The Breath – “Something On Your Mind”.

Hey people! 🙂 

 

Today, I thought I’d like to share with you something from The Breath. They are a Manchester-based folk duo, comprised of Irish-born singer and flautist Ríoghnach Connolly and Mancunian guitarist Stuart McCallum. I first came across Ríoghnach’s music rather briefly when listening to BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2019, when she won the Folk Singer of the Year award. Apparently The Breath was also nominated in one of the categories but I don’t recall that very much. What I remember as my first contact with their music is when I heard them during one of the online Folk on Foot festivals, and I was immediately captivated by Ríoghnach’s vocals and after that dove deeper into her music. I also always really appreciate great guitar playing and Stuart McCallum is a really skilled guitarist. The song that I chose to share with you today is one of two songs that they released two years ago in memory of the late American folk singer Karen Dalton and celebrating the 50th anniversary of her studio album In My Own Time.  It is actually thanks to this recording of theirs that I actually learned about Karen Dalton, she isn’t very well-known as she didn’t release much of her music and led a rather reclusive life, so prior to that I had no idea about her life or music. This song was written for Dalton by Chet Powers/Dino Valenti. 

 

Ranagri – “Follow me up to Carlow”.

And for today, I’d like to share with you a very popular Irish folk song, which celebrates the defeat of an army of English soldiers by the Irish, led by Fiach MacHugh O’byrne, at the battle of Glenmalure in 1580. The music is said to have been played as a marching tune by MacHugh O’Byrne’s pipers, while the words were written some three centuries later by songwriter and poet Patrick Joseph McCall. 

 

This is the second song by the Anglo-Irish group Ranagri on my blog, the first one that I shared last year was High Germany. It’s worth noting here that Ranagri actually take their name from a place in county Carlow, not far from Glenmalure where the battle took place. 

 

Child of Mind – “Pig Eyed Blue”.

   Hey people! 🙂 

 

For today, I have for you a song by Child of Mind, which is, or perhaps was (we really haven’t heard anything new from him in quite a while so no idea if he intends to ever come back) the name of a solo musical project of Declan Galbraith, who has been a singer since age 10. It’s a live recording from Shenzhen in China, and I think it sounds really good. Way better and more ambitious both musically and lyrically, in my humble opinion, than anything he did as a kid and teen (though given that he was one of my faza peeps during my own teenage years I have a lot of sentiment for his earlier three albums too). Apparently there’s a lot of people who liked him back then and dislike the direction in which he and his music have gone as Child of Mind, but I think it’s only natural and healthy for kids to grow into adults, and for artists to develop over time as well, and also I have a feeling that there is a lot more of him in Child of Mind  than in his earlier stuff, considering that he writes his own songs as Child of Mind, and I always tend to prefer music in which people put a lot of themselves into it as it shows better what they’re like as individuals. 

 

Song of the day (11th May) – Órla Fallon – “Lullaby Time”.

Hey people! 🙂 

 

Let’s listen to the song that I have picked for yesterday, but didn’t manage to share in time. I decided on this very soothing lullaby from Órla Fallon’s album of the same title, which she released in 2012. I generally love a good lullaby, and this album is full of them. This isn’t the first lullaby Fromm that album that I’m sharing on here. 

 

Casi Wyn – “Nefolion” (Celestial Beings).

   And for today, I chose another song from a Welsh artist whose music I’ve known for years, but somehow only came across this particular song recently. I’ve already shared one song by Casi Wyn, which she released under her other stage name Casi & The Blind Harpist, also both in Welsh and English, called Dyffryn/Rooted.. 

 

I Regular people on here know that when I go to sleep, I like to have some music or a radio station in one of my favourite languages playing quietly throughout the night so it keeps the things that I collectively call sensory anxiety, for lack of better terms, at bay. One night last month, I had some Welsh playlist playing on Spotify and then when the playlist finished other stuff was playing on autoplay as is typical with streaming services. I woke up for a little while in the middle of the night, or very early morning if you will, and heard this breathtakingly beautiful song. The perception of music in half-sleep mode, at least in my experience, is often kind of different and sort of heightened in a way I’d say, so given that this song is already stunning and otherworldly when listening to it fully awake, in that half-sleep state, I was seriously wondering if I woke up in some parallel universe for Cymrophiles or something happened to me in my sleep and I was having a near-death experience or something. So the title of this song is very accurate imho, although I’m not sure if “celestial beings” is the best English translation I could come up with, I mean “nefol” means “heavenly/celestial” and “nefolion” is plural so I had no better ideas. I really like Casi’s music in general, so just like with yesterday’s song, I was surprised to find out that she released it three years ago and I’d never heard it previously. I am sharing both language versions: 

 

Welsh: 

 

 

 

English: 

 

Maura O’Connell – “Down by the Sally Gardens”.

   Hi guys! 🙂 

 

Today, I’d like to share with you this very popular Irish song, which is actually originally a poem written by William Butler Yeats. It was through this poem that I actually first learned about Yeats when I started taking an interest in the Celtic cultures. I have already shared one version of this song on here in the past, sung by Loreena McKennitt. 

