Limited edition CD EP compilation inspired by histories of shipwrecks and storms in Ireland in the 19th century. We’ve got 10 copies of this so get in quick!
Tracklisting:
1. James Yorkston – Connaught Mary and James O’Donnell
2. Neil Farrell – Blindfold (The Francis Spaight)
3. Branwen – St. John
4. Michael J. Sheehy – The Ostler Stares
On 6 September 2024, we release a new Digital / CD EP, ‘Shipwreck in the West’ with new material from James Yorkston, Neil Farrell, Branwen and Michael J. Sheehy. The release is part of a new Bring Your Own Hammer series where we ask composers, singers and musicians to create work inspired by histories of shipwrecks and storms in Ireland in the long nineteenth century. Most ships made it safely across the north Atlantic in the 1800s. But some did not. These songs capture the stories of some of those shipwrecks and their connections to the west of Ireland. The EP opens with an interpretation by James Yorkston of Connaught Mary and James O’Donnell, a traditional song local to Rann na Feirste in west Donegal. Blindfold (The Francis Spaight) by Neil Farrell offers an account, based on a true story, of the eating of a cabin boy from Limerick on the high seas in 1835. St. John by Branwen tells the story of the St. John, which left Galway during the Famine and was shipwrecked off the coast of Massachusetts on 7 October 1849. The EP closes with The Ostler Stares by Michael J. Sheehy, which tells the tale of the Edmond, shipwrecked off the coast of Co. Clare at Kilkee, in November 1850, with the loss of 98 lives.
The Artists
James Yorkston is a singer-songwriter and author from the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. Since signing to Domino Records in 2001, James has released a steady flow of highly acclaimed albums, leading to him touring his music worldwide. James’s 2023 album, ‘The Great White Sea Eagle’, is a collaboration with Nina Persson (The Cardigans) – All Music 9/10 -“Some of the most beautiful and moving music he’s made, which is high praise indeed. With his Yorkston / Thorne / Khan project, James explores his love of traditional and experimental music, mixing them with Indian Classical music. Y/T/K’s 2020 release, Navarasa, was The Guardian’s Folk Album of the Year. James has had published three books – the novel ‘3 Craws’, and the memoir ‘It’s Lovely to be Here – The Touring Diaries of a Scottish Gent’. James’ second novel, ‘The Book of the Gaels’ (Oldcastle Press, 2022) was a Times Newspaper Book of the Month and one of their Historical Fiction Books of the Year.
Neil Farrell is a musician, songwriter and producer from Galway, Ireland. He was a founding member of the Galway band Toasted Heretic, whose four albums provided them with a top ten hit as well as rave reviews in the UK and French press. In recent years, he has released two solo albums, A Trip to the Sewers of Paris (2018) and A War About an Egg (2022), both under the moniker of The Melancholy Thug.
Branwen Kavanagh is a musician and performance artist from the West of Ireland. Her work is imagination centric and is inspired by mythology and folklore from home and around the world. She is a songwriter, a sculptor, puppeteer, a visual artist, writer of surreal visual plays and a lively adventurer. She is involved in a number of music projects, past and present including Branwen her current solo act, Twin Headed Wolf (a previous outfit with her twin sister) and currently Rufous Nightjar (3 part acapella group) for which she is the main songwriter.
Michael J. Sheehy makes music as a solo artist and as part of the rock band Miraculous Mule as well as one half of psychedelic electronic duo United Sounds of Joy. In 2020 he released his critically- acclaimed solo album Distance Is The Soul of Beauty, his first in a decade.