There is something very special about singing for people. One moment, my eyes are open, maybe a glance at a familiar face, and the next minute there’s calm in camaraderie with an audience. Even with my eyes closed, I can feel the comfort of a crowd as close and viscerally as the feeling of my guitar resonating over my heaving lungs as words seem to come, one by one, telling us each a story. With each breath, in and out, our canvases somehow show the same hues. It’s transcendent magic.
Time again has been 20 years in the making, as long as I’ve been singing some of these songs at shows, festivals, and house concerts. It’s my crude attempt to record that feeling. Serious recording began in January 2018. Ryan Davidson drove up to Seattle from California, with his double bass in his van. Matt Jerrell took time out from working with recovering veterans to set up his drum kit, and Colleen Raney tried her best to get out of Portland Maine during a severe winter storm. Over long days, spread across 18 months, and many coffees and hot chocolates, we delicately recorded 11 tracks.
In this era of streaming, making recorded music is harder than ever. I’m trying something a bit different. Rather than release the album all at once, I’m releasing it one or two tracks at a time; to give each track its’ own time and attention. The tracks are being released at times that coincide with what makes them special to me, and with full notes and remarks on each one. I’m hoping that in its own quirky way, Time Again, will be a kind of long-running performance, and a collaboration with audience - capable of responding and adapting as we go; that’s all I know.
- Colm
Listen to Time Again
Liner and release notes
01 Two Sisters | 02 Raglan Road | 03 The Girl with the Long Black Hair | 04 Time Again | 05 Everybody’s Talkin’ | 06 Casadh na Céide | 07 We Chosen Few | 08 Occupation | 09 Christmas on the Seas | 10 Margaret’s Waltz
Bonus Tracks: River.