Saltaire – Have Unveiled Their Dark Folk Single ‘Matty Groves’

Dark folk trio Saltaire have released their new single, ‘Matty Groves’ – a classic tale of passion, betrayal, heartbreak and fateful consequences.

Following their haunting debut original single ‘The Axe’, which earned RTÉ Radio 1 Recommends inclusion, ‘Matty Groves’ is the trio’s take on a traditional folk song that continues to frame Saltaire’s ascent as compelling new players in the contemporary Irish folk and trad scene.

The single follows the recurrent folk motif of a noblewoman who, having ended up in a transactional or non-consensual marriage, claims some semblance of autonomy by having an affair with a man ‘beneath her station’ – a serving man on the estate. This carries its own unsettling power dynamic as, naturally, the relationship also puts him in grave danger.

On the inspiration behind the single, Saltaire vocalist and cellist Kaitlin Cullen-Verhauz shares: “We draw a lot of inspiration from boundary pushing folk bands of the 60s and 70s like Pentangle and Fairport Convention. The Fairport version of ‘Matty Groves’ has always riled me up – it’s mischievous and dark, and sexy in a folky sort of way, so we used that as the springboard foundation for our own interpretation. This particular melody, commonly used in different adaptations of ‘Matty Groves’, shares its tune with the traditional Appalachian folk song ‘Shady Grove’, so we were really fortunate to have our friend and master 5-string banjo player Ryan McAuley bring that old-time character to the track.”

On the song’s lyrics, she continues: “It’s very narrative-driven. I love folk songs like this when you look at the lyrics on paper, at first glance they read like a laundry list of the facts of the story – little to no use of idiom or metaphor. But the subtext is rich and it leaves tremendous room for meaning and symbolism to be mined within the melody with word painting, chord patterns and harmonies, the instrumentation, arrangement, and live performance.”

‘Matty Groves’ captures the essence of Saltaire as a collaborative folk fusion – an English folk song delivered through Appalachian melodies, with the core trio providing a bedrock of ominous folk cello, intricate guitar and bouzouki over a pulsing bodhran heartbeat. As the song builds, a sonic mosaic is made up of vivid old-time banjo, bewitching Irish flute lines, dreamy piano and haunting vocal harmonies, driven by a climatic outro from Conor Lyons on bouzouki. He explains: “It was a tune I picked up when I started playing at about 14 or 15 years of age. I got it from a live album called Sessions from the Hearth, which my brother Neill played bodhran in. The bouzouki player was Jon Sanders and he played what was called the ’Bulgarian Twist’ or ‘Pure Afghan’. I immediately learnt it off and I didn’t stop playing it for years. As soon as we were looking for a piece at the end of ‘Matty Groves’, ‘Pure Afghan’ came to mind and it fitted right in. A big thank you to Jon for giving his blessing to incorporate the tune”.