Yesterday IMRO took the chance to present The Gloaming with their IMRO Award in recognition of their Independent No1 Album, ‘Live At The NCH’. Released in March 2018, the album was recorded during the band’s now annual residencies in the National Concert Hall, Dublin.
The IMRO Number 1 Award was introduced to acknowledge IMRO members who reach number 1 in the album charts here in Ireland.
In recent years, The Gloaming have truly become a live force
to be reckoned with. The annual NCH residencies have each sold out quicker than
the previous one and faster than new shows can be added. Away from home, their
international touring schedule has been equally impressive, including such
notable nights out as the Ceiliúradh at London’s Royal Albert Hall (a
celebration of the Irish President’s first-ever state visit to Britain),
Sydney’s Opera House, New York’s Lincoln Center, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie,
Mexico City’s Teatro de la Ciudad, and Philharmonie de Paris.
To put ‘Live at the NCH’ together Thomas Bartlett, the band’s producer, sifted
through two years of performances and settled on six tracks: ‘The Booley
House’, ‘Cucanandy’, ‘The Sailor’s Bonnet’, ‘The Pilgrim’s Song’, ‘The Rolling
Wave’ and ‘Fáinleog’. Using the studio recordings only as points of departure,
these performances stretch out and roam in unexpected new directions,
incorporating new tunes and rearranging old ones, filled with the excitement
and delight of five master musicians coming together as one.
The Gloaming concert experience consistently raises the roof and leaves
audiences breathless. This band of trailblazers take contemporary Irish music
into hitherto unchartered waters, enhancing the traditional rich, melancholic
tones with modern hues of jazz, contemporary classical, chamber, post rock and
experimental music.