bluestack records

'Twine' at Workman's Club, Dublin

Pearse McGloughlin & Nocturnes perform 'Twine' from the album In Movement at The Workman's Club in Dublin, on April 25th 2019. www.pearsemcgloughlin.com www.pearsemcgloughlin.bandcamp.com www.facebook.com/sweetnocturnes Shot and Edited by Emil Damyanov (Limereel) Music: Intro on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/pearsemcgloughlin/playlist/4LTwltMG2Hslz0ACq0rUx1?si=tWES918zQxGpoB0sfz5HgQ

HUMANS { new live video }

Last week there was an open call for the Other Voices IMRO Other Room. I thought it would be fun to turn our rehearsal into a live recording of a new song as a submission. So, my brothers Kevin and Eoin came up from Sligo to shoot us in Billy's place. We set up quickly and did a couple of takes. One mic, two cameras. I'm very happy with it as we don't have many live recordings of Nocturnes and there was a lovely natural energy and momentum in the evening. 

Big thanks to Billy, Niamh and Séamus for allowing us to turn their house into a makeshift studio and to Kevin and Eoin for doing the visuals so well.

We will release the studio recording of the song before the year is out. 

In the meantime, our next stop is Nighthawks at Cobalt Café on October 7th.

Be sure to see the flowers,

Pearse

Rehearsal video of 'Humans' by Nocturnes from forthcoming EP by the band. Camera by Eoin McGloughlin and Kevin McGloughlin Video edited by Kevin McGloughlin Live audio recorded by Nocturnes Music by Nocturnes Nocturnes have featured on BBC Radio Ulster, RTE, Today FM as well as on Jason Kramer's show on KCRW.

New Video for 'On The Mississippi'

 Hi there,

Thanks for dropping by. Here is a video I made for 'On The Mississippi' taken from our recent album 'The Soft Animal'. The track was originally a sort of lullaby I sang with my daughter. Then I started thinking about the lyrics a little and it became a song about beginning afresh, a song about redemption. I shot the video in Louisiana. 

If you like it you can support us by buying the track directly from:

Bandcamp

iTunes

Alternatively, if you are a Spotify user, you can help us out by saving 'On The Mississippi' and adding it to your playlists. 

Thanks a million,

Pearse 

'On The Mississippi' is taken from Nocturnes 2016 album 'The Soft Animal' released on Bluestack Records.

Visual Piece for 'Dear Infant'

Visual Piece by Fionn MacArthur, Lakeside Productions 'Dear Infant' is taken from 'The Soft Animal' by Nocturnes "subtle elements of the fantastical" - The Irish Times 'The time has come for Pearse McGloughlin's ever-evolving cosmic groove merchants. Their recent album The Soft Animal is our favourite Irish record of the year - do yourself a favour and get it immediately'....

Hi folks, 

Here's a sweet new video for 'Dear Infant' shot by Fionn MacArthur of Lakeside Productions. 

Stream the track here on Spotify.

 

 

Single Launch for Dear Infant

Hello,

Our next show is in The Bello Bar on April 30th 2017 to mark the single release of 'Dear Infant' a track about creativity, family and vulnerable connections. Delighted that support on the night will be from Ella Naseeb. Thanks to Fionn McArthur for the brilliant poster image. FB page is here. 

Playlists

Remember blogs? I used to post blogs on MySpace quite frequently but the instant-hit of posts on social media seems to have replaced such missives. 

So, I'm going to write about playlists which, with the growth of streaming services like Spotify, seem to be on the increase. There are downsides to this. Recording artists love to produce albums. Every year the Choice Music Prize in Ireland highlights the great number of albums produced in Ireland alone. The album occupies a similar mileu to the feature length movie from a filmmaker or to the exhibition from the visual artist. And similarly to these mediums the album allows its creator room and space to explore a particular mood, theme or notion. It's a spacious form and in its best incarnation, carefully constructed. So is it sacrilege to pull these works apart, to cherrypick the best tracks? I don't think that it is. I like playlists.

Playlisting, to me, allows tracks to exist within a new context which can breathe fresh life into a  song. I used to work on Raidió na Life in Dublin where I had a show called 'An Uair Dhraiochta'. I produced the programme for years in a voluntary capacity. As the show aired on a Sunday evening, I tended to play mellow, atmospheric tracks and I grew a bit of a knack for playlisting. I enjoyed finding new music and meeting new bands who, like myself, wanted to connect with people who loved music, and who hopefully appreciated their music too. So, putting together a playlist for my Spotify profile, which I entitled 'Nocturnal Listening: Ambience & Atmosphere'. I started off with artists like Massive Attack, Max Richter, Lisa Hannigan and Chihei Hatakeyma, artists who in some way touched off or inspired my own work. And when I placed my own songs from Idiot Songs & Nocturnes in the playlist I was really pleased to find that they sat alongside these pieces really nicely, it was a playlist I myself would enjoy! So, I felt pretty proud about that, proud of the songs me and Enda Roche in Nocturnes and my collaborator Justin Grounds in Idiot Songs have produced over the last number of years.

You can keep an eye on the playlist below. I'll keep changing it and adding to it. 

P

 

 

Farewell 2016

Hello friends,

I hope you are keeping well.

