus Caoilfhionn Nic Phaidín. Gabriel Rosenstock. Eugene Downes et al at Culture Ireland. Bigbear Sound in Dublin.

Iarla Ó Lionáird uses Brauner Microphones and wishes to thank Dirk Brauner for his continued support.

My parents Micheál and Maighread.

Eimear, Liam, Eabha and Iseult for everything else.

  • Invisible Fields

    Iarla Ó Lionáird

    Released 21 August 2005

    Ó Lionáird retreats to his home studio to create an album ‘situated in the natural world’. He once again draws from the Irish sean-nós tradition on standards such as ‘Taimse Im’ Choladh’, but also featured are some of his most personal original songs, including ‘The Day That You Were Born’, written for his daughter.
  • The Gloaming 2

    The Gloaming

    Released 26 February 2016

    The Gloaming dwells at the musical crossroads, enhancing traditional Irish music’s rich, melancholic tones with modern hues of jazz, contemporary classical and experimental music as they redefine what Irish music can be. This, their second album, was recorded at Real World studios during an inspired week in December 2015.

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