Critically acclaimed Irish quartet Lankum announce their new album ‘False Lankum’. They have shared the first single ‘Go Dig My Grave’ with a video by Peadar Gill (also our Song of the Day).
It was in 2019 that the Irish quartet Lankum released ‘The Livelong Day‘. In his album review, David Weir described it as ‘Writhing with the terror of our times one moment, then rising with indescribable heart and hunger the next; this is traditional song stretched and submerged.’ Today they are announcing a new record. False Lankum, also the title of the murder ballad from which they take their name, is out on March 24, 2023, on Rough Trade Records. They are sharing the first single, ‘Go Dig My Grave’ today (our Song of the Day), with a video by Peadar Gill (watch below). False Lankum will be available on LP and CD; pre-order is available here.
Commenting on their groundbreaking last album, which saw them pick up that year’s RTE Choice Music Prize (the Irish equivalent of the Album of the Year Grammy) and the #8 spot on NPR Music’s Best Albums of the Year list, band member Radie Peat claimed, “it’s the kind of album we’ve been trying to make for years, we haven’t compromised”. False Lankum boldly embraces that same spirit, fashioning contemporary music from traditional elements in a way that’s quite unlike anyone else. Alongside other traditional numbers are two original tracks, ‘Netta Perseus’ and ‘The Turn’, both penned by the group’s Daragh Lynch.
‘Go Dig My Grave’ was discovered by Lankum’s Radie Peat, who learned the particular version on the album from the singing of Jean Ritchie, who recorded it in 1963 on the album Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson at Folk City. It is a member of a family of songs which seem to be largely made up of what are known as ‘floating verses’, originally composed as stanzas of various different ballads, some of which date back as far as the 17th century.
“Our interpretation of the traditional song Go Dig My Grave is one that centres around the emotion of grief – all-consuming, unbearable and absolute,” explain Lankum, “A visceral physical reaction to something that the body and mind are almost incapable of processing. The second part of the song is inspired by the Irish tradition of keening (from the Irish caoineadh) – a traditional form of lament for the deceased. Regarded by some as opening up ‘perilous channels of communication with the dead’, the practice came under severe censure from the catholic church in Ireland from the 17th century on.”
Go Dig My Grave is also our Song of the Day. Watch the accompanying music video – Director Peadar Ó Goill / Art Director Vicky Langan – the combined audio-visual tension they create throughout the song is so remarkably intense that you’ll never think of the song in the same way again. While ‘The Livelong Day’ was widely hailed, this feels like an important next step from Lankum; I think this new album is going to be something that goes far beyond expectations.
From the start, Dublin’s Lankum planned for False Lankum, their fourth record and third for Rough Trade, to feel like a complete piece – a progression and a journey for the listener. “We wanted to create more contrast on the record so the light parts would be almost spiritual and the dark parts would be incredibly dark, even horror inducing,” they explain. The album’s 12 tracks, composed of 10 traditional songs and two originals, show the four-piece using a new palate to colour their sound in an increasingly experimental way, alongside longtime producer John ‘Spud’ Murphy.
While this album has been a few years coming, it’s quite something that they’ve found the time to make this album as they’ve all been kept pretty busy with other projects, causes (such as the fight to save The Cobblestone pub), and in the case of Radie Peat, life-changing moments, who gave birth last year to baby Rúna. After a break (although she did also manage to squeeze in four projects while pregnant, including an eerily intense soundtrack collaboration with Ben Frost for the Netflix series 1899), Radie returned to the stage for the first time last year, at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, as part of the Irish Traditional Music Archive series Drawing from the Well. In case you missed it, Radie also appeared in Episode 1 of 2021 of their video series, in which she explored some of the dark and subversive themes found in her ballad repertoire. You can watch it here.
Ian Lynch has continued to deliver his excellent Fire Draw Near podcast (details – https://campsite.bio/firedrawnear) and, along the way, delivered an excellent companion anthology which we reviewed here. Also, as One Leg One Eye, he delivered the potent ‘…And Take The Black Worm With Me’ (which also made our Top 100 Albums of 200) “not for the faint of heart, it is certainly worth taking the plunge: its immense depths are as emotional as they are musical and conceal a haunting beauty.” Read our review here.
Daragh Lynch has been popping up all over the place, but I’ve especially enjoyed his collaborations with Edinburgh-born singer and multi-instrumentalist Iona Zajac. Last year, they performed solo and collaborative works at Dublin’s National Concert Hall. We shared their re-imagining of ‘The Burning of Auchindoun,’ which was especially memorable, as was his personal tribute to Cyril Tawney.
Last year, we got to experience Poor Creature, the new project from Ruth Clinton of Landless and Cormac MacDiarmada of Lankum. While taking inspiration from the Irish tradition, their approach is experimental, edgy and refreshingly original. We also got to share a BYOL Session from Féile na Gréine here.
Also, if you’ve not seen it, seek out Luke McManus’s documentary ‘North Circular‘, a musical documentary that travels the length of Dublin’s North Circular Road, from the Phoenix Park to Dublin Port, exploring the history, music and streetscapes of a street that links some of the country’s most beloved and infamous places (inclusing the battle to save the legendary Cobblestone Pub mentioned above). It includes performances from John Francis Flynn, Séan Ó Túama, Eoghan O’Ceannabháin, Ian Lynch & Gemma Dunleavy. The documentary has had a number of screenings since December in Ireland, including Mountjoy Prison, during which Daragh also played some songs.
Following on from their much-anticipated sell-out show at The Barbican on 4th May 2023, Lankum will return to London in December 2023 to play The Roundhouse – their biggest headline gig to date. With their April/May tour almost completely sold out, the band will return to Amsterdam and Berlin in November 2023 and have announced their first German tour. The full dates are below.
Pre-order False Lankum – https://lankum.ffm.to/falselankum
False Lankum Tracklist:
01) Go Dig My Grave
02) Clear Away In the Morning
03) Fugue I
04) Master Crowley’s
05) Newcastle
06) Fugue II
07) Netta Perseus
08) The New York Trader
09) Lord Abore and Mary Flynn
10) Fugue III
11) On a Monday Morning
12) The Turn
Lankum Forthcoming Tour Dates
(* = newly announced)
APRIL
25th Apr – Silent Green, Berlin, Germany – sold out
28th Apr – Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, Netherlands– sold out
30th Apr – Le Botanique, Brussels, Belgium
MAY
2nd May – Petit Bain, Paris, France
4th May – London, Barbican, London, UK – sold out
10th May – St Lukes, Glasgow, UK – sold out
11th May – Band on the Wall, Manchester, UK – sold out
Fri 12th May – SWX, Bristol, UK
19th May – Mandela Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland*
20th May – Cork Opera House, Cork, Ireland*
30th May – Vicar St, Dublin, Ireland*
31st May – Vicar St, Dublin, Ireland*
JUNE
28th Jun – Pop Messe, Brno, Czech Republic
JULY
4th Jul – All Together Now Festival, Co Waterford, Ireland
NOVEMBER
17th Nov – Manufaktur, Schorndorf, Germany*
19th Nov – Transcentury Update Festival, Leipzig, Germany*
22nd Nov – Lido, Berlin, Germany*
23rd Nov – Stadtgarten, Köln, Germany*
26th Nov – Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands*
DECEMBER
13th Dec – The Roundhouse, London, UK*
Tickets: https://lankumdublin.com