Something you might have noticed from our end-of-year lists is that one of the biggest trends of 2020’s imposed isolation has been the willingness of Irish artists to to come together remotely. Be it for a cause or for the sake of maintaining some sense of artistic worth, or simply born out of malaise – it’s that which comes out of the undergrowth that generally leads to the most fascinating results, and indeed, this year has landed us with a wealth of phenomenal compilations and collaborations across the island, giving a pre-built sense of community when things get back to normality.
Today, we’re pleased to give you a first listen to the inaugural The Space Between – a series of compilations focusing on cinematic, ambient, noise and experimental music from Irish artists. Compiled by Belfast’s James Bruce – sometimes AKA Oaks – pieces come from Richard Bailie, Chris McCorry, Clark Philips, Connor Agnew, Charlie Graham and Bruce himself. Bruce told us about what prompted the decision to start this series:
“First came about from a conversation with Remstates about possibly doing a split EP. As the conversation grew over a few days, we realised we wanted to showcase something more than just what we were doing, so, we reached out to a few artists to see if they would be interested in submitting. Fast forward through 2 lockdowns and a vaccine and we finally have our first release. Both Connor (Remstates) and myself have a passion for the quiet moments at the end of songs, the interludes and the ambient. This has lead to choosing our first round of artists that, for us, dip their toe in the experimental, some further than others, and create something interesting, challenging or frankly, just plain beautiful. First will be available on Bandcamp from Thursday 17th with plans in motion for Second some time first quarter of 2021.”
