Féile Live
(2023)
Féile Live is a very persuasive debut offering from John McSherry, Brendán Quinn and Francis McIlduff. Their musical connection and rapport shine through, along with their confidence, energy and drive.
From the 1950s onwards, Belfast has been an incubator for a consistent stream of outstanding Irish traditional musicians – with early pioneers such as fiddle player Sean McGuire and the McPeake family. John McSherry, Brendán Quinn and Francis McIlduff are part of a generation that has, over the last 20 years, sustained and enriched the music in and around Belfast. They first got together as a trio at Belfast’s Féile Trad Trail in August 2022, and Féile Live is their debut album.
John McSherry was a founder member of Lunasa, Tamalin, Donal Lunny’s Coolfin, and the olllam, and has made a number of acclaimed, innovative solo and collaborative albums, the most recent being The Seven Suns in 2016 – read our review here. Francis McIlduff is a member of the McPeake family, played with Alias Ron Kavana, Afterhours and Sin É, and ten years ago in At First Light alongside John and fiddle and keyboard player Dónal O’Connor, who guests on keyboards on Féile Live. The McPeake School of Traditional Music provided Brendán Quinn’s start in music, and he has, over the last few years, released some of his own songs that were written during lockdown, collected on an imminent E.P. titled The Journey Home – Féile Live includes versions of three of those songs.
John and Francis play the first set of tunes on low whistles, sounding very much like inseparable twins, interweaving harmonies underpinned by Brendán’s very fine guitar accompaniment (as it is throughout) – all played with great energy and drive on a couple of traditional slip jigs and a classic change up to Tony ’Sully’ Sullivan’s brilliant tune The Roaring Barmaid. John McSherry writes great tunes, and you get a taste of his compositions with another magnificent dual low whistles set, Sunset Land, a set which was on his The Seven Suns album, though here in a simpler arrangement, with Dónal O’Connor’s subtle keyboard and Brendán’s guitar joining part way through, all allowing the evocative melodies to shine.
Brendán’s songs – Changing Places, Everyone Outside and Homeless – plus a cover of John Fogerty’s Have You Ever Seen The Rain? (recorded with Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1970), are interspersed between the tunes, the variation being accentuated because the well-crafted songs are not at all in a traditional style, which is to be expected as Brendán has cited varying influences, including Paul Brady, Van Morrison, Oasis and The Beatles. The songs are reflective, covering life changes, people who are struggling with their mental health appearing OK to others and Homeless about a homeless man Brendan met outside a gig who seemed unperturbed at his situation. They are played with a strong rhythm, Brendan’s guitar supported by a mix of bodhran and stomp, accompanied by lovely whistle interludes.
Uilleann pipes are rarely recorded in pairs –John did with Michael McGoldrick back in 2001 on their At First Light album– and John and Francis have got it off to a fine art, creating a quite unique sound with added depth, and a slight echo effect, as they maintain the album’s dual instrumentation on two masterful sets of tunes. Rowsome’s Reel / Liz Kelly’s / Polka is an animated set of traditional tunes, mixing up types of tunes that work superbly well on ‘dualling’ pipes and guitar. The La Volta / El Garrotin / The Crooked Road to Dublin / The Ladies Pantalettes set is an object lesson in combining tunes that may not on the surface appear to belong together but, in a real album highlight, they certainly do. La Volta is a Renaissance dance Francis got from Finbar Furey, El Garrotin is an Asturian tune John heard from the band Llan de Cubel, and the last two tunes are traditional reels. John and Francis first recorded La Volta / El Garrotin on At First Light’s 2012 album Idir (reviewed here), and John played them again on the 2017 Ulaid & Duke Special album A Note Let Go – here they are more straightforward, in essence, because there are less instruments involved. If you want to hear what a majestic, triumphant sound two top-class pipers piping can make, look no further.
When the trio began playing together last year, the depth of their musical connection and rapport was such that they decided to record an album. Wanting to keep their sound as authentic as possible, they decided to record in musical compatriot Dónal O’Connor’s Redbox Studios, with Dónal as engineer. John, Brendán and Francis played live in the studio together rather than multi-tracking separate takes, recording the album in just sixteen hours. Their approach certainly gives Féile Live an extra something, whistles, pipes and guitar locking in on a great variety of tunes and songs – you can almost imagine an audience; in fact, you can be the audience during their album launch dates, thoroughly enjoying every moment of this very persuasive debut album.
