Irish singer-songwriter Brona McVittie released her debut album We are the Wildlife back in January 2018. As well as being in our Best Albums of 2018, it was also a Featured Album of the Month on Folk Radio UK, a striking album that highlighted Brona’s vast array of influences:
We Are The Wildlife is an album of duality and dichotomy: there is the appreciation of the city (in this case London) that shapes and is shaped by human patterns of behaviour, and there is the natural sonic patterning McVittie finds in the Mountains of Mourne in rural County Down. Thomas Blake, Folk Radio.
Those sentiments were also shared by others including Jude Rogers of The Guardian: “Every note of sweetness to McVittie’s voice has a bite behind it too, showing you the stuff under the skin. A stimulating debut.”
Her new single The Green Man/Eileen Aroon provides a tantalising glimpse of what’s to come from her forthcoming sophomore album. You can listen to her novel interpretation of traditional Irish ballad Eileen Aroon on which Brona told us “I’ve been singing Eileen Aroon for years. Once when I had the good fortune to share a stage with Dave Swarbrick he said he very seldom ever heard the song these days. The exciting thing about this new release is that my arrangement has been radically, yet thoughtfully, reimagined through a new collaboration with electronic duo Isan (Robin Saville & Antony Ryan).”
Of the song, she adds “Eileen Aroon — composed by Carroll O’Daly around 1380 — espouses his love for Eleanor Kavanagh, daughter of the Leinster chieftain comparing her to a ‘flower of the hazel glade’”.
Upcoming Dates
Seamus Begley Trio / Brona McVittie trio
23rd January 2020 – City Hall, Dame Street, Dublin – http://tradfest.ie
http://bronamcvittie.corkbots.com/
Photo Credit: Beki Corrigan