Trá Pháidín - Cloch 's Claí

On Cloch 's Claí, Irish collective Trá Pháidín expand their singular vision into an ambitious meditation on language, place and tradition. Drawing together Irish folk, free jazz, krautrock, drone and post-rock, the album takes the dry-stone wall as both structure and metaphor, with each piece forming part of a living, ever-changing whole. Deeply rooted in Gaelic culture yet strikingly forward-looking, it's one of the most distinctive and rewarding records to emerge from Ireland's experimental underground in recent years.

Trá Pháidín are a mutable collective of musicians who are geographically, culturally and mentally torn between Conamara Theas, Cathair Chorcaí, Ciarraí, Uíbh Fhailí, Sligeach and Port Láirge, active in one form or another since 2019. The music they make, which to date has mostly been self-released, is of an ambitious breadth, embracing traditional Irish absurdity, jazz, folk and krautrock influences, whilst remaining tantalisingly beyond any one specific understanding of either the world around them or even themselves. More defined however, is their overall conceptual approach, focusing upon original Gaelic music and what lies beyond simply “conas atá tú?”.

Cloch ‘s Claí (trans. Stone & Wall), their first record to be released by World of Echo, develops their established interests into more adventurous waters (and walls!) than ever. Based on the historical significance embedded into dry-stone walls, the album presents a satirical view of Éire’s relationship with her native tongue and the Gaeltacht (regions where Gaeilge - Irish Gaelic - remains the primary language). Constructed of ten tracks, each representative of a stone in a metaphorical stone-wall, Cloch ‘s Claí draws from styles of improvisation in Irish traditional music, exploring avenues of ornamentation and accompaniment in the tradition. As such, the arrangement changes in every performance, a new stone-wall articulated each time - the recording on this album represents just one such arrangement in one such performance. Inspired by Myles na gCopaleen’s An Béal Bocht, the wall comes to embody a variety of themes scattered across the landscape and psyche of na Gaeltachtaí - tokenism, housing, gentry politics, ribbon developments and so on. The result is a music expressive of regional styles in traditional music, krautrock, free jazz, post-rock, minimalism and drone presented in a way that feels instinctively fluid and reflective of a hushed existentialism from the west of Ireland.

On Cloch ‘s Claí, Trá Pháidín are: Conal Ó hAinmhuighe, Ultan Ó Labhradha, Peadar-Tom Mercier, Micheál Fitzgerald, Pól Ó Lionáird, Ruairí De Búrca. Cloch ‘s Claí will be released digitally and as a limited edition LP on 25th September via World of Echo. This record was created through the support of the DEIS Recording Grant & Ealaín na Gaeltachta.

Format: Vinyl LP
Label: World Of Echo
Genre: Folk/Experimental
Condition: New/Pre-Order
Catalogue Number: WOE031LP
Barcode: 5055869552752

Tracklist:
1. Tí Mhichael Phaddy
2. An Béal Bocht
3. Garbhóg
4. Fidín
5. Seachtain na Gaeilge
6. Anglicize Everything
7. Fothrach an Cheirtleáin
8. To Hell or to Connacht
9. Dance Paddy Dance
10. Mionnán

Browse more pre-orders

If unsealed, we ship records with the LP outside the sleeve to avoid seam splits.