Trouble or Fortune Newsletter

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07/08/23

Delighted to be beginning myself and Aidan Connolly's tour of Buenos Aires next Friday. One of the towns in which we will be play is Capilla del Señor, where many of the new old songs I'm working on were printed.  

  • 28 de Julio, Club Fahy, Belgrano CABA, Buenos Aires. 20:00hs
  • 29 de Julio, Museo del Periodismo, Capilla del Señor, Buenos Aires. 16:00hs.
  • 2 de Agosto, La Faustina, Villa Crespo, CABA, Buenos Aires.* 20:00hs.
  • 4 de Agosto, Circulo Criollo, General Las Heras, Buenos Aires. 20:00hs.

*Along with a screening of “The Green Fields of Cuba.”


Next Saturday I'll be singing these Irish Argentine airs next to the printing press where they were printed in 1872. Given this historic visit, I'm also taking the first tentative steps in the filming of a new documentary which will follow the story of one of the songs "The Trackless Wild." 10 of these songs will appear on the new album I'm working on "Exile and Adventure, Irish Song of the Pampa and Farther Afar." 

beir bua, 

Charlie

 

20/10/2022

Fire and Foam

Fire & Foam

Charlie O' Brien

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Fire & Foam

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Fire and Foam is a collection of original alt. folk songs, some newly formed, some written more than twenty years ago. What binds them together is their personal themes-the album is a clarion call to loss on both an abstract and personal level. As the title track calls...

"Come rolling thunder, lets fall asunder, in the blink of an eye a long

Fire and Foam is a collection of original alt. folk songs, some newly formed, some written more than twenty years ago. What binds them together is their personal themes-the album is a clarion call to loss on both an abstract and personal level. As the title track calls...

"Come rolling thunder, lets fall asunder, in the blink of an eye a long dream dies."

This is my first record not informed in any obvious way by the Irish tradition I've been involved in for the past twenty or more years. My last album "Hy Brasil" dealt exclusively with historical stories and songs of the Irish in Latin America, this release is all personal songs and reflections, and leans heavy into alt folk territory in its sound. Fire and Foam was recorded during the lockdown and somehow themes of destruction and alignment to a new world crawled out of the subconscious and formed the thematic backbone of the album.

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    The Black Rogue

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    Fire and Foam

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    Under An Impression

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    Throw me a Line

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    The Old Country

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    End in Sight, End in Sound

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05/11/2021  

Under an Impression

Under an Impression

Charlie O'Brien

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Under an Impression

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This song was born on a misty Killarney hillside in winter. It echoes the aisling form of poetry, for personal allegory rather than the political ones from times of old. A melancholic musing, a foggy awakening from a strange dream. Under an Impression features the French horn playing of Louise Sullivan and the high sonorous tones of my niece, Ava

This song was born on a misty Killarney hillside in winter. It echoes the aisling form of poetry, for personal allegory rather than the political ones from times of old. A melancholic musing, a foggy awakening from a strange dream. Under an Impression features the French horn playing of Louise Sullivan and the high sonorous tones of my niece, Ava O'Malley, on backing vocals.

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01/10/2021  

Fire and Foam

Fire and Foam

Charlie O'Brien

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Fire and Foam

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Fire and Foam is the title track of an album to come, forgoing, or maybe better put, branching out from Irish roots to carve a new sound of synthetic and organic forces moulded into one. The song (and album) deals with destruction and realignment to a new world. "Come rolling thunder, let's fall asunder, in the blink of an eye a long dream dies."

Fire and Foam is the title track of an album to come, forgoing, or maybe better put, branching out from Irish roots to carve a new sound of synthetic and organic forces moulded into one. The song (and album) deals with destruction and realignment to a new world. "Come rolling thunder, let's fall asunder, in the blink of an eye a long dream dies." This first fire and vanguard of the new record to come, features the trumpet playing of Roy Kelleher of the No1 Brigade Irish Army Band, and my niece Ava O'Malley on backing vocals.

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08/01/2021  

Macalla Chill Áirne (Soundtrack)

Macalla Chill Áirne Soundtrack

Charlie O'Brien

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Macalla Chill Áirne Soundtrack

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The Macalla Chill Áirne soundtrack melds modern and older sensibilities. The first track, Fáinne Geal an Lae," was written in the 1830's, the decade our period film is set in. The song's lyrics begin on the same lake in the opening scene of the film, "one morning early I went out on the banks of Lough Leane. Séamus Barra Ó Súilleabháin, rap and

The ¨Macalla Chill Áirne¨ soundtrack melds modern and older sensibilities. The first track, ¨Fáinne Geal an Lae," was written in the 1830's, the decade our period film is set in. The song's lyrics begin on the same lake in the opening scene of the film, "one morning early I went out on the banks of Lough Leane.¨ Séamus Barra Ó Súilleabháin, rap and slam poet, contributes vocals on ¨Fáinne Geal," giving a new energy and flow into this old classic Gaelic song. The synths and harmonium that accompany him, add an otherworldly vibe that fits easily with this ¨aisling¨ or vision poem of old. Séamus is our main actor on film, playing the part of Partlán.

The physical phenomenon of the Killarney Echo is the sound that resounds off the mountains and lakes of Killarney when you fling music or noise at them. Whatever auditory projections are thrown-bounce off the lakes and jump back tenfold into the ears of those who seek "the echo." It was an obligatory part of the tour of the Killarney district throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Back then, they brought trumpets and bugles with them on their boat tour, to coax the echoes from their hiding places amongst the ancient mountains. ¨Ochón a Leanbh¨ is an old Irish lament that I arranged here for French horn and trumpet. The arrangement attempts to evoke something of the wonder of that interaction of brass and mountain, in days of yore. The film itself is a recreation of that tour of old.

Macalla Chill Áirne, is set in 1837 in the west of Ireland - the shadow of hindsight hangs heavy over the film's proceedings. The film takes place just a few short years before "the Great Famine," which will change the country utterly - ushering out Gaelic Ireland and ushering in a new English speaking country. Constantly, conflict is hinted at and rebounded through contrast, all culminating in the performance of the brass musicians and the thunderous finale of the cannon’s roar, which marked an end to this Victorian musical tour of antiquity. We left out the cannons from this album, that had already been done by 1812!

Voice - Séamus Barra ó Súilleabháin

Trumpet - Roy Kelleher

French Horn - Louise O´Sullivan

Synths, Harmonium - Charlie O´Brien

All compositions and arrangements by Charlie.

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