Ultan O’Brien
Dancing The Line
Boomkat Product Review:
Another doozy from Ireland’s Nyahh, introducing the solo debut of genre-bending fiddler/composer and improviser Ultan O’Brien, who dares to exert subtly rude and enchanting sidespins on centuries of tradition - ah this one slaps! Big RIYL Laura Cannell, Henry Flynt, Rhodri Davies, Michael O’Shea
Ultan O’Brien hails from Co. Clare on a particularly lush and rugged stretch of Ireland’s west coast, a place where traditional folk music, like the Gaelic language, exists and is sheltered from change more than other places. Ultan’s music is patently steeped in native culture, and naturally manifests the 10,000 hour rule in way that allows him to transcend tradition and steer it into new places. As with any art form you have to really get inside, live it, before you can start to lovingly fuck with it, and we could hold O’Brien’s work in that context.
The 14 parts of ‘Dancing the Line’ spill over with vibes that characterise that intrinsic relationship between language and music, accent and tone, cadence and rhythm, expanding and contracting in neat steps from instrumental limning of the natural world in ‘Iron Mountain Foothills’ to the impressionistic lushness of a ‘Macha’ weaving in textured location recordings and electronics, via banging jig ‘The Boyne Hunt’, and thru to expansive ambient scaping with ‘Secret House in Fintra Bog’ and ‘Death Doula Meet’.
"Ultan O’Brien is a fiddle player and composer from the wilds of County Clare in the West of Ireland. Ultan is a performer as well as a regular at sessions all of Ireland and can be found by chance in any pub in Dublin, Cork or some remote village on the edge of nowhere, flying jigs and reels around the room. Ultan was reared in the rich tradition of Irish music which is so commonly found and heard in Co Clare, but he also delves deep into sound art and experimental music. He has often been heard in the back of a car after a few pints quoting lines from Alvin Lucier or speaking at length about improvisation and its place in modern Irish music. Ultan O’Brien is a fresh and vital player who has much to offer with his unique approach and technique to a tradition so old and ever ready for a subtle change every 100 years or so.
‘in its [Ultan’s fiddle playing] sincerity of tone it reminds me somewhat of those great caoineadh which were played with such elusive grandeur by Denis Murphy and Pádraig O’Keefe’ Adrian Scahill ‘lets the heart brighten and the feet tap’ - Richard Hollingum, KlofMag
"This album is my first solo album of music played on an alternatively-tune alto fiddle. I found that the resonance and growl of this lower tuned instrument sat me perfectly into the sound-world I wanted to be in, giving vibrancy to my own compositions and nestling into the traditional music I grew up with." - Ultan O'Brien"
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Estimated Release Date: 13 June 2025
Please note that shipping dates for pre-orders are estimated and are subject to change
Boomkat Product Review:
Another doozy from Ireland’s Nyahh, introducing the solo debut of genre-bending fiddler/composer and improviser Ultan O’Brien, who dares to exert subtly rude and enchanting sidespins on centuries of tradition - ah this one slaps! Big RIYL Laura Cannell, Henry Flynt, Rhodri Davies, Michael O’Shea
Ultan O’Brien hails from Co. Clare on a particularly lush and rugged stretch of Ireland’s west coast, a place where traditional folk music, like the Gaelic language, exists and is sheltered from change more than other places. Ultan’s music is patently steeped in native culture, and naturally manifests the 10,000 hour rule in way that allows him to transcend tradition and steer it into new places. As with any art form you have to really get inside, live it, before you can start to lovingly fuck with it, and we could hold O’Brien’s work in that context.
The 14 parts of ‘Dancing the Line’ spill over with vibes that characterise that intrinsic relationship between language and music, accent and tone, cadence and rhythm, expanding and contracting in neat steps from instrumental limning of the natural world in ‘Iron Mountain Foothills’ to the impressionistic lushness of a ‘Macha’ weaving in textured location recordings and electronics, via banging jig ‘The Boyne Hunt’, and thru to expansive ambient scaping with ‘Secret House in Fintra Bog’ and ‘Death Doula Meet’.
