Aoife O’Donovan today shares her new single, “Transatlantic,” featuring Kris Drever. WBUR’s The ARTery premiered the video for the track, which was commissioned by the Irish Arts Center’s Grásta project, noting it “captures the wistfulness of the not-so-distant past.”
Of the song, Aoife says: “I started writing “Transatlantic” many years ago – after one of my frequent trips across the pond. The lyric started as a classic love song, but when I dusted it off to complete it for this project with the Irish Arts Center, it became something different. I felt strangely moved by the nostalgia and longing for camaraderie, innocently described by my pre-pandemic self. As I finished the tune in January of this year – feeling certain of nothing but the uncertainty of these times – I immediately began to hear the voice of Kris Drever, a friend based in Glasgow. Kris enlisted his trio mates Euan Burton and Louis Abbott to be the rhythm section and layered the recording with the inimitable strings of Jeremy Kittel. The refrain references the old classic Loch Lomond, a ‘song from another time,’ Raise a glass. We will be together again soon.”
In the Irish Arts Center’s Grásta series, of which O’Donovan’s “Transatlantic” is a highlight, wide-ranging artists respond to the prompt to create something considering the idea of finding grace in uncertainty. The commissioned works comprise a collective that chronicles the current moment, of how we felt and what we learned, and of what redemption we might find and carry forward. The Irish Arts Center was founded in 1972 and is based in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City.
“Transatlantic” comes on the heels of 2020’s Bull Frogs Croon (And Other Songs) EP, which originated from a collaborative piece that premiered in 2015’s Oregon’s Britt Music and Arts Festival and incorporated the work of the late Oregon poet laureate Peter Sears. Bull Frogs Croon finds Aoife accompanied by a string quartet for “a captivating song cycle” and “a truly poetic set of songs that linger with the listener long after O’Donovan has the final word” (No Depression). She has also released two live albums via Bandcamp: Live from Black Birch and Live from the Church of the Sacred Heart.
This Spring, O’Donovan is also set to premiere a new work with the Orlando Philharmonic, at a pair of shows on May 8th in Festival Park, FL. The piece titled, “America, Come” honors the 101st anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which secured women’s right to vote in the U.S. Constitution. Arranged by Tanner Porter, the song cycle was commissioned by the Orlando Philharmonic.
Beginning in Belfast in late January 2022, O’Donovan will embark on a transatlantic tour with stops throughout Ireland and the UK before headlining the Barbican, Milton Court Concert Hall in London.
“Transatlantic” is now streaming everywhere: https://ffm.to/transatlantic
Tags: Aoife O'Donovan, new music, New Music VIdeo