 

Maire Brennan – “Black Night”.

   Hey people! 🙂 

 

I was listening to this song yesterday, and I was sure I must have shared it on here before, but turns out not. So I’m sharing it now. It comes from her 2006 album Signature and it is my most favourite track from this album. 

 

Órla Fallon – “Siúil a Rún” (Go, My Love).

   Hey dear people! 🙂 

 

Today, I want to share with you Órla Fallon’s ethereal version of this very popular Irish folk ballad. This is, as you may recall, not the first version of Siúil a Rún that I’m sharing on here, the first one I featured was by Anúna  and in that post I also shared a bit about this song’s background. Others were by Celtic Woman and Clannad. Órla Fallon actually used to be a member of both Anúna and Celtic Woman, and is particularly well-known from the latter. Her rendition of this song comes from her debut solo album The Water is Wide from 2005. 

 

Clannad – “Poison Glen”.

   Hiya people! 🙂 

 

Today, I want to share with you another song by Clannad. It refers to a glen in Gweedore – i.e. where Clannad hail from – which is known as Poisoned Glen in English. 

 

Lucy Blue – “I Left My Heart”.

   Hey people! 🙂 

   Last year, I shared with you Pilot, the first song by Lucy Blue that I heard and that I instantly liked. I’ve been listening to this Irish artist ever since. I like her personal songwriting, and I like how “blue” overall her music is. So I thought I’d share another song by her, one that just came out earlier this month. About nostalgia for home, and how you miss it and want to come back even though you’d always thought you wanted to leave. There’s even a line in Irish, which makes it feel all the more authentic to me. 

Song of the day (19th March) – Lxandra – “Solid Ground”.

   For Sunday’s overdue song of the day, I’ve chosen a pop piece, from a singer who has already had her debut here on My Inner Mishmash three years ago, with her song Swimming Pools. Lxandra, or Alexandra Leith, is a Finnish singer songwriter who lives in Germany. This song comes from her 2021 album Careful What I Dream Of. I like that album very much as a whole – well, I generally just like Lxandra’s music – but this is definitely my favourite song from it. Musically, but also lyrically. It just speaks to me on a lot of different levels and has plenty to like it for. 

Jonny Ash – “Rosies”.

   Hey people! 🙂 

   It’s kind of strange how many great indie rock bands have been born not even in Wales as a whole, but specifically in North Wales. I have featured many of my favourites in this category on here in the past, but today I’d like to share with you a song from another North Welsh rock act. From what I’ve read, Jonny Ash seem to have been a thing since at least 2020, but I first came across their music last year, when they released their single “Disco” through Bryn Rock Records, a label that I like to keep an ye on, out of sheer curiosity if nothing else, as it is ran by Jacob and Morgan Elwy, and Jacob, as the regulars will know, has been one of my faza people.

   I’ve liked their music ever since, and it seems to enjoy very good reception in their homeland as well, so I thought it would be a good idea to share something by them. I think Rosies is my favourite. It is about a bad experience at the Rosies nightclub. 

   The group is based in Wrexham, and consists of Callum Gaughran (vocals), his brother Dan (bass), Peter Roberts (guitar) and Mike Jones (drums). 

Clannad – “Morning Dew”.

   Hey people! 🙂 

   Today, I want to share with you a very interesting song by Clannad. It was written in the 1960’s by Canadian folk singer Bonnie Dobson, after she talked about nuclear apocalypse with her friends. It is a dialogue between the last woman and man on Earth who have survived a nuclear holocaust. Clannad’s version was the first one of this song that I heard, and initially I didn’t know what was the background of tis song, yet I still found it kind of creepy because I assumed the man was some sort of psychopath gaslighting the woman. 😀 I like songs with unusual lyrics that aren’t all about love, so I found this one very interesting, but even more so when I actually found out what it is about. I like Bonnie Dobson’s original version as well, and as it happens, my brain considers some parts of the melody slightly sensorily creepy – not seriously creepy in a way that would actually make me freeze and creep me out like more sensorily creepy sounds/sequences of sounds/tunes/harmonies do, but just enough to contribute even more to the overall weird feel of the song. 

Declan Galbraith – “Nights in White Satin”.

   Hey guys! 🙂 

   For today, I decided to share with you a song from Declan Galbraith’s 2006 album Thank You, which he released when he was 14. This is his cover of The Moody Blues’ 1960’s classic Nights in White Satin, written by Justin Hayward after a breakup. Unlike back when Declan was my dominant faza peep when I was a teenager, these days I find that the original speaks to me more, but I still have a lot of sentiment for Declan’s version of this song. 

Song of the day (8th February) – Órla Fallon – “Two Sisters”.

   This is yet another version of Two Sisters, a folk song that is known in many different parts of the world, or at least Europe, with slightly different plot lines. You can also check out the ones I’ve posted previously on here, by Loreena McKennitt,  Clannad, and Emily Portman. 

Ranagri – “High Germany”.

