A Conversation With Miriam Ingram
Miriam Ingram is an experimental singer/songwriter from Dublin, who entwines acoustic and electric elements to create music that is both delicate and bold. Since her debut Trampoline and the follow-up Trampolonica album, Miriam has been steadily working behind the scenes, now she presents her new long-player, Mariana Trench. “My new record is deeply personal, autobiographical aural memoir – a time-lapse study of sorts” she says during our conversation. “I started writing and recording Mariana Trench around 2008. In fact, there are a couple of songs on it that pre-date even that time. The songs have their own personal value, but the unintended personal element of the record comes from the fact that it was made over such a long period of time. Children were born and grew, loved ones died – life happened.” Miriam continues. The voices of her two songs Seán and Diolmhain (Wastefellow/Really Good Time) also feature on the album, alongside a whole host of musicians: John Dermody, Cormac Mac Diarmada, Trevor Hutchinson, Colin J Morris, Enda Bates, Darragh O’Kelly, Kim V Porcelli, Diolmhain Ingram Roche, Hugh O’Neill, John Dalton, Carol Keogh, Joni Morris, Seán Ingram Ó’hÉigeartaigh and Annabelle Leddy.
After talking with Miriam Ingram I went to the stack of new releases on my desk to see if there were any more new and notable offerings from Ireland to share with you. Here then is 24 year old producer Dylan Fogerty out of Dublin with Maureen’s Theme from his LP Groundwork. Superb electronica that melds ambiance with dance-floor rhythms. Next, Leave Him Out Of It from Seán Freeney who says his self-titled EP is his first attempt at recording music. This a curious one from Limerick-based Freeney, venturing into a sparse, minimalistic area with scatters of unidentifiable vocals sounds. Along with Miriam Ingram, Dylan Fogerty and Seán Freeney are three excellent reasons you should seriously investigate the striking new music coming out of Ireland.
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