098: RÓIS - OH LOVELY APPEARANCE OF DEATH
While it fits with the ethos of this project to share just one song from RÓIS's new album, doing so doesn't begin to tell the story of all the worlds, and colours, and shapes - seen and unseen - that glimmer under the surface of this fascinating, absolutely gripping new collection from the Irish musician.
Featuring original recordings and re-shaped songs and hymns, each track on based around the concept of "death, life, mourning and catharsis" and explores the subject in every which way imagine; from mournful soundscapes to outlandish electronic experimentation.
RÓIS re-imagines the tradition of keening in Ireland that goes back to pre-christian times, a practice in which women, or bean caointe, would keen a lamenting wail at the side of a coffin during a wake. After discovering two out three lasting recordings of keening songs, RÓIS was inspired by their ethereal melodies to give them a modern reworking. RÓIS aspires to express the power of the voice to transcend death and help us relinquish our fear of it.
The album opens with 'WHAT DO YOU SAY', five-minutes of singular shapes and sounds, a weaving of splintered voices like a cacophony of rabid witches. It's truly unique, a mind-blowing vision brought to life.
The closest the collection gets to traditional balladry is on OH LOVELY APPEARANCE OF DEATH, an olde song from centuries ago, brought into life with a gentle stoking of the flames, a subtle blow to ignite a small burning spark in the dead night. It's hypnotic and beautiful, always underpinned by a threat to suddenly unravel. It doesn't, however, staying mostly true to the orthodox - and is all the more compelling for it.
The unravelling happens elsewhere, and those moments, each piece of this arresting puzzle, really needs to be heard to be believed. So dive in.
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three / six / five is a daily music-sharing project from gold flake paint; read more about the idea here
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