A gorgeous, slow, hovering, powerfully resonant interpretation of the traditional, and here bittersweet, obsessive love song in this debut single by the singer and multi-instrumentalist of contemporary Irish folk band Lankum, and ØXN, out now on Rough Trade.
This distinctive version of the song was discovered by Peat’s close friend and musical companion John Francis Flynn who came across it in the Irish Traditional Music Archives. Following Flynn’s discovery of the song, he wrote a melody to accompany it and with a view to valorising the song’s female protagonist, he shared it with Peat who dovetailed the melody with her intricate vocal arrangement and nuanced, powerful contralto. “I like indirect,” Peat says, “I don’t like being too explicit and I wanted the freedom to make decisions around my voice without having to explain myself.” Describing a process of subtly building and layering her own voice, harmonising for emphasis and atmosphere, Peat talks about “creating emotional connection, that’s what I’m trying to do”, she says, “I’m trying to capture the elation and devastation that can accompany obsessive love.”
“I was trying to show the two sides of the coin here, I was trying to get across the two extremes that can exist when we are experiencing love,” she adds. Across a series of despairing vignettes we hear of a woman wrangling with a difficult partner: “I was representing his escalating bad behaviour with minor chords and sombre tones,” but then Peat’s voice ascends with optimism, “there has to be great love to go through that suffering - I wanted the chorus brimming and gushing with romance represented in the vocals and instrumentally with the strings.”
“John discovered the song in an archive titled True Love. I found that so dark – even though you suffer - because of the amount you love someone – you stay, you carry on.”
The songs is accompanied by a video directed by Robbie Mailer-Howat with creative by Grace Margetson Studios and creative consultant Flora Dalton.
To explore and enjoy more by Radio Peat, including her work with Lankum, see also the other embedded links below.
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