Astonishing collaboration from two bold and adventuring voices within contemporary Irish music. Recorded in depths of winter in St Georges Church, Leitrim using what is reputedly Ireland's second oldest organ, together Natalia Beylis and Eimear Reidy plug into something elemental and almost classic sounding.
Natalia Beylis' music revolves somewhere between sonic story-teller and multi-instrumental explorer. She has released over 40 albums between solo works and collaborations and has appeared on numerous compilations. Based in rural Ireland, her work parallels the lines of her surroundings: creaking trees, farm animals, vocal samples taken from conversations with her neighbours, the northwesterly breeze, creatures rusting in the hedgerows, strange noises from the bog at dusk and rainfall. Lots and lots of rainfall. Her solo compositions and improvisations are a mix of garbled tape collage recordings, manipulated sounds of seemingly mundane objects, eerie mandola mantras and dreamscape piano voyages. While she regularly records on a variety of traditional instruments, she is just as likely to use non-musical sound sources within her compositions. For example, she recently released an album using just the sounds created by a domestic Singer sewing machine. Natalia regularly collaborates with cellist Eimear Reidy, percussionist Willie Stewart in the duo 'Hedgling' and is a member of the group BB84. She also composes pieces for ensembles. Her latest composition, 'Around Here, The Birds Plant The Trees' uses conkers both as a sonic source and as a visual conducting aid to direct the performance.
