Check out new track ‘The Granite Gaze’ from Lankum’s new album “Between the Earth and Sky”, which is released now on Rough Trade / Rhythmethod. Described as a song “Dedicated to the women and children of Ireland, past and present” by Lankum themselves and sung by Radie Peat of the band.
The accompanying video has been made by cult Irish filmmaker Stephen McCollum (also responsible for the hilarious Award winning ‘Pullin’ The Devil By The Tail’ animated short film series). Stephen has described the video as: ‘A metaphysical allegory exploring mankind’s capacity for ignorance and destruction of innocence in the face of celestial mystery, expressed in plasticine.”
Rough Trade label head, Geoff Travis contextualised,“On their first album the original song “Cold Old Fire “ is rapidly becoming an anthem for these times, listen to the Dublin audience sing every word with the band in concert. On the new album another original song “Granite Graze” serves a similar function of reminding us that the band are not merely traditionalists but classic song chroniclers of these modern times”.
Lankum are one of the most talked about bands to come out of Ireland in decades. They’re a Dublin four-piece who combine distinctive four-part vocal harmonies with arrangements of uilleann pipes, concertina, accordion, fiddle and guitar. Their repertoire spans humorous Dublin music-hall ditties and street-songs, classic ballads from the Traveller tradition, traditional Irish and American dance tunes, and their own original material. The band comprises of brothers Ian and Daragh Lynch along with Cormac MacDiarmada and Radie Peat. When not on tour Ian lectures in Irish Folklore and musical traditions in University College Dublin, while Cormac and Radie grew up as champion traditional players, on the fiddle and concertina, respectively. Yet Lankum are not purely trad themselves, in the same way The Pogues were more urban music. Rough-hewn and raw, they’re the most exciting thing in Dublin right now.
The band was originally formed by brothers Ian and Daragh Lynch in the early 2000’s, and has since progressed through a number of incarnations, culminating in the four-piece group playing today. The release of their album ‘Cold Old Fire’ and a subsequent appearance on the BBC television programme, ‘Later… with Jools Holland’ cemented their reputation as a band that successfully crosses genres. Although an acoustic group whose repertoire is fundamentally based on traditional song, influenced by legends such as Frank Harte, Planxty, The Dubliners and the Watersons, subtle traces of the group’s collective influences can be detected, ranging from American old-timey music to krautrock and drone. Lankum are busy breathing new life into old music.
“Lankum are the darlings of Dublin’s 300 year-old folk scene.” Colin Irwin – The Guardian
5/5 fRoots
8/10 Uncut
4/5 MOJO
