Friday, January 24, 2014

The Gloaming


Gloaming: that part of the day, after the sun has gone down, and before the light finally leaves the sky.
I am in the passenger seat, travelling the road from Enniskillen to Belleek, along the north shore of Lough Erne. It is in the gloaming. The sparsely lit landscape is dotted with deciduous trees standing dark and proud against the chill January sky. The sky is a dreamscape of washed out blues, greys, pinks and dons; colours on the wane. Here and there that same sky is lapping right up to the edges of the road.
By complete coincidence, I am hearing for the first time ‘The Gloaming’, the new album from the band of that name. It is as though the music was written from this very seat; it catches the mood and atmosphere of what I am seeing perfectly. Haunting, enchanting, Irish with twists, spare in parts, sometimes ECM like,  experimental; it is a marvellous fusion. Bearing in mind the personnel in the band, maybe that’s not surprising: The Gloaming is Thomas Bartlett, Dennis Cahill, Martin Hayes, Iarla Ó Lionaird, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh.
For a bit more on The Gloaming check out http://www.hotpress.com/hotfor2013/thegloaming.html 

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