Thursday, January 16, 2014

NPR MUSIC'S FIRST LISTEN HIGHLIGHTS THE GLOAMING (JAN 21 / BRASSLAND), WHICH "MIGHT WELL TRANSFORM THE SYNTAX OF A WHOLE STYLE": http://n.pr/1aL2zJc

"The Gloaming is a wonderful mix of soulful and passionate talents who have created their own genre."
-- Peter Gabriel

Brassland Records introduces a new force in Irish music to America with The Gloaming, whose self-titled debut album is streaming via NPR Music's First Listen this week.

NPR Music's Anastasia Tsioulcas writes, "The Gloaming is by any measure an all-star ensemble… Here at NPR Music, Bob Boilen and I have been waiting anxiously for the band's first album ever since The Gloaming made its U.S. debut at globalFEST in January 2012… There's no questioning the bona fides of The Gloaming, or the abundant virtuosity and sheer beauty the group brings to every track. But what's even more impressive is what these five collectively achieve: The entire album is full of deeply felt, wonderfully empathetic performances that are rooted in tradition but scoured of sentimentality…. this is the rare album that might well transform the syntax of a whole style."

Their debut album, entitled simply 'The Gloaming', was produced by Thomas Bartlett and mixed by Patrick Dillett (David Byrne & St. Vincent). It was finished in the summer of 2013 during the build up to a series of sold out concerts at prestigious venues in London, Amsterdam, Paris, and New York (at Lincoln Center).

The Gloaming is a collaboration between five musicians named Martin Hayes (violin, fiddle), Thomas Bartlett aka Doveman (piano), Iarla Ó Lionaird (vocals), Dennis Cahill (guitar) and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh (hardanger fiddle). They range in age from 30-something to 50-something, that they live in America and Ireland, and that each one has won individual renowned as a master musician.

The Irish Times said, "Their live performances so far have been revelatory... Future dates are likely to cement them as one of the great forces in Irish music."

The New Yorker weighed in, "[The Gloaming] moves the music of Ireland in captivating new directions."

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