Rakish are a New England-based duo comprised of Maura Shawn Scanlin on fiddle and Conor Hearn on guitar. We’ve already shared a taster of their music in our most recent Folk Show with The Lucky One from their forthcoming album Counting Down the Hours that was produced by Seamus Egan (Solas) and is released on 4th February. We now have the pleasure of sharing the accompanying video below.
Combining a deep love for Irish and American folk tunes, there’s a beautiful elegance and flowing energy to their playing that shines through on The Lucky One and is a delight to hear. Maura shared the following on the track, which is released as a single this week (14th January):
“I wrote a sketch of the melody for this tune after spending a week listening to Darol Anger and Mike Marshall’s album Woodshop on repeat. Those two are real musical heroes for us, and every time I listen to that album, I hear something new. With this tune, we try to step outside the formal expectations of a traditional fiddle tune, in order to explore some different ways of creating longer and less cyclic melodies and phrases. The tune ended up with three distinct sections and inhabits several tonal centers before finding its way back home. It takes us on a journey when we play it, each time, it’s a little different than the last, so it always feels exciting and fresh to play. We hope you find yourself on the journey with us as you listen to this performance.
“It’s still very much a fiddle tune at heart, but there’s a little bit of a through-composed element to the arrangement that gives the tune a sense of direction.
“On the album we’re joined on this track by bassist Dan Klingsberg who adds some beautiful depth, but in this video, you’ll hear the stripped down version with just fiddle and guitar — the sounds I had in my head as I was first writing the tune.
“The tune is named after a very nice dog we met while we were traveling in Canada in February 2020.
“The video was filmed at Gallery 263 in Cambridge MA by Dan Jentzen, with audio recording by Peter Atkinson. Video editing was done by Dylan Ladds. We are very grateful to them for capturing us as we are.”
Talking about their new album Scanlin explains how the duo was “born out of a pretty traditional model of fiddle and guitar playing, but on this album, we’re bringing in some new ideas. Some songwriting that includes clawhammer banjo, some mandolin and bouzouki, and some classical sounds. Hopefully, the album will help us communicate our music’s flexibility and fluidity.”
Both Scanlin and Hearn grew up playing music from an early age; music was baked into their childhoods, families, and social groups. Scanlin began playing violin at age three, while Hearn began playing at age seven, later switching to guitar. The two met in Boston during both of their junior years in college while attending the same traditional Irish and Scottish music sessions. A friend coined the group “Rakish” for their first show as part of the Burren Backroom series, which has stuck with them since — partly as an ode to “Rakish Paddy,” a standard traditional Irish tune that they love to play.
Counting Down the Hours was recorded in Springfield, MA, with producer Seamus Egan, who also played tenor banjo and mandolin on a few of the album’s tracks.
The single, The Lucky One is out on 14th January 2022.
“Counting Down the Hours” is out on 4th February 2022.
Pre-Order via Bandcamp: https://rakishmusic.bandcamp.com/album/counting-down-the-hours
More here: https://www.rakishmusic.com/