Dave McNally 29 November, 2023
From the 1950s onwards, Belfast has been an incubator for a consistent stream of outstanding Irish traditional musicians – with early pioneers such as fiddle player Sean McGuire and the McPeake family. John McSherry, Brendán Quinn and Francis McIlduff are part of a generation that has, over the last 20 years, sustained and enriched the music in and around Belfast. They first got together as a trio at Belfast’s Féile Trad Trail in August 2022, and Féile Live is their debut album.
John McSherry was a founder member of Lunasa, Tamalin, Donal Lunny’s Coolfin, and the olllam, and has made a number of acclaimed, innovative solo and collaborative albums, the most recent being The Seven Suns in 2016 – read our review here. Francis McIlduff is a member of the McPeake family, played with Alias Ron Kavana, Afterhours and Sin É, and ten years ago in At First Light alongside John and fiddle and keyboard player Dónal O’Connor, who guests on keyboards on Féile Live. The McPeake School of Traditional Music provided Brendán Quinn’s start in music, and he has, over the last few years, released some of his own songs that were written during lockdown, collected on an imminent E.P. titled The Journey Home – Féile Live includes versions of three of those songs.
John and Francis play the first set of tunes on low whistles, sounding very much like inseparable twins, interweaving harmonies underpinned by Brendán’s very fine guitar accompaniment (as it is throughout) – all played with great energy and drive on a couple of traditional slip jigs and a classic change up to Tony ’Sully’ Sullivan’s brilliant tune The Roaring Barmaid. John McSherry writes great tunes, and you get a taste of his compositions with another magnificent dual low whistles set, Sunset Land, a set which was on his The Seven Suns album, though here in a simpler arrangement, with Dónal O’Connor’s subtle keyboard and Brendán’s guitar joining part way through, all allowing the evocative melodies to shine.
Brendán’s songs – Changing Places, Everyone Outside and Homeless – plus a cover of John Fogerty’s Have You Ever Seen The Rain? (recorded with Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1970), are interspersed between the tunes, the variation being accentuated because the well-crafted songs are not at all in a traditional style, which is to be expected as Brendán has cited varying influences, including Paul Brady, Van Morrison, Oasis and The Beatles. The songs are reflective, covering life changes, people who are struggling with their mental health appearing OK to others and Homeless about a homeless man Brendan met outside a gig who seemed unperturbed at his situation. They are played with a strong rhythm, Brendan’s guitar supported by a mix of bodhran and stomp, accompanied by lovely whistle interludes.
Uilleann pipes are rarely recorded in pairs –John did with Michael McGoldrick back in 2001 on their At First Light album– and John and Francis have got it off to a fine art, creating a quite unique sound with added depth, and a slight echo effect, as they maintain the album’s dual instrumentation on two masterful sets of tunes. Rowsome’s Reel / Liz Kelly’s / Polka is an animated set of traditional tunes, mixing up types of tunes that work superbly well on ‘dualling’ pipes and guitar. The La Volta / El Garrotin / The Crooked Road to Dublin / The Ladies Pantalettes set is an object lesson in combining tunes that may not on the surface appear to belong together but, in a real album highlight, they certainly do. La Volta is a Renaissance dance Francis got from Finbar Furey, El Garrotin is an Asturian tune John heard from the band Llan de Cubel, and the last two tunes are traditional reels. John and Francis first recorded La Volta / El Garrotin on At First Light’s 2012 album Idir (reviewed here), and John played them again on the 2017 Ulaid & Duke Special album A Note Let Go – here they are more straightforward, in essence, because there are less instruments involved. If you want to hear what a majestic, triumphant sound two top-class pipers piping can make, look no further.
When the trio began playing together last year, the depth of their musical connection and rapport was such that they decided to record an album. Wanting to keep their sound as authentic as possible, they decided to record in musical compatriot Dónal O’Connor’s Redbox Studios, with Dónal as engineer. John, Brendán and Francis played live in the studio together rather than multi-tracking separate takes, recording the album in just sixteen hours. Their approach certainly gives Féile Live an extra something, whistles, pipes and guitar locking in on a great variety of tunes and songs – you can almost imagine an audience; in fact, you can be the audience during their album launch dates, thoroughly enjoying every moment of this very persuasive debut album.
Dave McNally 29 November, 2023
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