Saltaire – have released their new single ‘Slip Jigs & Jenny’s’ with the announcement of their highly anticipated debut EP ‘Only Moonlight’

Dark folk trio Saltaire have today released their new single, ‘Slip Jigs & Jenny’s’, with the announcement of their highly anticipated debut EP, Only Moonlight, out on February 27th.

Saltaire will showcase at Your Roots Are Showing on Wednesday, January 14th at 11:30pm, and Tradfest Culture Ireland on Friday, the 23rd of January at 2:45pm.

Following their haunting debut original single ‘The Axe’, which earned RTÉ Radio 1 Recommends inclusion, and their compelling rendition of ‘Matty Groves’, new single ‘Slip Jigs & Jenny’s’ continues to frame Saltaire’s ascent as compelling new players in the contemporary Irish folk and trad scene.

With ‘The Axe’ and ‘Matty Groves’ introducing Saltaire as songwriters and folk collectors, ‘Slip Jigs & Jenny’s’ establishes the traditional instrumental dimension of what Saltaire has to offer. The track introduces Kaitlin Cullen-Verhauz’s  cello not only as an atmospheric and textural foundation to the Saltaire sound, but as a leading melody player in its own right. The entrance of other instruments taking over the melody (flute by Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, banjo by Ryan McAuley, piano by Catherine McHugh) atop a powerful and lush accompaniment foundation by Ian Kinsella and Conor Lyons on guitar/bouzouki/bodhran, opens up a mesmeric and multi-dimensional space for harmony and countermelody amongst all the players.

Self-dubbed ‘a band of backers’, Saltaire’s music is a collective experience, expanding outward via close friendships with some of Ireland’s most talented musicians in the folk and Irish traditional space. Frequent collaborators Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, Ryan McAuley and Catherine McHugh bring nuance and freshness to Saltaire’s carefully selected renditions and originals, steeped in tradition and moreover incredibly inventive.

On the collaborative nature that defines Saltaire, Cullen-Verhauz says, “As a cellist, new to the tradition and a bit of a blow-in, I’ve been really fortunate to have the support and encouragement of my closest friends, who also happen to be some of the most exciting talents in contemporary Irish music. Over the last nearly ten years living in Ireland, every friend in traditional music that has included me in a session, invited me to join them on stage or in the studio, or even shared some of their own favourite tracks and tunes from the archive to absorb and learn, has made an indelible impact on my life as a musician”

She continues, “I am so grateful to continue to be welcomed into the fold and educated by my friends. Playing with this particular group of heads feels like a particularly appropriate love/thank you letter to a greater community that has given me so much. Having the track open with the cello leading the melody is pretty nerve-wracking and vulnerable, but exciting nonetheless as I don’t know how many if any recordings exist with a cello melody line backed by the bouzouki. The arrangement came together rather organically as each instrument layers, weaving over and under one another, building momentum that ebbs and flows from start to finish. We did some fine tuning in the studio, but most of the arrangement decisions happened instinctively playing the set over time. It’s great when a set marinates gradually, on and off stage, from the pub to the green room to the sitting room, and everywhere else in between”.

Taken from their highly anticipated debut EP Only Moonlight, ‘Slip Jigs & Jenny’s’ reflects Saltaire’s deep-rooted trad sensibilities, shaped by attentive, intricate arrangements and finely honed musicianship.

ONLY MOONLIGHT EP TRACKLISTING

01 Aldborough Parade

02 Matty Groves

03 Slip Jigs & Jenny’s

04 Lungs

05 The Axe