The High Seas
| The High Seas | |
|---|---|
| 📅 Released | 19 May 2018 |
| ⏳ Length | 47:55 |
| 🏷️ Label | Self-produced |
| Singles from The High Seas | |
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| |
Buy this album The High Seas or listen to it on amazon
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| The Journal of Music | very favourable[1] |
| TradConnect | very favourable[2] |
The High Seas is the debut (studio) album released on CD and vinyl in May 2018 by CCC[nb 1], a trio formed in the late 2010s by fiddle player Ciarán Ó Maonaigh, concertina player, traditional dancer and spouse Caitlín Nic Gabhann, and fiddle & bouzouki player and lead singer Cathal Ó Curráin. Actually, the trio CCC rather goes by the name of its debut album i.e. the eponymous name "The High Seas".[1][2][3]
Overview
As Toner Quinn, editor of The Journal of Music website, stated: «Caitlín Nic Gabhann and Ciarán Ó Maonaigh have joined with Donegal singer and bouzouki player Cathal Ó Curráin to form a trio called The High Seas. Released with the help of crowdfunder Pledge Music, their first album contains five songs and six instrumentals.»[1]
The album was launched in Amharclann Ghaoth Dobhair, a (newly refurbished) 300 seater venue in the heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht. The next launch occurred at the Willie Clancy Summer School in July 2018. A tour and a vinyl edition of the album followed in Autumn 2018.[2]
Origins
From Ashbourne, County Meath, Caitlín Nic Gabhann is a regular concertina performer at festivals and in concert halls from North America to Asia and an accomplished dancer, having toured the world with Riverdance and now The High Seas. In 2012, she won our Album of the Year award with her debut solo album called Caitlín.[2]
In 2015, she teamed up with fiddle player Ciarán Ó Maonaigh from Gaoth Dobhair Gaeltacht origins. They released a very well received duet album called Caitlín & Ciarán. Ciaran was heavily influenced by his extended musician family and the unique Donegal style of fiddling. He has recorded six acclaimed albums,[nb 2] and another album with his family group, The Mooneys[nb 3]). His music has been used in films, on television and on radio programmes. Ciarán also works as a director and producer in the television industry, with a focus on music documentary.[2]
As the youngest member of The High Seas at just 19 years of age, Cathal Ó Curráin also hails from the Gaeltacht of Gaoth Dobhair, Co Donegal. He grew up in the song tradition and his singing talents were nurtured by his aunties Bríd and Caitlín. Cathal also plays the bouzouki, banjo, fiddle and mandolin.[2]
About the addition of Cathal Ó Curráin to the band, Caitlín Nic Gabhann said that it has added so much to their live performances: «The whole thing feels like it's got a new lease of life now with both Gaelic and English songs alongside the tunes and dancing.»[2]
About the band's name
As Caitlín Nic Gabhann stated: «We had loads of new material and then decided that we needed a band name as opposed to being introduced by our three separate names. Then it was just a matter of getting into the studio and laying it all down.»[2]
Album cover
The album cover is a photo of the three musicians on the seashore, each smiling and holding their main instrument. On the top-left corner, it also shows the name of the album below the three letters "CCC" (stylized as (aptly) evoking waves) for Ciarán Ó Maonaigh, Caitlín Nic Gabhann and Cathal Ó Curráin.
