The Dublin folk singer guests on the new song from their forthcoming album.
The trad duo previously announced a collaborative album featuring Lankum, John Francis Flynn, Anna Mieke, Junior Brother, Lemoncello and more.
The World That I Knew is released on May 9th, and ‘Green Grows the Laurel’ features Flynn’s distinct baritone alongside contrasting voices of Lucie Azconaga and Consuelo Nerea Breschi, with John ‘Spud’ Murphy on production.
“John is one of the first people we physically met to work with for this project at the time. It’s been extremely enjoyable. We’d known each other and had played together for years, but that was the very first time we were taking a song from scratch in order to build it together. His voice is so beautiful and deep. It contrasted really well with ours while being very complementary at the same time. It all happened very easily.
“We all agreed to bring some dark level of pain and loneliness to it. The double-whistle he’s using creates this tense and kind of crying line that opens and concludes the song. We decided to keep the rest quite bare to represent the loneliness of the main character until we reach the ending with a heavy crescendo accompanying the pain and struggles of this heartbroken narrator. We’ve invited John to perform it with us on several occasions since then and it’s always been an absolute pleasure.”
“I first heard Green Grows The Laurel sung by Delores Keane and was immediately struck by its beautiful melody. Keane’s version with John Faulkner is iconic but it was exciting to try something a little different with it with my friends Consuelo and Lucie. It was really nice to work with the excellent John Murphy who recorded and mixed the track. I’m very happy with the result.”
John Francis Flynn:
The collaborative album is five years in the making and features a who’s who of Irish musicians in the folk and trad arena including Ian Lynch (Lankum), John Francis Flynn, Anna Mieke, Alannah Thornburgh, Junior Brother, Slow Moving Clouds, Niamh Bury, Inni-K, Ruth Clinton and Cormac MacDiarmada (Poor Creature), Lemoncello and Branwen.
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