• Playlist: The Songs That Inspired Body & Soul’s Ériu’s Threshold

    February 17, 2021 - By 

    Created entirely during the Stage 5 Lockdown, Ériu’s Threshold is a majestic, multi-disciplinary project by the team behind leading Irish festival Body & Soul. Originally conceived by festival founder Avril Stanley and Creative Director Mary Hickson during a site visit at Ballinlough Castle, Co. Westmeath, the project “interprets the past in response to the current global pandemic” via an outstanding cast of renowned Irish female talent from the worlds of theatre, dance, music, film, literature and fashion design. Presented as a film, filmed by award-winning director Mia Mullarkey, the project features a re-interpretation of Henry Purcell’s aria Dido’s Lament, which…

  • Premiere: Ordnance Survey – Chrome feat. Sean Mac Erlaine & Kate Ellis

    April 25, 2019 - By 

    Next month, Dublin’s Neil O’Connor aka Somadrone will re-emerge with a new collaboration album titled Relative Phase. Recorded at the National Concert Hall Studios in Dublin throughout 2017 and 2018, the album – which is released under the collaborative moniker Ordnance Survey – features O’Connor on various instruments (see the full impressive list below), Kate Ellis on cello, John McEntire (of Tortoise, The Sea & Cake et al.) on drums, Sean Mac Erlaine on alto sax, bass clarinet and electrics, and Linda Buckley with vocal processing. Across eight tracks, it’s a fully-realised, synth-worshipping triumph of dense textures and widescreen extemporization that attempts…