Folk music emerging from Dublin seems to be everywhere at the moment - demonstrated most clearly by Lankum gaining a host of "Album of the Year" nods at the end of 2023 - but it would be a mistake to call this a movement, much less any kind of revival. While Lankum, John Francis Flynn, Ye Vagabonds, Lisa O"Neill et al might be new to a lot of audiences, these artists have been exploring and expanding what folk music can be for years, decades even. And this is just as true of Landless, the quartet who"ve been singing together since 2013, finding each other through the traditional singing scene in the city and, crucially, the Sacred Harp singing community. Working once again with John "Spud" Murphy (the Lankum producer and OXN member), Lúireach sees the quartet adding sparingly-used instrumentation – Ruth’s aching pump organ on Death & The Lady, Méabh’s shruti box on Ej Husari, Lankum’s Cormac MacDiarmada on fiddle, viola and banjo throughout, even some mournful trombone from Alex Borwick on The Newry Highwayman. As Lily explains, "A lot of the instrumentation happened organically as we were recording, while some elements we have used live for years, like the organ. We tend not to make these kinds of decisions in advance, but make suggestions as we go and see how everyone feels about it.
Hopefully the album still has the impact of the unaccompanied singing, with a bit of variation this time around." The songs for the album were gathered over a number of years, Ruth explains, and while the melody and lyrics are paramount, there is a common theme for many of the inclusions. "Frequently in traditional songs women are described as a passive love interest, in terms of their relationship to a male character. It is refreshing to find songs that challenge this power dynamic, but we are not totally hard-line about it, and sing plenty of old-fashioned love songs." Lúireach is an album of quiet power, soaked in tradition but finding new and exciting ways to present these remarkable songs, songs that are full of melancholy, love, death and mystery. Lúireach rewards your close attention.
