Caretaker (Requiem)

A few weeks back on my social media I shared the last song on my album ‘The Rest’, called ‘Caretaker (Requiem)’ and I just wanted to record it here, on my website as well. The song was a tribute to a friend of mine, Mícheál Gormley who I worked with. Mícheál came to lots of our gigs at Sligo Live, we played lots of music together and had great, (extensive!) music chats. He also played the bass and for this reason I have a little bassline running through the song. Although I put the album out in October 2020, I didn’t get to deliver the record to his family until recently and that was quite a touching moment.

The song was a tribute to Mícheál but also seemed fitting as I had some other loss in my family leading up to the release of the album and of course the pandemic brought its own existential weight to bear on everything. The title for the album ‘The Rest’ comes from Hamlet’s last words ‘the rest is silence’ and I managed to fit those beautiful words into the song too.

Kudos are due to Enda Reilly who I asked for a second opinion on the song, as I wanted to do it justice and sometimes you need someone objective.

Listen to Caretaker (Requiem) on Spotify. Pearse McGloughlin · Song · 2020.

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‘the ocean takes back its islands’

Cover of 'Bright Star'

My friend Fia Rua released his new album ‘Behind The Grey’, a lovely personal and intimate album. I’m really enjoying the record, it has a lot of humour and warmth. The standout for me personally is his recording of my song ‘Bright Star’ which I originally wrote for ‘In Movement. It’s so moving to have someone cover a song you wrote. I think Eoghan does a great job of bringing out the sentiment in the song, reminds me almost of a Leonard Cohen or Johnny Cash. Guitar, vocal and a sprinkling of harmonica - it doesn’t get much more sparse than this and the lyrics stand up very well.

Thanks to Eoghan for this lovely rendition and be sure to check out his album ‘Behind the Grey’.

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Fia Rua County Kildare, Ireland Fia Rua is an Irish alt-folk artist under the Urchin Collective label who has just released his 4th album "Behind The Grey". He will be gigging in Ireland and Europe.

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Big News….album incoming…

Dear dears,

The Rest by Pearse McGloughlin & Nocturnes is coming out on October 14th 2020.

The upstanding folk at Bluestack Records are going to release this (my fifth album) on CD, vinyl and digital. And vinyl. And also on vinyl.

I’m quite excited about this prospect!

so if you would like to pre order the album that is now possible from the link below.

The brilliant artwork is by my brother Kevin.

Another Country

James Baldwin is one of my favourite writers since my friend Austin Kehoe introduced me to ‘Tell Me How Long The Train’s Been Gone’ a long time back. I recently stumbled on ‘Another Country’ in our local swap library and thought it was great. I recognised a lot of characters: the talented but self destructive musician, the ambitious ones who know where they’re going, the well meaning but hypocritical ones, the vain and the envious - characters who struggle with themselves and each other, to see if, in an embattled society, love is possible. 

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ICS Fundraiser

We raised €201 for Enda Sheehy’s Irish Cancer Society fundraiser from Sunday’s stream and the last few days. Thanks for sharing, watching and donating 🙏🙏🙏 I’m gonna be working on getting album #5 out for September so I plan to do Sunday Stream a little less frequently over the next few weeks. It’s been good. The lockdown and restrictions got me talking to people i hadn’t in a while, reconnecting. Music is great for that. It’s been strange too, of course, the effect of coronavirus, like a sorrow under which we sometimes sink, disorientated and separated, a version of grief. It is a shock. It is a lot. Cheers to everyone who tuned in over the last few weeks and kept me company🙏 looking forward to sharing ‘The Rest’ with you soon.

On a separate note, I listened to this radio documentary about Conor Walsh recently. I’d put it off for a while but it was time well spent. It reminded me of some great shows we did alongside Conor with Idiot Songs around 2013/2014. Beautiful music and a very moving story. One more brilliant star in the sky, isn't it true. Have a listen and then go dip into “The Front”. Phenomenal.

Passing Through: https://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/2020/0605/1145635-conor-walsh-passing-through/#:~:text=In%20'Conor%20Walsh%20%2D%20Passing%20Through,his%20haunting%20and%20unforgettable%20music.

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Livestream for Irish Cancer Society (Enda Sheehy's Fundraiser)

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My good friend Enda Sheehy is doing a marathon in aid of Irish Cancer Society this Saturday in Monread Park from 7:30am.

I’ll be joining him for half of it god help him! And me too, in fairness.

So, for this week’s Sunday Stream I will contribute any tips received from the show to Enda’s fundraiser.

We will stream from Billy’s place and the set will consist of covers and requests.

Hopefully we will be able to play it as a distanced three piece with Enda Roche joining on percussion and Billy Donohue on keys.

If you can, please make a contribution to www.paypal.me/UrchinMusic, putting ‘Irish Cancer Society’ as the note.
If you don’t use Paypal you can contribute directly to Enda’s page here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/fk3rtr-irish-cancer-society


If you’re not in a position to do that, that’s totally cool of course, maybe you can share the page or invite friends. 🙏🙏


We will stream on FB Live, YT and Twitch.

Thank you.


Pearse and Nocturnes

Video for Focus

Dear friends

What is the craic? Here is our new video for “Focus”. The world needs more people lolling around in woods and art galleries and we endeavoured to meet (that rather esoteric) need!


Also, also, I’ve been streaming every Sunday at 5:00 from my FB page and hope to do it from my other social avenues in due course too. It’s been very enjoyable and a really great way to keep gigging going. I’ll be playing again this Sunday where the theme is “The Sea” - so songs with aquatic and oceanic references will abound.


Also I love these little posters I’ve been making with photos from my phone : )

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Focus

Hi friend, I wanted to pass on this new song. I wrote it after Electric Picnic a few years ago, in what seems like another world. But it's not another world. It's the same world. Awful things are happening but alongside them beautiful things are happening too. My daughter is learning to cycle with a determined  little heart. My students are showing up for class online and trying to make sense of huge change. And I want to make new music.

The song's called 'Focus' and comes from an album called 'The Rest'. I had some shows lined up to support its release which won't go ahead just now, of course, but I will share new work over the next while which I look forward to.

Focus

Song by Pearse McGloughlin. Music by Pearse, Billy and Enda.

Production by Darragh Nolan. 

Beautiful artwork by my uncle Eoin MacLochlainn 

FOCUS

Strange summer evening

Autumn wind blowing

Lurching from coast to coast

Blowing hot, blowing cold

And you drew everything 

You knew everything

You gave focus

Red eyed morning

New light dawning

Coasting from pole to pole

Bowing low

For your glowing soul

 

 

And you drew everything

You knew everything

You drew focus

 

Where do your horses run?

When the seasons over

Do you tell them to gallop on

By bullets by boulders 

 

All horses fall up on 

The thorns of winter

May all horses overcome

Their bruises and splinters

 

 

And you swing with the tides and the moon

Fear can take over

When you’re burned and you’re spurned and you’re shunned

But your spirit’s stronger

 

So you speak with a seeing tongue

Though you shake

Though you shiver

All that  blossoms is not born in the black of winter.

Arrow

My brother Kevin and I had been planning a video for a song I recorded last year. But as we worked we realised the various scenes we had were relucant to sit beside each other, they wouldn’t gel. 

But not to worry.

We found that one scene we had shot with my friend Eoghan Burke (Fia Rua) and his daughter worked really well. We’d been planning a different approach but ended up taking an alternative route which was simpler and more beautiful.  

Thanks a lot to Eoghan and his daughter for taking part.

The music is called ‘Arrow’. 

Pearse