Went To Walk

... A NEW CHAPTER THAT IS COMPLETE!

It´s been about ten months since I´ve shared my latest collection of songs with the public world - outside the walls of the studio that is. (Brian and Gay McDonagh have been listening a good bit longer, ha! Over and over and over again ... the patience ...) What a roller coaster it´s been, my god! And how everything has changed since the beginnings of these new writings ...

BETWEEN ME, THE BIKE, THE FOREST AND THE SEA

When there was nothing else to do but to stay at home or hang out in nature in about

5 km distance of that same home early on in 2020, I decided that the best way for me to survive the madness would be to retreat inward. It was all between me, the bike, the forest and the sea. Old diaries, books, college essays. Space for thoughts, time and space to tap into the well of creativity. I started to notice that when its back to basics, away from a lot of things that would keep me from dwelling in the here and now, a profound feeling of happiness and contentment would start to arise.

Spreading like glowing light, it was a feeling of safety that I have grown to trust and to be able to rely on. Especially at a time when the world around me seemed to turn corners that felt extremely unsafe to me.

Settling into this place - away from the internet, the phone, alone with my thoughts in the middle of landscapes left to be the way they were, I felt that I was able to fully appreciate life. The beauty of colour, light, smell, touch and especially sound. "I love sounds, just as they are". That´s what I heard John Cage say in an interview years ago. I feel like I´m absolutely with him on this one. It gives me so much joy, an entry point into just feeling what it´s like to be alive. And that to me is the wisest use of the counted days I have on this planet that I could come up with so far.

THE MAGIC ROOM

It was from this place that the roots of this new album started to grow. When restrictions around movement and socialising lifted a little, I started to cycle out to Brian McDonaghs´"Magic Room" a bit further out the country. Overlooking the Ox mountains and Lough Gill as well as being surrounded by a big garden, it was most fitting and exciting to share my newly gathered ideas with Brian at his beautiful studio.

Event Horizon Studios, Crete

I love his openness to bits of madness and we had great craic recording birds, coffee cups, drinking glass percussions and the like. It was also most convenient to have legends such as Jos Kelly living close by, who called in with his keys one day to record the title track "Went To Walk" with me.

The recordings built up slowly over the following years, with more material surfacing during artist residencies back out in the wilderness in Crete (Event Horizon), Spain (El Granero), Austria (my mothers´mountain hut) and during my travels around South India and Sri Lanka.

Later on we roped in Matija Solce to add his accordion to the mix ("Went To Walk"), threw some mad bits of tunage at Mike McGoldrick ("Jodlphase"), got Raphael Decoster to look at the music from a visual and movement point of view and had the craic with Peter Crann out at his farm to make a wee video for "Ois Z´Vü" - what an utter bunch of legends !!

Left to Right: El Granero/Spain; Varkala/India; El Granero; the Cranch Farm; Went To Walk Shoot Belgium

SLOWING DOWN AND SPEEDING UP: THE ALBUM LAUNCH TOUR

Don´t we forget to laugh and breath good air, visit our friends, this stolen time to share. Lie in the grass and watch the clouds go by, light up a fire beneath the evening sky ("What If")

These were the words I sang at my album launch gig at the beautiful Methodist Church in Sligo as part of Cairde Arts Festival (thank you Tara McGowan and everyone who came out, it meant so much <3). Talking about crafting a lifestyle that would

adopt a slower pace, finding more time for friends ....

In reality, I excited the scene a mere three hours after the gig and got onto the night bus in direction of the airport, moving straight into the next thing. Even though what I exited into was a most beautiful experience with the Etno Histeria World Orchestra in the forests of Slovenia, I realised weeks after that I had kinda managed to miss my own album launch! In fact, I am still catching up ...

Left to right: Cairde Arts Festival; Kunstgarten Graz; friends in Bad Ischl; Virufolk/Estonia

But hangs with friends (often involving lifting heavy pianos, putting me up or driving me somewhere- thank you guys, what would I do without ye !!!) became a nice little tradition as the tour went on.

After the Etno Orchestra extravaganza, it was on to Austria where, with one foot still in the forest, I started to remember about the album and got to do a nice gig at the beautiful Kunstgarten Graz. Surrounded by family, godparents, neighbours, old and new friends, we had a delightful evening and got spared by the weather gods who arranged for the thunderstorm to have passed over by the time the gig started!