   Hi guys! 🙂 

   Today I’d like to share with you something from a folk group whose music I’ve only recently discovered. As I’ve been interested in English and Celtic folk music for years now, the name Ranagri was already vaguely familiar to me, but it was only a couple weeks ago that I had a chance to listen to their music and I liked them straight away. This particular song I want to share with you today is from their  album called Voices. 

   Ranagri are an Anglo-Irish band based in London, consisting of Dónal Rogers, Eliza Marshall, Eleanor Dunsdon and Jordan Murray. Their sound includes vocals and  instruments such as flutes, whistles, guitars, bouzoukis, harps and drums. 

   While High Germany is a traditional song dating back to the 18th century, and probably set during either the War of the Spanish Succession or the Seven Years War, Ranagri recorded it having the First World War in mind, and this song fits it just as well. 

Eithne ní Uallacháin – “Táim Cortha ó Bheith im’Aonar i Mo Luí” (I am Weary From Lying Alone).

   Hey people! 🙂 

   Keeping my promise from yesterday, here’s the second song from Eithne ní Uallacháin’s  album Bilingua, my most exciting music discovery of the year so far. Like yesterday’s song, it’s in what’s called macaronic form – two languages mixed together – but it’s a traditional tune. As far as I know, the English version  came first and the Irish translation was written later. But regardless of which came first, they are of course poetic rather than literal translations of each other, so there are differences between them, though I don’t speak Irish (yet), so I can’t write a direct translation of the Irish lyrics and haven’t found such a direct translation anywhere. Google Translate claims that the Irish title means something like “I am Tired/Sick of Being Alone in My Bed”, but I’ve stuck with the poetic translation of that line in the post title in case Google was wrong. 

   I first heard a version of this song by The Unthanks, and I liked it, because I like The Unthanks in general, but it didn’t make a lasting impression on me or anything. But when I heard Eithne’s version for the first time last week, it really affected my brain (well, just like the whole album, but I think this is one of its highlights for me), and I immediately thought that this song is just meant to be sung exactly the way she does, and with an Irish accent, or better yet, in Irish! As you can hear for yourselves, it is very minimalistic in form – just Eithne’s fragile, yet as always, almost eerily expressive vocals with very spare and gentle instrumentation. – It is so beautiful in that bittersweet way that makes you feel like you want it to never end, while at the same time twisting your soul and making it fall apart into aching but ecstatic pieces. And since it’s really two songs in one, it’s over six minutes of this gentle, blissful torture. 

Declan Galbraith – “Sister Golden Hair”.

   Hey dear people! 🙂 

   Today I want to share with you a song from Declan Galbraith’s (currently also known as Child of Mind) third album, You and Me, released in 2007 when he was fifteen. Just like his previous two records, this one also includes a lot of covers of pop and rock classics, and as perhaps some of you may figure out from the title, so is the case with this one. Sister Golden Hair was a 70’s hit written by Gerry Beckley for his band, America. 

Eliza Carthy & Norma Waterson – “The Rose and the Lily”.

   Hey people! 🙂 

   Today I have a traditional English murder ballad for you. I am familiar with many different versions of it, but this one is the first that I have ever heard. Norma Waterson and Eliza Carthy are mother and daughter from Yorkshire who are both very prominent English folk singers. This song comes from their first collaborative album called Gift.

   Norma started her career in a group called The Watersons that she formed together with her siblings. Later, she married folk singer and guitarist Martin Carthy who also became part of the band’s line-up. Over time, the Waterson-Carthy family have become such influential musicians that they earned themselves the title of the English folk dynasty, with Norma (who passed away last year)  considered its matriarch. Their daughter Eliza is also a great singer and a very skilled fiddle player.

   I was introduced to the music of both  women through this collaborative album, and I think this is my favourite track from it. Like this song alone, the whole album is also rather dark and sombre overall and the topic of death is quite prevalent throughout it. This ballad is also better known as the Cruel Brother. 

Lady Maisery ft. Jimmy Aldridge and Sid Goldsmith – “The Old Churchyard”

   Hi guys! 🙂 

   Today, I’d like to share with you a tune from a group  about whom I was sure that I must have shared something from them in the past already, because I like them and have been familiar with their music since very early on in my English folk music exploration journey, but it looks like I’ve never talked about them on here so I figured I’d do so today. Lady Maisery are a vocal harmony trio from the north of England, consisting of Hannah James (who is also a clog dancer and plays piano accordion, and used to be part of another group called Kerfuffle), Hazel Askew (who plays melodeon, concertina, harp and bells, she also performs with various early music groups playing on medieval harp) and Rowan Rheingans (who plays fiddle, banjo and bansitar, she is also a part of The Rheingans Sisters). They sing both traditional as well as contemporary folk music, including their original songs. The name of the group comes from a ballad titled Lady Maisry. 

   This particular song comes from an album that they have recorded in collaboration with the English folk duo Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith, titled Awake Arise: A Winter Album. It is originally an American Christian hymn which has over time also been embraced as a folk song. It is a comforting tune about death, reminding Christians that it is not something to only weep about, but that we should rejoice together with those we knew who have passed, because they are now in heaven. The song was collected from Almeda Riddle from Arkansas.