The Squid's Ear Magazine


O'Dwyer, Aine / Graham Lambkin: Green Ways [2 CDs] (erstwhile)

A unique sound document originally envisioned as a sound map of Ireland, collecting and composing with live recordings from performances in Doon, Dungarvan, Plaistow, Shoreditch, Singo & Stratford, using song, sound, spoken word, extraneous, ambient recordings and abstract and unidentifiable elements, making for an absolutely fascinating and somewhat bizarre album; recommended.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Aine O'Dwyer

Graham Lambkin


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Label: erstwhile
Catalog ID: Erstwhile 088-2
Squidco Product Code: 26666

Format: 2 CDs
Condition: New
Released: 2018
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack - 3 panel
Recorded in Doon, Dungarvan, Plaistow, Shoreditch, Singo and Stratford, United Kingdom, in 2018.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Green Ways documents a collection of live recordings, drawn from in situ performances given in Doon, Dungarvan, Plaistow, Shoreditch, Singo and Stratford across 2018. It celebrates the filiocht of rural and urban acoustic environments with a playful economy of means, and offers a special salute to the rich heritage of Carnahalla."-erstwhile



"I'm fairly certain I will remember the first time I heard Green Ways for the rest of my life. When a double CD by two of my favorite artists on my favorite label was announced, it's not surprising that it was one of my most anticipated releases this year. I was careful not to try to predict what the music would sound like; Graham Lambkin and Áine O'Dwyer are both artists who subvert my expectations almost as a rule, always giving me what I didn't know I wanted. But even if you don't have expectations, Green Ways will surprise you. Crafted with care, reverence, and an inordinate amount of love, it is one of the few albums that I can call a truly unique experience. As Lambkin says in his fascinating interview with The Quietus, Green Ways was originally envisioned as a sound map of Ireland, O'Dwyer's home country. Though they intended to "[go] over to Ireland and record in these places that meant something to her," the album ended up as much more, not only imbued with the sentiment and memories attached to the recordings but also with new emotions created with abstract performances and the "filíocht of rural and urban acoustic environments."

The opening suite of tracks, "One and One Is One" through "...Is Three," are immediately mysterious. "...Is One" begins with a group vocal performance, beginning as a collectively produced drone that transforms into something much more rhythmic. It and almost all the other tracks create a palpably physical sound space; you can feel the vibrations of the creaking wood floor, the syrupy acoustics of the vocalizations, that overwhelming but pleasant warmth from sitting amidst a large group of people. The way in which Green Ways puts emphasis on the concept and feeling of 'place' is truly incredible, from trapping the listener atop the surface tension of the water in "One and One Is Two" to immersing them in the movement of hiking and kneeling to collect mushrooms and other herbs. "Greenways" is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard, swirling a gorgeous, natural drone around the stereo recorder...but I could also say the same thing about "Expatriate Union," which takes that powerful sensation of being in a crowd even further, or "The £500 Whistle," a mundane but sublime walk through what sounds like a busy town square, or "Down by the Sally Gardens," when a distorted dog bark rips through comfortable rural domesticity, or... you get the idea.

But 'place' is not only conveyed physically; the voices and actions of actual people are important too. Intimate singing of traditional folk songs placed throughout the album, as well as snippets of conversations and the soft cacophony of crowds. These yield amazing moments as well, like on "Metallurgy," when O'Dwyer asks their companion how long he thinks "that boulder" has been there, to which he nonchalantly, "about 6000 years." It's a rare verbal communication of the themes and ideas that Green Ways explores so effectively without any words at all, conveying that deep undercurrent of age and history that runs under the Emerald Isle, a place that simultaneously exists in the present and so far in the past.

