Ciara Moynihan
Fresh from a sold-out UK tour, the award-winning Southern Tenant Folk Union are returning to Ireland for a nine-date Irish tour from February 7 to 16, stopping off in Ballina Arts Centre this Friday, February 8.
The Irish tour is a celebration of the Scottish acoustic, folk and roots band’s fifth album, ‘Hello Cold Goodbye Sun’, which was released yesterday (Monday). Fans in this country were also treated to a special live performance on last Friday’s Late Late Show.
The seven piece all-acoustic Southern Tenant Folk Union is comprised of Adam Bulley on mandolin, tenor guitar, e-bow and vocals; Ewan Macintyre on harmonica, lead vocals; Carrie Thomas on fiddle, octave fiddle and lead vocals Rory Butler on guitar, and lead vocals; Chris Purcell on guitar, harmonica and lead vocals; Ailig Hunter on double bass; Pat McGarvey on five-string banjo, guitar and vocals; and Jed Milroy on clarinet, guitar, clawhammer banjo and vocals.
The band’s name is taken from a multi-racial union of sharecroppers and non-landowning tenant farmers founded in Arkansas in the 1930s, giving a hint of the kind of Americana rootsy music they create. Critics have hailed their sound as ‘groundbreaking’, ‘excellent’, ‘flawless’ and ‘fresh’ and their explosive live performances have become renowned. Mayo fans will have great memories of their 2010 and 2012 gigs in The Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar – and the standing ovations they gave the band.
‘Hello Cold Goodbye Sun’ is a collection of new and original material. Like their previous work, the album was recorded live in a circle of vintage East German microphones. The discovery of Jed Milroy’s talent on the clarinet feeds the claustrophobic atmosphere of tracks like ‘Crash’, ‘Chest Freezer’ and ‘Conscience Falls’. Guest percussionist Steve Fivey (on cajon and djemebe) drives the backbeat of tracks like ‘Goodbye Sun’, ‘Men in Robes’ and ‘Days By The Seaside With Ice Cream’.
The album has already been garnering critical acclaim, with The Independent (UK) giving it four out five stars, and proclaiming it the band’s ‘most potent offering since 2010’s excellent The New Farming Scene’. The Daily Record dubbed it ‘aural bliss’ that ‘feels like 12 singles rather than a few strong tunes with fillers’.
The Ballina gig promises to be a special one, but if you can’t make it, head down to Galway, where they will be playing in The Crane Bar on Sea Road at 8pm on St Valentine’s night.
Southern Tenant Folk Union will play in Ballina Arts Centre, Barrett Street, Ballina, this Friday, February 8, at 8pm. To book tickets (€15/€12 each) call the arts centre on 096 73593. For more information, visit www.ballinaartscentre.com.
