From the opening notes – arriving as if in mid-air – to its final, cheerful burblings, Sean Mac Erlaine and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh’s Old Segotia is an album about friendship: both musical and human, the product of two distinctive musicians visiting each other’s worlds with a sense of veneration, and a sense of joyful wonder. It’s due for release via Ergodos on 7th November, coinciding with an album launch show at the National Concert Hall, Dublin.
The album’s second single ‘Cantantor’ out now, opens with a questioning note from Ó Raghallaigh’s hardanger d’amore, with Mac Erlaine’s Wurlitzer chords suspended in air. Clarinet and hardanger d’amore lines develop in unison, sometimes yearning, sometimes drifting towards a playful waltz. The duo’s resistance to filling in the empty spaces gives the track much of its vitality: becoming a vessel for melody and expression to pass through, where the musician seems the least important part of the music: https://youtu.be/FVHYXMnvglc?si=L1IxFkyrdKBDa5AA
ABOUT THE UPCOMING ALBUM ‘OLD SEGOTIA’
Old Segotia sees Mac Erlaine (This is How We Fly, Quiet Music Ensemble) and Ó Raghallaigh (The Gloaming, This is How We Fly) meet on common ground developed over 20 years of playing together, with Mac Erlaine’s musical language rooted in jazz and sonic experimentation, and Ó Raghallaigh emerging from an Irish traditional music that he has shaped and reshaped in a deeply personal way.
In this place, Mac Erlaine and Ó Raghallaigh’s music is profoundly integrated and emotionally textured: at times bursting with explosive energy, at times almost sighing into life, but always searching. Here are the touching unison duets of ‘Cantandor’, the lyrical wanderings of ‘Swallow Dive’, or the flirtations with finding a groove in ‘Reverse Burst’.
The palette of instruments speaks to the album’s feeling of abundance, with Mac Erlaine performing on clarinets, chalumeau d’amore, three different flutes, car hooter, percussion, live electronics, Wurlitzer, synthesiser, vocals and alto saxophone; and with Ó Raghallaigh bringing his signature hardanger d’amore sound plus a turn on the flute and live electronics, too.
With the title echoing a well-worn Dublinese expression for “friend”, Old Segotia plays out with ‘Oiche Crua Sna Sleibhte’ (A Hard Night in the Mountains), with ornithologist Seán Ronayne’s field recordings of birdsong rising out of the musicians’ playful explorations, offering a taste of life echoing music, echoing life.
Old Segotia will be available on vinyl and digital, Friday 7th November.
Pre-order the album on Bandcamp: https://ergodos.bandcamp.com/album/old-segotia
ALBUM LAUNCH EVENTS:
Friday, 7 October 2025 – Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge
Saturday, 8 October 2025 – National Concert Hall, Dublin