Gareth Quinn Redmond
Umcheol (Cú Chulainn agus Ferdiad)
WRWTFWW Records
Out Now
Gareth Quinn Redmond’s Umcheol (Cú Chulainn agus Ferdiad) is an ambitious and innovative album. The title translates as ‘Um’ meaning ‘around’ or ‘throughout’ and ‘ceol’ meaning ‘music’; the word roughly translates as ‘ambient music’ and was made up by Conor Campbell – the artist behind the mesmerising triptych artwork that accompanies the album – and Gareth Quinn Redmond. Umcheol is a concept album, comprised of two long-form pieces inspired by the legendary tale of Cú Chulainn and Ferdiad – two Irish warriors who grew up as heart companions and brothers but are pitted against one another by two warring clans. In the liner notes, Gareth shares how they ‘fought across many days, pushing each other’s combat skills to their very limit. Despite all of this, when resting in the evening, they shared food, treated each other’s wounds and shared the same bed. Such was their love and respect for one another.’
The first piece on the album, Breacadh an Lae, translates to ‘the first light of the dawn’ and prepares the listener for the battle to come. Traditional Irish instruments are interwoven with modern synths in a complex, intricate relationship. The harp, the fiddle, and the tin whistle evoke melancholy and reflection with unexpected turns of phrase that put the listener in a field before battle, pensively studying dewdrops on grass blades. It’s early morning, and the land is coming to life.
The first piece (nearly 24 minutes) seamlessly flows into the second – Cú Chulainn agus Ferdiad. The tin whistle gently leads the listener into the song but speedily sets the scene for a more tumultuous listening journey when the synths swell and grow larger and more epic. This is the final battle – the two warriors seem to have found each other’s match, and for a while, it isn’t clear who will emerge victorious. When Ferdiad takes the upper hand, it enrages Cú Chulainn so that his fury propels him to drive his legendary spear, the Gae Bolga, through his friend, mortally wounding him.
At this point in the album, the soundscape grows quiet, and a chair creak and a breath can be heard in the recording, with the emotion of the scene seemingly silencing the musicians, too. Cú Chulainn mourns the fallen friend that died by his hand, and the piece transforms, with the harmonium announcing a change in the landscape or maybe the warrior’s heart. The sound grows darker, more mournful, and meditative. The tin whistle responds to this change, too, with more melodic lines contrasting the darkness of the soundscape. Is Ferdiad whispering his final words? The listener is left to imagine and construct his own interpretation of the piece, which is one of the great joys of instrumental music.
With this work, Gareth Quinn Redmond tried to give “new agency for the stories of my culture to be realised and retold”. Through the use of Irish traditional instruments and synthesizers, he offers a unique perspective on an epic legend which, according to his liner notes, was first set to text in the 800s in An Táin Bó Cúailnge. Umcheol is a cohesive, intricate work that reels the listener in and pulls and pushes at the imagination. It is an immersive experience; not because it requires swathes of attention or focus but because it transports the listener to a different place and time and does so with originality, care, and a great respect for music, both old and new.
May also be of interest: