Goitse: Rosc
The popular and multi-award-winning quintet Goitse (prounounced Gwitcha) was forged in the white-hot creative crucible of Limerick’s Irish World Academy. Named Live Ireland’s “Traditional Group of the Year”, Chicago Irish American News’ “Group of the Year”, “Freiburger International Leiter 2016” award in Germany, Goitse have become a leader of the new generation of traditional Irish ensembles.
Goitse are:
Áine Mc Geeney - Fiddle, Vocals
Alan Reid - Banjo, Bouzouki, Mandolin, Oud, Electric Tenor Guitar
Colm Phelan - Bodhrán and Percussion
Conal O'Kane - Guitars
Tadhg Ó Meachair - Piano Accordion, Piano, Keys, Moog
Guest Musicians
Danny Collins Piano (Track 3, 6, 11) Piano Accordion (5, 8, 11) Backing Vocals (8)
Martin Brunsden Double Bass (All tracks)
Aoife Scott Vocals (Track 3)
Seán Óg Graham Button Accordion (Track 7) Kalimba (1), Electric Keys (2, 4, 7)
Colm McClean Lap Steel guitar (Track 6)
Pádraig Rynne Concertina (Track 1 & 4)1.
Rosc, from the Irish language, is a word that connotes an anthem or chant or a wave of music with a heightened sense of emotion and excitement. The album has been in the making for almost two years and Goitse are excited to finally release Rosc, their 6th studio album, which celebrates their ten year anniversary as a touring band.
Rosc was recorded in Bann View studios, Co. Antrim by Sean Óg Graham who also coproduced the album with Goitse.
The popular and multi-award-winning quintet Goitse was formed in 2007 and have been maintaining a year round touring schedule that includes performances throughout Ireland, the UK, Germany, France and the United States since 2011. Goitse has gathered various awards along the way, including Live Ireland’s “Traditional Group of the Year”, Chicago Irish American News’ “Group of the Year”, as well as winning the prestigious “Freiburger International Leiter” award in Germany.
Their last CD, Úr, was named ‘Traditional Album of the Year’ by the ASLR celtic music awards which also saw band member Áine Mc Geeney awarded ‘Female Vocalist of the Year’ and ‘Composer of the Year’ on two separate occasions.
Audio
Track 1: The Biggest Little Journey
Track 2: Come You Not from Newcastle
Track 3: Rockin' in the Weary Land
Track 4: The House on t he Hill
Track Listing
- The Biggest Little Journey 05:02
- Morning, Noon and Night 03:48
- Come you not from Newcastle 04:38
- Cave of the Wild Horses 03:26
- Rockin' in the Weary Land 04:10
- Write Me Down 03:46
- The Trusty Messenger 03:40
- Margadh an Iúir 03:00
- Trip to Mauna Kea 04:27
- The Peacocks 04:01
- Green Fields of Canada 04:58
- The House on the Hill 03:55
Also available from Copperplate
Goitse: Tall Tales & Misadventures
Goitse: Inspired by Chance
Goitse: Úr
Press Reviews
SONGLINES Sept 22
*****
Limerick quintet bring talented buddies onboard
Celebrating 15 years together and a decade on the touring circuit, Limerick-based quintet Goitse mark the dual anniversary in style with their sixth studio album, Rosc. The title suggests an anthem, chant or wave of emotionally heightened music. A notion given lithe, liquid voice in what feels like a warming, melancholia-tinged post-COVID release from a band at ease with themselves. With their now well-developed sense of ensemble firm and flexible, the addition of half-a-dozen guests thickens textures and broadens the colour spectrum with wholly simpatico transatlantic tones. Danny Collins' piano accordion adds a reviving Appalachian tang to the track 'Rockin' in the Weary
Land', Colm McClean's lap steel guitar drives along 'Write Me Down' with a cantering frontier rhythm, Padraig Rynne's concertina fans the combustible 'Cave of the Wild Horses'. But the day undoubtedly belongs to core quintet. Alan Reid's characterful banjo shares the limelight with Aine McGeeney's elegant fiddle and silk-soft vocals, which is a real treat on the traditional English folk song 'Come You Not from Newcastle' and the lilting emigration ballad, 'Green Fields of Canada'. Conal O'Kane's guitars, Tadhg b Meachair's piano accordion and keyboards, and Colm Phelan's bodhnin and percussion ink in the fivesome's most accomplished and entertaining album to date. MICHAEL QUINN
The Living Tradition 8.22
Initially formed in Limerick University in 2007, Goitse has become one of Ireland’s most exciting new Celtic bands. They are also among the most prolific, with six albums down in a 15-year long career. Goitse releases its new album, Rosc, with some interesting changes. Already on their second album with new member, banjo player Alan Reid, replacing original member James Harvey, they move further into the realm of sonic exploration.
This time they add Sean Og Graham as producer and also a bevy of new musical ideas including subtle electronica, electric guitar and exotic instruments such as the oud into their line-up. The good news is that they haven’t abandoned their initial cut and thrust of playing traditional style music in their own tunes and sets, there is plenty of that here. The front line of Tadhg Ó Meachair on accordion and keyboards, Áine McGeeney on fiddle, and the aforementioned Alan Reid produce commendable melodic lines and sounds, while Conal O’Kane’s guitars and Colm Phelan’s bodhrán keeps everything in check. The developments are subtle rather than bombastic, peripheral rather than frontline, and the inclusion of new technology, musical or otherwise, is hardly noticeable.
