“Like a dew, the fields and fences of Ireland had lifted, dispersing. In my eyes also, and in my mind, a mist had dispersed, and there it was, before me, Fódhla, the Great World. Before me, but not yet open to me.” - John Moriarty, Dreamtime (Lilliput Press, 1994)
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Built around field recordings made in Cork’s upper Blackwater valley in August 2019, Slí na Fírinne delves deep into the dark heart of rural Ireland.
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Book-ended by two hypnotic slabs of agricultural bassweight (Black water & Earthing the shock) the album trips back in time to the roots of Ireland’s current dystopian landscape, when government bodies began to encourage farmers to upscale, mechanise and use pesticides, chemical fertiliser and other intensive, unsustainable innovations to increase yields and expand fields.
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Scanned graphics, ads and photographs from 1950’s and ‘60s copies of Biatas (a periodical magazine for Ireland’s sugar beet growers, retrieved from Michael’s parents’ attic) sparked many of the themes that are woven into the eight tracks and form the visual content of the six-panel digipak CD.
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The work of John Moriarty the Irish mystic and philosopher informed the concept for the album as a whole, with Slí na Fírinne (literally ‘the way of truth’) commonly understood to refer to the afterlife. Michael was a student of John’s in Limerick, and the album is dedicated to his memory.
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“An untimely exploration of the rural Irish landscape, entangled in agriculture and populated by cows and crows, silage mowers and milking machines, rivers, demon dogs, deadly accordions, windfarms and electric fences, fields and ditches, weather, weedkiller and slurry, ring forts and fulachtaí fiadh.” - ML, 2022
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credits
released August 1, 2022
Written and produced by Michael Lightborne
Mastered by Stephan Mathieu | Schwebung Mastering
Thanks to: Daniel Callanan, BJ Nilsen, Mike and Máiréad Pigott, Mark Dennis and A Field in Stirchley, Denise and Ra.
DOE thanks to: Michael, Daniel, Kylièn, Megan & Gaia
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