Press

Press for Donnacha Dennehy: Gra agus Bas (Nonesuch) with Iarla O’Lionaird

“At its centre is a darkly mesmerising vocal contribution from Iarla Ó Lionáird, who confirms his standing as the most articulate exponent of sean nós of his generation.”

5 Star Review Songlines UK 
“As listeners to this recording will hear from the very first bar, the [O’Lionaird’s] voice itself is astonishing. At times it has a Bjorling-like sweetness; at other it seems ready to cross the line from lyrical singing to a kind of raw, despairing outcry. How many singers are there who could put across the work's devastating conclusion as he does here?” 

The Bangkok Post 
“The result was the remarkable 2007 Grá agus Bás (Love and Death), in which the voice of sean-nós singer Iarla Ó Lionáird was the starting point not only for the vocal lines of Dennehy's work, but for the textures that support and envelop them. It's a piece of startling freshness, with Ó Lionáird's voice at the centre of a seething web of instrumental lines that seems to commute freely between utterly different musical worlds without any trace of dislocation.”

5 Star Review The Guardian 
“If this recording has anything in common with the crossover genre of “Celtic music,” it might be its potential to delight a large audience. And if it’s cultural tourism, it’s on a very high level.”

The Washington Post
“`Grá agus Bás - Irish sean-nós (old style) vocal music with its keen, ornate flourishes meets classical neo-minimalism in composer Donnacha Dennehy's "Grá agus Bás" (Love and Death). Over its 24-minute length, the voice of Iarla Ó Lionáird (Afro Celt Sound System) is enveloped by the electronic and chamber sounds of Dennehy's Crash Ensemble. Result: a swirling, pulsing timbral odyssey, both ancient and novel in feel.”

Seattle Times 
“haunting and utterly bracing title work, sung in Gaelic by vocalist Iarla Ó Lionáird, whose initial honey-sweet murmurs rise through anxiety and morph irrevocably into churning, roaring terror.” 

Top 25 Releases of The Year So Far, NPR.