Critical reception
On 13 June 2018, the new album received a warm review from the blog TradConnect, stating: «The band skillfully weave together the colourful strands of Irish music, song and dance into a tapestry of tradition, giving a sonic performance that is both playful and profound, ethereal and brooding.»[2]
On 31 May 2018, Toner Quinn, editor of The Journal of Music website, praised the album, stating: «Ó Maonaigh and Nic Gabhann are always exciting to hear – and a trio with Ó Curráin is worth listening out for. The highlight is "Éigse an Spidéil", yet there are other musical boiling points here. They may be fleeting, but there are not too many other sets of musicians who can reproduce them.»[1]
Track by track review
- "Níl Cailín Óg Níos Deise" ("There isn't a nicer young girl"): introducing the trio, this song whose lyrics were found under Cathal Ó Curráin's grandmother's bed after she passed away was written for her by a lover who emigrated. The song showcases Cathal Ó Curráin's voice as gentle, sweet-toned and quite unadorned – similar at times to the Northern singer Albert Fry.[1]
- "Éigse an Spidéil" / "Come West Along the Road": the highlight of the album, this barndance "Éigse an Spidéil" was composed by Caitlín Nic Gabhann; it begins with long, introductory high-pitched tones on concertina with fiddle below. She begins the tune with incisive triplets and Ciarán Ó Maonaigh introduces a wave of drones. From there it begins to intensify until Caitlín Nic Gabhann takes a hockey-stick turn into the fast reel "Come West Along the Road". Ó Maonaigh's vigorous double-tracked playing – like a hound out of a trap – helps reproduce the kind of classic moment that made tracks on the last album so exciting.[1]
- "The Road to Donegal": perhaps the strongest song on the album – Ó Curráin capturing the affection for the county that is all over the song's lyrics, and key to this trio – «Would you hurry said the driver, we can make the boat on time / The crossing it was easy, soon Glenshane we did climb / From Dungiven on to Derry, and around by Inishowen / Just a few more miles then we'll soon be home.»[1]
- "Stirling Castle" / "The Lowland's of Scotland" / "Mooney's Reel": in this Ciarán Ó Maonaigh's solo set – a strathspey and two reels – each piece intriguingly brings about a different aspect of his musical personality, and quite radically changes in tone with each piece. The first is playful and rough; in the second, he almost absents himself from the melody; and in the third, he applies his characteristic intensity. It's like a personal, musical search.[1]
- "The Drunken Landlady" / "Christmas Eve" / "The Abbey Reel": the three musicians play together these tunes with real energy, almost elation, but it is a high-wire act. The spontaneous nature is such that some details don't come off. Ciarán Ó Maonaigh has constant inventive ideas – a trill in the "Christmas Eve", a twist in the melody in the second part of "The Drunken Landlady" – but then he may repeat it and it loses its effect.[1] "Christmas Eve" is the first tune Caitlín Nic Gabhann has ever heard. They got the setting for the tune "The Abbey Reel" from fiddle players Liz Carroll and Stephen Campbell.[2]
Track listing
- "Níl Cailín Óg Níos Deise" – 4.34 (song #1)
- "Éigse an Spidéil" / "Come West Along the Road" – 4.28 (medley #1)
- "The Road to Donegal" – 4.06 (song #2)
- "Stirling Castle" / "The Lowlands of Scotland" / "Mooney's Reel" – 4.03 (medley #2)
- "Tomás Clancy's No. 2" / "The Monasteraden Fancy" / "Music in the Glen" – 3.30 (medley #3)
- "The Speaking Waltz" – 4.36 (tune #1)
- "Máire Ní Eidhin" – 3.48 (song #3)
- "The Drunken Landlady" / "Christmas Eve" / "The Abbey Reel" – 4.58 (medley #4)
- "Mo Ghloine Uisce Beatha" / "Eklunda Polska" – 4.52 (song #4)
- "An Cailín Rua" – 4.30 (song #5)
- "Nóta Stóta" – 4.30 (tune #2)
Personnel
- Caitlín Nic Gabhann - Concertina and Dance
- Ciarán Ó Maonaigh - Fiddles
- Cathal Ó Curráin - Vocals, Fiddle & Bouzouki
Notes
- ↑ ... as depicted on The High Seas cover.
- ↑ A solo album Ceol a' Ghleanna – The Music of the Glen (2004), three recordings with the group Fidil – Fidil (2008), 3 (2009), The Old Wheel of Fortune (2011), and Caitlín & Ciarán (2015), a duet album with Caitlín Nic Gabhann.
- ↑ Na Mooneys (2016).
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 "A High-Wire Act (by Toner Quinn)". 31 May 2018. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 "'The High Seas' weave together the colourful strands of Irish music on their debut release". 13 June 2018. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
- ↑ Caitlín & Ciarán bandcamp website > Album "The High Seas"
The High Seas article completed...
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