Imaginational Anthem vol. XIV : Ireland is curated by Irish guitarist and songwriter Cian Nugent who has released music on the San Fran label.
The compilation is out on vinyl, CD and digital on October 24th, and spotlights Irish solo acoustic guitar talent.
This fourteenth edition of the compilation series is released on the label’s 20th anniversary of the compilation when it launched the first volume of the series in October 2005, and subsequent releases were curated by Ryley
Walker, Hayden Pedigo, Sam Moss and more.
Imaginational Anthem vol. XIV : Ireland features Junior Brother, Brendan Jenkinson, Damian O’Neill from The Undertones, steel guitarist David Murphy, NC Lawlor, Caoimhe Hopkinson, Sean Carpio and curator Cian Nugent among others.
A teenage Cian Nugent appeared on the cover of Volume 3 and contributed one of his first solo compositions on that album.
There’s a scene in Steve Coogan’s 1997 sitcom I’m Alan Partridge where the central character Alan starts talking to some Irish TV producers about
Ireland and its varied poor representations (badly tarmacked driveways, people with eyebrows on their cheeks, and horses running through council
estates) and suggests that perhaps a tagline for a new Irish era should be ‘There’s more to Ireland than this’. And while I didn’t quite have the facetious gall to call this album just that, the temptation did make me chuckle.Perhaps the intention of putting this collection together was to show a different side of Irish guitar. The guitar has often played a questionable role
in Irish music. Its tendency towards bashing and harmonising has many times raised eyebrows at traditional sessions, and the good lord knows the
dread that befalls faces when a guitar is produced unprovoked at a party.
Passing a Dublin tourist trap pub, the sound of a plastic piezo strum can elicit horror in the passerby. But the guitar can also be a tool for dreaming
and mystery. It can soothe a sleepless night or transport us in memory. This compilation includes guitar that does just these things by some of Ireland’s most imaginative guitarists.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
