One of the highlights from John Duignan and Conall Breachain’s third Choice-nominatedThe Cadences Of Others, ‘Reluctant Recluse’ now has a video by The Reelists which uses footage from the recording of the album in its making. Meta!
“We wanted the video to incorporate scenes from the album recording and the videographers, Tommy & Kevin, suggested projecting a series of these vignettes over a more conventional, performance-style, video. The song is an exercise in self-reflection as well as a wider examination of the singular Irish psyche.”
The band will play dates nationwide over March and April with support from Laoise:
Whelan’s, Dublin – March 25th Róisín Dubh, Galway – April 13th Cyrpus Avenue, Cork – April 22nd
The Choice Music Prize is this year the RTÉ Choice Music Prize for the first time and the announcement of the 10 Irish albums were revealed a short time ago on 2FM’s Tracy Clifford Show by Tony Clayton Lea, chairman of the judging panel.
The 10 albums shortlisted by the judges for Irish album of the year are:
Shortlisted albums
All Tvvins – IIVV (Warner Music) Bantum – Move (Self Released) Wallis Bird – Home (Mount Silver / Caroline International) The Divine Comedy – Foreverland (Divine Comedy Records) Lisa Hannigan – At Swim (Hoop Recordings) Katie Kim – Salt (Art For Blind Records) James Vincent McMorrow – We Move (Faction Records) Overhead, The Albatross – Learning to Growl (Self Released) Rusangano Family – Let The Dead Bury The Dead (Self Released) We Cut Corners – The Cadences Of Others (Delphi)
The winning act will receive €10,000, a prize fund which has been provided by The Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). All of the shortlisted acts will receive a specially commissioned award. RAAP, Culture Ireland & Golden Discs are also official project partners.
2FM has promised to play Irish music all day from 6am to midnight today to mark the announcement along with live cessions from SOAK and Delorentos and a two-hour special on this year’s RTÉ Choice Music Prize, Irish Album of the Year 2016 shortlist, presented by Conor Behan from 8-10pm.
Live event
Shortlisted albums will also be featured throughout in the lead up to the live choice prize event on Thursday March 9th in Vicar Street. Tickets for the Choice Music Prize live event are available at all Ticketmaster outlets and at http://www.ticketmaster.ie priced €26.50 including booking fee.
Judging Panel
Louise Bruton – Freelance & Irish Times Brian Coney – Editor, The Thin Air Maire Dineen – Súgradh Productions (Imeall TG4/Body & Soul) Suzanne Doyle – Music, Film & Television Consultant Dan Hegarty – 2FM Paddy McKenna – Editor, Joe.ie Cathal Murray – RTE Radio 1 Barbara Nic D – Classic Hits 4FM Colm O’Regan – Hot Press Niall Power – Head of Music Beat FM Eva Short – Deputy Editor, Trinity News
Irish Song of The Year 2016
The shortlist for the RTÉ Choice Music Prize – Irish Song of The Year 2016 will be announced on Wednesday 1st February, 2017. A Special event featuring exclusive performances from both Album of the Year and Song of the Year nominees will be held in Dublin that evening in the Workman’s Club.
We Cut Corners’ ‘Of Whatever’ from new album The Cadences of Others addresses Irish society’s apathetic disposition and how we are able to shake off what is happening around us. We shrug and go back to talking about Trump – a faraway demon as opposed to a local one.
The video for the song by Jon Hozier-Byrne features Megan O’Malley peaceful in a slumber until she’s suddenly engulfed by water and begins to drown – a sudden shock in a blissfully unaware state.
“There’s an outage of outrage and a wave of whatever is sweeping the nation.”
We Cut Corners’ John Duignan says” “The idea of ‘sleeping through’ the pivotal moments of your life is the ultimate expression of apathy, the major theme underpinning the song. The Klimtian tableaus that build toward the nightmarish denouement make for a most fitting visual foil to our favourite song on the new record.”
John Duignan and Conall Breachain’s third album as We Cut Corners‘ The Cadences Of Others feels like a band at their most fine-tuned. Recorded in a church in Drumcondra, the band in a short documentary by The Reelists which explains how they turned a church setting into a recording studio and how they had to make time to record between mass.
The Cadences Of Others features guests like Conor O’Brien (Villagers), Booka Brass and the Fratres String Quintet and is out now.
The band are playing gigs in Cork, Galway and Dublin in coming weeks.
Cyprus Avenue, Cork, Friday 11th November Roisin Dubh, Galway, Friday 18th November Button Factory, Dublin, Saturday 19th November
We Cut Corners have announced a new album The Cadences of Others will be released on Friday 4th November.
The band’s third album was self-produced and was recorded in a church in the Dublin suburbs. It features guests Villagers’ Conor O’Brien on bass, members of Booka Brass and the Fratres String Quintet. The album was mastered by Josh Bonati (Sufjan Stevens, Mac DeMarco, Tallest Man On Earth).
The Cadences of Others is out on 12” vinyl, CD and digital release on The Delphi Label. Pre-orders with CD or 12″ come with limited edition red vinyl of ‘Oh’ and ‘Mandinka’, featuring Booka Brass.
A number of tour dates were also announced with Sinead White aka White Mice on support.
Tour dates
Spirit Store, Dundalk, Saturday 5th November Cyprus Avenue, Cork, Friday 11th November Roisin Dubh, Galway, Friday 18th November Button Factory, Dublin, Saturday 19th November
Earlier this month, we got wind of We Cut Corners’ first song from their forthcoming album, which is as yet untitled but will feature Villagers’ Conor O’Brien , members of Booka Brass and the Fratres String Quintet.