2016 was a big year for Nocturnes. We released our new album 'The Soft Animal' on Bluestack Records and played some special shows around the wonderful island of Ireland which included performances at ALS, Sligo Live, HWCH, Culture Night, Cairde Arts Festival, Beneath The Air and in-studios for Today FM, Radio One and BBC in Belfast. The year was capped off by 'The Soft Animal' being named as one of Dan Hegarty's Top 20 Irish albums of the year while Culture on RTE called it a 'favourite Irish record of the year'. With so many unique and compelling albums coming out in 2016 we were thrilled with the response.

Thank you so much for your support of Nocturnes in the last twelve months.

Below is a video we made for 'Heikegani' which features the vocals of Adrian Crowley who we were honoured to have sing on the song. We're big fans of his.

And so into 2017,

See you out there,

Nocturnes

'Whoever you are no matter how lonely the world offers itself to your inagination' Mary Oliver, The Wild Geese 'Heikegani' is taken from Nocturnes album 'The Soft Animal' and features Adrian Crowley on lead vocals.

Watch Brand New Video for 'Serpents' by Myles O'Reilly

We are really happy to share the new video for 'Serpents' taken from 'The Soft Animal' album. The piece has been realised by Myles O'Reilly and it was both a pleasure and an honour to work with him. Our launch gig for 'Serpents' will be in The Workman's Club with Hilary Woods as special guest. So please, enjoy and share the beautiful landscape of Sligo, the land of heart's desire.

Directed by Myles O'Reilly Pearse McGloughlin and Nocturnes announce their latest single 'Serpents' featuring a new video directed by Myles O'Reilly (Arbutus Yarns). 'Serpents' is the third single from Nocturnes' critically acclaimed album 'The Soft Animal'. Serpents speaks to dark states of mind that surround us as we make our way through life.

Video for Whale Song from The Soft Animal Out Now

Music by Pearse McGloughlin and Enda Roche. Produced by Darragh Nolan at Asta Kalapa, Gorey 'Whale Song' is a single from Irish group Nocturnes' new album 'The Soft Animal'. The piece is inspired by the song whales use to communicate and it draws parallels between these great ocean creatures and our human selves. The sea represents our unconscious, our spiritual depths and the song gives voice to a desire to live lives of connection, nobility and strength. Kevin McGloughlin has directed a number of videos for his brother Pearse, songwriter with Nocturnes. For 'Whale Song' Kevin combines animated footage and live action footage to mesmeric effect, creating an imagined astro-aquatic environment which is both the sea and the cosmos, the aquatic and the astronomic. Kevin on his approach to the piece 'After many a chat with Pearse over the course of the album I had a good idea of where the song was coming from. So it was a matter of visualising an already painted picture. I took quite an expressionistic approach to the video, not worrying much about realism and detail while putting my focus on creating an immersive experience for the viewer. We felt a surreal mix of the ocean and the cosmos fitted nicely, highlighting the depth of the ocean and the depths within ourselves'. Whale Song (Single) Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3jnPNa6PslaaSBEihLamHs iTunes: https://itun.es/ie/SjT6eb Bandcamp: https://pearsemcgloughlin.bandcamp.com/track/whale-song-single-edit CDBaby: https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/nocturnes4 The Soft Animal (Full Album) Spotify: http://spoti.fi/2aQ7KCR iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/the-soft-animal/id1139489343 Google Play Music: http://bit.ly/2crKEBk Bluestack Records: http://bit.ly/2ait677 Bluestack Records Bandcamp: http://bit.ly/29WSWDq Pearse McGloughlin Bandcamp: http://bit.ly/29EgM1z More about Nocturnes and The Soft Animal 'The Soft Animal' by Nocturnes is Sligo songwriter Pearse McGloughlin’s first album release since the birth of his daughter, and a more personal record than previous works. A transformed creativity and time of reflection has resulted in an emotionally resonant album drawing from childhood and parenthood, and human spiritual and animal nature. Nocturnes features Choice Music Award winning Adrian Crowley on lead vocals for ‘Heikegani’; Pearse’s long time collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Enda Roche and Christophe Capewell on violins. Produced at Asta Kalapa studios by Darragh Nolan, the album was largely recorded in live takes creating a heady organic impact. A follow-on from his previous collaboration ‘Idiot Songs’ with friend and composer Justin Grounds, The Soft Animal is a new departure, in essence an ambient first- person narrative. A collection of new age noir, it features meditative atmospherics alongside folk-tinged tales of redemption. The story of the record is an intriguing one; it involves oceanic themes, dramatic rescues, glimpses of the fantastical, and our struggles with serpents of many types, real and imagined. Pearse, on the inspiration behind The Soft Animal, observes: ‘I wanted to explore what we share as humans: our animal origins, our residence in the natural world. Having my daughter arrive into my life prompted this simple reverie.’ The Soft Animal interweaves live recordings with rich production to create an expansive range of sounds and emotions echoing influences as diverse as Sufjan Stevens and A Winged Victory for the Sullen. Reflecting on the recording process Pearse comments: ‘Enda, Darragh and I were guided by the drama of what can happen when you record musicians playing live together. We were seeking feeling and atmosphere.' The Soft Animal has featured on BBC Radio Ulster, RTE, Today FM as well as on Jason Kramer's show on KCRW. ‘subtle elements of the fantastical’ - The Irish Times ‘flits between folk, ambient, orchestral and singer-songwriter styles, underscoring an inquisitiveness and search for something greater within’… Nialler9 ‘Release of The Week’ ….. The Irish Times Culture ‘beautiful harmonies’ - BBC Radio Ulster Across the Line "a rewarding listen, 'The Soft Animal' is a true album " - The Last Mixtape Album of The Week - Dan Hegarty, 2FM