I could go on; really, I could. Green Ways is an indescribably rich album, and I don't think I'll ever be able to fully enumerate all the things it makes me feel. I'm just so grateful that it exists."-jckmd, Noise Not Music


Get additional information at Noise Not Music

Artist Biographies

"Áine O'Dwyer

Hailing from Ireland, Áine O'Dwyer creates live and recorded events which embrace the broader aesthetics of sound and its relationship to environment, time, audience, and structure. The notion of a holding space as-extension-of-instrument is a cornerstone of her artistic investigation and the crux of her performances and albums to date; Gallarais, Beast Diaries, Music For Church Cleaners, Locusts and Gegenschein.

She is originally from Pallasgreen, County Limerick, Ireland. Before she got into her teens she had tried applying herself to the piano, tin whistle, flute and fiddle. The piano was the one that she had more time playing and that was until she was 11. Then she took to the harp. In addition to harp, she also plays organ. When she was at school, the teen-aged O'Dwyer wanted to play the pipe organ but the nun there in her judgment refused her permission. She eventually moved to London to do her master's degree in fine art media.

She is currently based in London.

An album she is quite well known for is Music For Church Cleaners. The album was actually recorded while church cleaners went about their duties. Their activities were picked up on the recording.

Her album Locusts is No 6 on Thump's The 25 Best Experimental Albums of 2016 list.Live performances

Some of her performances could be regarded as quite unique. As mentioned in The Music of the Future by Robert Barry, the author was on his way to attend the Supernormal Festival festival near Reading. He said he was to watch her lying on the floor beneath a baize cloth, plucking the strings of a harp with her feet. One performance was based on her drawings of mythical creatures.

She collaborated with Alice Maher on the live show, Visitant, which combined dance, music and visual art, performed at the Project Arts Centre in 2014. Around the end of November 2015 she appeared at London's Cafe Oto, dressed up like 18th century scullery maid, backlit with a fan flailing her hair, playing an accordion in a strange fashion, described by The Quietus reviewer Matthew Foster, as "a terrifying sight for the average wuss". Recounting one of her live performances, Chal Ravens of Fact Mag said she was like an invisible banshee, pummeling them (the audience) with gothic drama from her concealed lair. According to experimental artist Graham Dunning in an early 2016 interview with Robert E Smith of The Attic Magazine, he says she is possibly his favorite live artist, mentioning her refreshing sets being often melancholy but also mentioning the deliberately jarring sections and silly interludes.

In 2017, UnderTheRadar.co.nz reported that O'Dwyers Music For Church Cleaners NZ Tour was to begin in Auckland on Saturday 20 May, with the next stops Wellington and Dunedin before concluding in Christchurch on Saturday 27 May. The Wellington performance was scheduled to be held at the First Church of Christ Scientist."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81ine_O%27Dwyer)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Graham Lambkin first entered the public consciousness at 19 when he formed his band The Shadow Ring, in Folkestone, a small town in Kent, England. The band was memorable and built an rabidly passionate fan base because of its sui generis approach, blending elements of folk, noise, cracked electronics, and surrealist poetry, while radically changing the overall formula with each release. A decade of increasingly skewed and inspired work culminated in 2003's I'm Some Songs, constructed long distance as Lambkin had relocated to the US in 1998. Over the last few years, Lambkin has primarily worked under his own name, most notably with 2007's brilliant Salmon Run, a precursor to The Breadwinner."

-erstwhile records (http://www.erstwhilerecords.com/catalog/052.html)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



CD1



1. One and One Is One 8:59

2. One and One Is Two 1:57

3. One and One Is Three 4:00

4. The Mushroom Field 4:54

5. Greenways 9:14

6. Laughter, Laughing 1:43

7. Expatriate Union 4:33

8. Wings to Fly 2:45

CD2



1. Wings to Fly 1:56

2. The Old Brigado 1:38

3. Down by the Sally Gardens 3:37

4. The 500 Whistle 3:54

5. Metallurgy 3:54

6. Rain Star 6:05

7. Beeaf for the Craic 2:54

8. Night Music 10:55

9. The Medicine Man 5:10

Related Categories of Interest:


Electro-Acoustic
Organized Sound and Sample Based Music
Sound, Noise, &c.
Field Recordings
Spoken Word
Duo Recordings
New in Experimental & Electronic Music
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