There is very little information on Aughiska the place on the Internet apart from an advert to hire a bungalow out, I assume it is safe from visitors getting sucked into any bogs when they stay. It would appear to be in County Clare in Ireland and this CD is the work of Conchúir O' Drona, a man who no doubt could spin very interesting yarns about this somewhat mysteriously anonymous area.
This is not exactly easy as far as putting it in a genre classifiable box is concerned; there are 5 long pieces on the album and they are for want of a better word soundscapes, which are all quite different texturally. ‘The Great Sea Stack At The Cliff Of Moher’ is very descriptive in itself. Huge monolithic tolling sounds ebb and flow, there is the crash of waves and like the tide itself, nothing is in a great rush. These craggy cliffs of ruin are further explored by sinister keyboards and it sounds like a mad magician is composing them from a deep dark cave in the bowels of the slabs of stone, perhaps he has been incarcerated there for aeons. ‘Aos Si’ is a simple calm synthesized line with quiet reflective harmonica sounding refrain in the background with people talking, I guess about life and death over it, genuine Irish accents and all. If you look into the meaning of the song title you will get a bit more of an insight. Not everything about this is calm though as what sounds like a demented coffee percolator on the verge of exploding takes into ‘Leabhar Gabhala Eireann.’ This is more an exploration into white noise and power electronics, any ambience is aside although it does settle into a dull repetitive throbbing around more austere keyboards. Again further illumination is provided on looking up the song title.
With another two tracks both again completely different but along similar ideology to follow, this is a very involving listen and Conchúir’s experimentations into sonic sorcery are certainly intriguing and worth seeking out. This is a highly dreamy and atmospheric listen that borders on the verge of meditative and trance inducing, perhaps it was powered by native mushrooms or simply just the great scenery and legends of the region and it captures much of its mystery. Explore below!
http://www.myspace.com/fromthebogsofaughiska