"Ultan O’Brien is a fiddle player and composer from the wilds of County Clare in the West of Ireland. Ultan is a performer as well as a regular at sessions all of Ireland and can be found by chance in any pub in Dublin, Cork or some remote village on the edge of nowhere, flying jigs and reels around the room. Ultan was reared in the rich tradition of Irish music which is so commonly found and heard in Co Clare, but he also delves deep into sound art and experimental music. He has often been heard in the back of a car after a few pints quoting lines from Alvin Lucier or speaking at length about improvisation and its place in modern Irish music. Ultan O’Brien is a fresh and vital player who has much to offer with his unique approach and technique to a tradition so old and ever ready for a subtle change every 100 years or so.
‘in its [Ultan’s fiddle playing] sincerity of tone it reminds me somewhat of those great caoineadh which were played with such elusive grandeur by Denis Murphy and Pádraig O’Keefe’ Adrian Scahill ‘lets the heart brighten and the feet tap’ - Richard Hollingum, KlofMag
"This album is my first solo album of music played on an alternatively-tune alto fiddle. I found that the resonance and growl of this lower tuned instrument sat me perfectly into the sound-world I wanted to be in, giving vibrancy to my own compositions and nestling into the traditional music I grew up with." - Ultan O'Brien"
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Boomkat Product Review:
Another doozy from Ireland’s Nyahh, introducing the solo debut of genre-bending fiddler/composer and improviser Ultan O’Brien, who dares to exert subtly rude and enchanting sidespins on centuries of tradition - ah this one slaps! Big RIYL Laura Cannell, Henry Flynt, Rhodri Davies, Michael O’Shea
Ultan O’Brien hails from Co. Clare on a particularly lush and rugged stretch of Ireland’s west coast, a place where traditional folk music, like the Gaelic language, exists and is sheltered from change more than other places. Ultan’s music is patently steeped in native culture, and naturally manifests the 10,000 hour rule in way that allows him to transcend tradition and steer it into new places. As with any art form you have to really get inside, live it, before you can start to lovingly fuck with it, and we could hold O’Brien’s work in that context.
The 14 parts of ‘Dancing the Line’ spill over with vibes that characterise that intrinsic relationship between language and music, accent and tone, cadence and rhythm, expanding and contracting in neat steps from instrumental limning of the natural world in ‘Iron Mountain Foothills’ to the impressionistic lushness of a ‘Macha’ weaving in textured location recordings and electronics, via banging jig ‘The Boyne Hunt’, and thru to expansive ambient scaping with ‘Secret House in Fintra Bog’ and ‘Death Doula Meet’.
"Ultan O’Brien is a fiddle player and composer from the wilds of County Clare in the West of Ireland. Ultan is a performer as well as a regular at sessions all of Ireland and can be found by chance in any pub in Dublin, Cork or some remote village on the edge of nowhere, flying jigs and reels around the room. Ultan was reared in the rich tradition of Irish music which is so commonly found and heard in Co Clare, but he also delves deep into sound art and experimental music. He has often been heard in the back of a car after a few pints quoting lines from Alvin Lucier or speaking at length about improvisation and its place in modern Irish music. Ultan O’Brien is a fresh and vital player who has much to offer with his unique approach and technique to a tradition so old and ever ready for a subtle change every 100 years or so.
‘in its [Ultan’s fiddle playing] sincerity of tone it reminds me somewhat of those great caoineadh which were played with such elusive grandeur by Denis Murphy and Pádraig O’Keefe’ Adrian Scahill ‘lets the heart brighten and the feet tap’ - Richard Hollingum, KlofMag
"This album is my first solo album of music played on an alternatively-tune alto fiddle. I found that the resonance and growl of this lower tuned instrument sat me perfectly into the sound-world I wanted to be in, giving vibrancy to my own compositions and nestling into the traditional music I grew up with." - Ultan O'Brien"
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