Next up was the Virufolk festival in the picturesque village of Käsmu in northeast Estonia. I got to walk in the forest, record a video at an old traditional boathouse and pay a visit to the Irish Embassy for a tune on the way home. I even got to experience Hubert Von Goiserns´ official last concert with his full band - this time in the midst of a fully blown thunderstorm. How epic!!

The unique Siriuskogl in Bad Ischl back in Austria was the next stop. There was the semi-impossible lifting - the – heavy - e-piano - out - of - Barbara – Wieners´- living room - action (bless you) and a delightful jam with old friends after the gig; a first outing with Peter Mayer in form of a brand new duo for a tune; a lovely dip into the Ischl river, good hangs and not to forget the most amazing burger & chocolate cake !

Shalimar, Vienna

Then there was Mahan, who travelled through half of the city of Vienna with amp and mic stand in tow for my gig at the classy Shalimar. Another nice wee evening involving old friends from home and an old piano tuned a semitone flat (much to the delight of my vocal cords).

From Austria I took the train down to Ljubljana (Slovenia), where I was embraced by a most lovely crowd showing up for my gig at Salon - such support! <3 Moving on to the stunning seaside town of Izola where I was so warmly welcomed at Odeon Cafe, I got to have a sea swim and a glass of wine with Anca in the middle of the night on the way to the airport.

Salon/Ljubljana night hangs Harrison Pub, London

The next stop was the Harrison Pub in London (only one of my favourite cities in the world!), where my friend Laila saved the show by telling a joke when I broke out into a fit of coughing and couldn´t sing or talk anymore ... What a cool club! I even got to go up the country afterwards for a couple of days to visit my friend Hannah James and her wee family – happy days!

Back in Ireland, I got onto the bus (WITH my keys and all !!!) up to lovely Leitrim for a great evening at the Glens Centre. Fantastic sound, champagne, good friends, helping housemates and beautiful landscapes ...

Exactly one day before my departure to West Africa for my winter travels, I had the pleasure to take a trip down to Cork for a lunchtime gig as part of the FUAIM series at UCC. Memories of being a student came flooding back as I strolled into the main campus. I had forgotten just how beautiful it is. It also occurred to me, while playing the gig at the Aula Maxima, that this was the very place I first dared to play one of my own songs in a public space. I had come full circle .... And some of the people that were in the audience that time where there again too !!

The end of my tour came in form of a nice living room gig back in Ljubljana as part of Kavc Festival (with the ever – continuing theme of shifting around pianos and gear with everyone ...), a class stint in winter-wonderland Hudson Upstate New York involving yodelling dogs, most caring parents of my friend and an amazing venue at the local Waldorf school, and finally a beautifully intimate gig at the Green Note in London.

Left to right: Yodelling dog in Hudson; The Green Note/London; Manhattan; Hudson hangs

MANY HELPING HANDS

A big shout out to all the many people, friends, friends of friends, parents of friends and friends of parents of friends that helped me to make this happen, amongst which: Dieter Tschermernig, Irmi Horn, Barbara Wiener, Krauli, Barja Drvnovsek and Bojan Cvetrežnik, Anca Stancic, Graham Smallwood, Johanna Kugler, Mahan Mirarab, Christiana, Frank and Dan Wall, Laila Jedir, Miklošičeva, Angelika & Herbert Schwab, Tara McGowan, Trish Doherty, Eadaoin Dooley, Cathy Jordan & all the Sligo gang, Paul O´Donnell and Kelly Boyle, Brendan Murray, Virufolk Festival.

IN THE PLACE OF SOUND

It has been over ten years since I completed my masters at UCC with a thesis entitled "In the Place Of Sound: Music As A Trans-Cultural Homebase". If I would write it now, I would probably steer away from concepts such as transculturalism. But what I began to describe then is still very much valid now. When I play my music, I feel at home. Doesn´t matter where in the world I am or what´s going on. Its like the songs are drawing me in, rather than the other way around. I can´t begin to explain how much music means to me, a steady and trusted companion throughout my life since my very early childhood and even before. Imagine a world without sound in it!

So this is why I write. It´s my way of processing and responding to what it feels like to be alive and the closest I can get to understanding anything about anything. I can retreat back to the forest, long after I´ve left it behind. In sharing this music with you, it is my hope that you too might stop for a moment and come with us - with me and the sound :-)