Irish alternative trad/folk trio Rattling Ark share Coleraine Jig, the second single drawn from their forthcoming debut album Top of a Mountain, due 19 June 2026. The track follows lead single Leprechaun, which arrived in April with an astonishing shadow-play video by Brian Kelly.
Where Leprechaun leaned into wry trickster surrealism, Coleraine Jig foregrounds the trio’s instrumental craft. A haunting set piece for cello, zither and percussion, it carries its melody on the cello — played by Kevin Murphy of Slow Moving Clouds — while cascading zithers frame the line before the whole thing settles into a trancelike groove. Across the album Murphy plays cello and sings; Thomas Haugh handles zithers, percussion and electronics; Lizzi Murtough contributes cello, shruti box, keyboards and vocals, while guest musician Aki (Slow Moving Clouds) features on nyckelharpa and violyra.
Rattling Ark’s debut is rooted in traditional forms but reshaped by experimental approaches, drawing on the acoustic interplay of Pentangle, the darker textures of The Haxan Cloak and the contemporary folk sound of The Gloaming. While the cello is rarely at the centre of traditional Irish music, here it takes the lead — carrying jigs, reels and polkas, and underpinning a set of Irish and Scottish folk songs performed by Murphy and Murtough. Haugh’s instrumentation bridges acoustic and electronic worlds without sacrificing the music’s grounded feel.
Top of a Mountain will be launched at Bello Bar, Dublin, on 19 June 2026, followed by a nationwide tour.
TOUR DATES
June 12 – Fennelly’s of Callan, Kilkenny
June 19 – BelloBar, Dublin
July 23 – University College Cork
January 23 (2027) – Seamus Ennis Arts Centre, Dublin