The video for the single out on Friday, features some overhead projected handwritten lyrics and song ideas over the band by Jacob Stack.
“Our initial concept was to create a real-time lyric video, utilising an overhead projector, a long forgotten artefact of the analogue age. We realised that handsome handwriting was required and asked our friend, the artist Jacob Stack, to lend his artful cursive to the project.
When we sat down with Jacob and the director, Luke Byrne, they had so many ideas beyond merely conveying the lyrics, that the storyboard quickly evolved into something more spatial, dynamic and fun.”
Video credits
Director: Luke Byrne Illustrator: Jacob Stack Assistant: Daire O’Suilleabhain
You may have heard this new We Cut Corners single ‘On Avoiding People’ on the radio in the last week or so.
It’s the first single from Conall O’Breachain and John Duignan’s forthcoming third album, a typically short and sharp burst of melodic indie-rock.
The to be titled self-produced album is due for release in November 2016 and features contributions from Villagers’ Conor O’Brien (bass), members of Booka Brass and the Fratres String Quintet. It was recorded in a church in the Dublin suburbs and mastered by Josh Bonati (Sufjan Stevens, Mac DeMarco, Tallest Man On Earth).
The band are also playing Interlude Festival on Friday June 24th at the Paul McLoone Stage, the same day this single is released on Delphi.
As is my annual tradition, the Nialler9 Readers’ Poll in association with Tower Records is back for its ninth year. Once again, I’m looking to find out what Irish albums and songs didn’t leave your stereo, phone, playlists and beyond. I also want to know what gigs, remixes, club nights and more floated your boat in 2015. There are prizes too courtesy of Tower Records, Dawson Street, Dublin and more..
It’s my pleasure to give you a first look at Annie Atkins’ music video for We Cut Corners’ ‘Mammal’.
As mutual fans of each other’s work, it is a fitting collaboration especially with We Cut Corners having goodform in the visual matched to music department and Annie, who most recently received acclaim for her graphic design work on The Grand Budapest Hotel is a big fan of the band and the song in particular.
“I was also interested to find out that Conall and John are both school teachers,” said Atkins. “So I set the video in a special classroom for dogs, and a beagle from Bray called Sonny played most of the canine characters – he was a pretty versatile lead.”
We approached Annie about directing ‘Mammals’ having been fans of her beautifully singular aesthetic for a long time. This song is perhaps the most musically playful on the record and Annie managed to create a video that reflected this while still nodding politely to the underlying existential angst permeating the lyric. The casting of Sonny the Beagle in the lead role was pivotal in achieving this.
We Cut Corners have covered the Jona Lewie Christmas classic ‘Stop The Cavalry’ in aid of First Fortnight, the mental health festival which is happening in the first two weeks of January.
‘Stop The Cavalry’ will be released on Friday as a digital download from iTunes.
We Cut Corners will headline the First Fortnight Festival at The Button Factory on Saturday 10th January.
“It’s our favourite Christmas song and since we first played it live in Dick Mack’s pub in Dingle during Other Voices a couple of years back, we’ve wanted to record it for Christmas. When we were asked to be part of First Fortnight 2015, it seemed like the perfect time to make that happen. We’ve been very lucky to have the help of some great musicians to include strings and brass on the recording, which we finished just a few days ago in Orphan Studios in Dublin. Hopefully it can play a part in raising awareness for First Fortnight 2015, and with some downloads make a contribution towards this year’s fundraising for the charity.”
Toby Kaar might have gone very quiet on the live front in the last while and while we wait for the Cork producer to produce tracks to the public that match his reputation in front of an audience, the man has turned his hand to his first remix of a band since last year.
Kaar turns the song, ‘Every Thief’, from We Cut Corners’ recent Think Nothing album into a slow-moving six-minute long mood piece punctuated by the lyrics “Every thief needs an alibi, I’ll be yours, will you be mine?,” goes the song, and Kaar’s production is complicit.
How to enter ticket comp – Email [email protected] with the gig above in the Subject line you’re entering for along with your full name and phone number in the body of the message. Full info on each show below. Draw closes at 6pm the day before the gig or Friday 1pm latest for weekend gigs.
Kate Bush Irish language tribute @ The Grand Social (€15) [Tribute] Caitríona O’Leary will perform the very best of Bush’s songs, transcreated into Irish by Gabriel Rosenstock with band.
Oxjam Takeover: Homebeat @ Oxfam, Francis Street (€6 / €12 for weekend, 5pm – 8pm) [Three-day takeover] Elephants, Ye Vagabonds, Floor Staff, Let’s Set Sail.
Oxjam Takeover: State.ie @ Oxfam, Francis Street (€6 /€12 for weekend 5pm – 8pm) [Three-day takeover] Booka Brass Band, Come On Live Long, Rocstrong, Amidships.
Galway, Roisin Dubh – 2nd Oct Limerick, Kasbah Social – 10th Oct Dublin, Academy – 16th Oct Kilkenny, Set Theatre – 11th Oct Clonakilty, De Barras – 24th Oct Dundalk, Spirit Store Sat 25th Oct
Last week’s Album of the Week-bestowed We Cut Corners’ are launching their Think Nothing album in Button Factory tomorrow night with support from Liza Flume (win tickets in the gig guide) and to celebrate, they continue their interesting work into the visual side with another film and stop-motion animation, directed by Spanish videographer, Antoni Sendra Barrachina.
We Cut Corners Live
Fri 9th May – The Button Factory, Dublin 16th May – The Spirit Store, Dundalk 24th May – Kilkenny, Set Theatre