The tune sets vary in sound. The opening The Biggest Little Journey mixes the moody and the stirring in equal measure and provides an absorbing entry. The Morning Noon And Night set offers three jig variants with accordion, fiddle and banjo leading the fray. Cave Of The Wild Horses along with The Trusty Messenger, The Peacocks and the stirring all guns blazing closer, The House On The Hill, allude to a group sound that is built as taut as a brick wall.
Goitse is a solid band musically, they don’t blind you with aeronautics and off the wall ideas – they just lay it out, build a head of steam, hit a groove and stay there. The groove element is what makes them attractive. The fact that they know one another from decades of ensemble work helps, and it shows – their tightness is almost blinding.
While the musical element has always been ahead of the pack, the song content has often been their bugbear. The problem they faced was suitable material on which to frame Áine McGeeney’s voice in its individuality. They tackle this aspect on Rosc by experimenting with adding guest vocalist Aoife Scott’s harmonies on the opening song, Come You Not From Newcastle, but while the result is pleasant, it tends to err on the precious. However, to Áine’s credit, she gains in prowess as the album continues and by the time she hits the Gaelic song, Margadh An Iúir, and The Green Fields Of Canada, she pulls off performances of authority and strength with a punch and brio lacking elsewhere.
Listening to a Goitse album is like playing poker - it’s all down to the hands and cards dealt. The suits which appear initially undemanding suddenly become giants when one ingredient is added, the ace card of their individuality which finally shows itself and displays its true colours here. They are so almost there in realising their gifts and producing the masterpiece they are capable of, the prospect of it is as exhilarating as it is daunting. The cards are down and Goitse lays an almost killer hand on Rosc, laden with promise and near full realisation. They are so nearly there it hurts. John O’Regan
The Irish Echo
Each lush 'Rosc' track tells a story
July 18, 2022 by Daniel Neely
Lots and lots of new recordings out there at the moment and most recently my focus has been on “Rosc,” the new album from the band Goitse. A band “forged in the white-hot creative crucible of Limerick’s Irish World Academy,” Goitse has settled into its latter-day sound on this, its sixth album. Full of enveloping, lush tracks that each tells a story, “Rosc” is a creative, highly-polished album that conveys a flair for the modern.
(By the way, if you’re having trouble with the name, try sliding the syllables “go-wit-cha” together and you’ll have it. The word is an informal Irish language greeting meaning “come here.”)
Goitse’s line-up is Áine McGeeney (fiddle and vocals), Alan Reid (banjo, bouzouki, mandolin, oud, tenor guitar), Conal O’Kane (guitar), Tadhg Ó Meachair (piano accordion, keyboards) and Colm Phelan (bodhrán & percussion). It’s an impressive bunch – when you read through their bios to see them loaded with All-Irelands, master’s degrees, teaching and touring accolades and the like, you’re really reminded why.
The album also includes the occasional contribution from a number of different guests who each adds well, including Danny Collins (piano, piano accordion, vocals), Aoife Scott (vocals), Colm McCann (lap steel guitar), and others. Martin Brunsden plays bass throughout the album and has a particularly consequential role in the overall sound.
Like each one of Goitse’s previous five albums, “Ross” is sure to be a success. Indeed, the band’s thrown off some smoke over the years. 2015 was a particularly big year for them, as it was when the Live Ireland Awards named them “Trad Group of the Year” and the Chicago Irish American News gave them their “Group of the Year” honor. Other distinctions and honors have followed (in 2016, for example, they won the German “Freiburger International Leiter”) along the way, but the manner in which accomplishment follows them around makes them a band to pay attention to.
As I said before, the album sound is one full of polish and modern sensibility. To the traditional instruments the band adds an occasional bit of the unusual, such as oud, slide guitar, and Moog synthesizer, in ways that tune listeners' expectations. And, their tune selection is tuned to their aesthetic approach. So while there are many traditional melodies to be heard here, several tracks – perhaps even the best ones – are those dotted with original tunes, a number of which are by Reid, with a couple notables from McGeeney and Ó Meachair.
ome tracks pop out to my ear, including “The Biggest Little Journey,” the album’s opener. Setting the tone with sort of an etherial, meandersome start that develops into a good, groovy vibe over time, it contains a pair of Reid’s tunes with a third by the full band. Pádraig Rynne (concertina), whose music with Notify isn’t so far removed from that of Goitse’s, plays on this one and brings a strong presence.
“The House on the Hill,” the album’s closer, is another lovely track. It sports a big arrangement that conveys a very organic, “live” feel. The electric piano on this one gives the tune-playing a strong low-end that would suit a good stereo and the tunes, this time by McGeeney and Reid, fit the context very nicely.
I also quite like “Trusty Messenger.” Reid’s a very fine banjo player and the track begins with a bit of a solo feature for him, playing one of his own tunes. They follow that with “Wesley Gillis,” a Cape Breton tune by Kinnon Beaton with a very heavy arrangement that marches the tune forward. Sean Óg Graham, the album’s producer, joins the group on button accordion and keyboards here and adds depth.
McGeeney sings on four tracks, all of which are excellent. I especially like “Write Me Down,” which has a singer-songwriterly feel to it and which, I think, features some very lovely singing, and “Green Fields of Canada,” a great older song that the band puts in a smart, thoughtful arrangement. The songs add superb variety to an already quite varied album and McGeeney’s done a first-rate job with them.
“Rosc” is an album from a band that takes traditional music a step in a different direction. The music here is lovely – as is the music on all their albums – but what I particularly like here is how well this one captures the sound and sensibility of “a band.” The recording itself just seems to convey the chemistry between the musicians in a way that I think illuminates the strong ideas they bring more fully. This one’s a nice one to listen to, check it out if you’re looking for something that sounds creative and fresh but is never too far off from being a good session. Dan Neely
