Harmless Noise
A music blog from Ireland.
A music blog from Ireland.
(No Ratings Yet)It’s exactly seven days since Hans The Reluctant Wolf Juggler landed through my letterbox, 24 hours since I took it through Phoenix Park for a stroll and 18 hours since I found myself ensconced in the IFI watching the band perform, trying not to cry to Pandora’s Box as the viola sawed through me and a cello sobbed as dreadful Dr Schön spat “One does not marry such women. It would be suicide!“, or when her grotty father grinned at the prospect of plum pudding from the proceeds of prostitution. I doubt anything will ever rival that for my first experience of a silent movie scored.
There is no doubt that 3epkano‘s new album is in the top tier of Irish albums released this year. I reviewed the album for entertainment.ie but to be honest, I’m not very happy with my conclusion because even now I hear new murmurs and melodies that passed me by the first time. Like the iridescence of a CD or an opal it seems to change colour and tone every time I listen and for all my objectivity I just cannot find a downside or negative point. I didn’t manage to convey the massive sense of substance and the way my body seemed to resonate as the rumbles and trills filled my ears. It’s a truly lovely thing and came closer to getting a 5/5 score than anything else I have heard this year.
Not Now Steve – 3epkano
Ian Maleney interviewed Matthew Nolan for Thumped.com ahead of last night’s album launch. I hope to get a similar opportunity in the next few weeks. Hopefully Hans will be available to stream soon but in the meantime, here’s an excerpt from Ian’s interview and just in case you missed it, a taster of the album in Not Now Steve.
As a group, 3epkano are as open to criticism from the film school as the music heads and Nolan seems to find this duality every exciting.”I think there’s a massive overlap there,” he says. “I’m more worried about the film community because for me, the films have always come first. I’ve always been really interested in creating alternative theatrical outings for these amazing films, some of which have been forgotten, some are iconic and some have become silent movie clichés. If I can keep giving them a life and keep doing something different with the soundtracks, then I’m happy out. The only criticism that will bother me is a badly informed one, and even at that it won’t rub me the wrong way. If someone is going to offer us a rigorous deconstruction of what we’ve created and it’s coherent, then brilliant. It means someone has taken the time to listen to it in a detailed way.
3epkano’s previous EP and album are available from Bandcamp for free download now.
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i’ve had this conversation before, but i’d like to ask again as i still dont know if there is an answer – is there a specific word for what 3epkano do, like was there a job title for that role when it was the norm??
Well I’m not the right person to ask but Wikipedia is quite interesting on the subject. It seems that silent films were almost always accompanied by an orchestra in upmarket establishments, a pianist or organist in modest theatres, A collection of musicians in 3epkano’s sense is an ensemble, but I’d be interested to know more about that myself.
good stuff
Yeah i just thought i’d throw the question out there – the wiki is very interesting, the theatre organs sound amazing.