Áine O'Dwyer

Áine O’Dwyer
Born Ireland
Genres Ambient, Free Folk, Drone, Avant-Folk
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Harp, piano, Organ

Áine O’Dwyer

Hailing from Ireland, Áine O'Dwyer creates live and recorded events which embrace the broader aesthetics of sound and it’s relationship to environment, time, audience, and structure. The notion of a holding space as-extention-of-instrument is a cornerstone of her artistic investigation and the crux of her performances and albums to date; Gallarais, Beast diaries, Music for church cleaners, Locusts and Gegenschein.

She is originally from Pallasgreen, County Limerick, Ireland.[1] Before she got into her teens she had tried applying herself to the piano, tin whistle, flute and fiddle. The piano was the one that she had more time playing and that was until she was 11. Then she took to the harp.[2] In addition to harp, she also plays organ.[3] When she was at school, the teen-aged O'Dwyer wanted to play the pipe organ but the nun there in her judgment refused her permission.[4] She eventually moved to London to do her master’s degree in fine art media.[5]

She is currently based in London.[6]

Career

An album she is quite well known for is Music For Church Cleaners. The album was actually recorded while church cleaners went about their duties. Their activities were picked up on the recording.[7]

Her album Locusts is No 6 on Thump's The 25 Best Experimental Albums of 2016 list.[8]

Live performances

Some of her performances could be regarded as quite unique. As mentioned in The Music of the Future by Robert Barry, the author was on his way to attend the Supernormal Festival festival near Reading. He said he was to watch her lying on the floor beneath a baize cloth, plucking the strings of a harp with her feet.[9] One performance was based on her drawings of mythical creatures.[10]

She collaborated with Alice Maher on the live show, Visitant, which combined dance, music and visual art, performed at the Project Arts Centre in 2014.[11] Around the end of November 2015 she appeared at London's Cafe Oto, dressed up like 18th century scullery maid, backlit with a fan flailing her hair, playing an accordion in a strange fashion, described by The Quietus reviewer Matthew Foster, as "a terrifying sight for the average wuss".[12] Recounting one of her live performances, Chal Ravens of Fact Mag said she was like an invisible banshee, pummeling them (the audience) with gothic drama from her concealed lair.[13] According to experimental artist Graham Dunning in an early 2016 interview with Robert E Smith of The Attic Magazine, he says she is possibly his favorite live artist, mentioning her refreshing sets being often melancholy but also mentioning the deliberately jarring sections and silly interludes.[14]

In 2017, UnderTheRadar.co.nz reported that O'Dwyers Music For Church Cleaners NZ Tour was to begin in Auckland on Saturday 20th May, with the next stops Wellington and Dunedin before concluding in Christchurch on Saturday 27th May.[15] The Wellington performance was scheduled to be held at the First Church of Christ Scientist.[16]

Discography

Albums
Title Release info Year F Notes
Music For Church Cleaners Fort Evil Fruit FEF4 2012 Cass
Anything Bright Or Startling? Second Language SL022 2013 Cass
Safely Adrift Self-released 2014 FLAC, MP3
Meditations On A World Ending 21.12.12. Self-released 2014 CD-R Ltd ed.
Music For Church Cleaners Vol. I And II MIE Music MIE 028 2015 2-LP avail in other formats
Locusts Fort Evil Fruit FEF50 2016 Cass Ltd ed.
Gegenschein Fort Evil Fruit FEF49 2016 Cass [17]
Gallarais MIE Music MIE 045 2017 LP with Digital D/L [18]

References

  1. ↑ Music Limerick, 17 August 2012 - Wireless Folk: Áine O’Dwyer
  2. ↑ The Irish Times, Mon, Jan 26, 2015 - Áine O’Dwyer’s music to clean churches by, Rebellion against theory - Ian Maleney
  3. ↑ Pop Matters, 26 February 2015 - Aine O'Dwyer, Music for Church Cleaners Vol. I and II - by Matthew Fiander
  4. ↑ The Irish Times, Mon, Jan 26, 2015 - Áine O’Dwyer’s music to clean churches by - Ian Maleney
  5. ↑ The Irish Times, Mon, Jan 26, 2015 - Áine O’Dwyer’s music to clean churches by, Rebellion against theory - Ian Maleney
  6. ↑ BOMB Magazine - Áine O’Dwyer by Keith Connolly
  7. ↑ Spoonfed.co.uk, Friday, 25 Nov - Áine O'Dwyer, Angharad Davies, Bechir Saade, Anton Lukoszevieze
  8. ↑ Thump, December 14, 2016 - Best of 2016, The 25 Best Experimental Albums of 2016, Colin Joyce
  9. ↑ The Music of the Future, By Robert Barry - - I'm on my way to a music festival near Reading
  10. ↑ The Herald (Glasgow), 5th July, 2017 - Arts News: Aine O'Dwyer at Edge Effects; NYOS Jazz Orchestra tour; Hawaii of the North line-up; drummer's Playtime - Keith Bruce
  11. ↑ The Irish Times, Thu, Feb 20, 2014 - Dark collaboration: four artists, four disciplines, one show by Michael Seaver
  12. ↑ The Quietus, December 1st, 2015 - LIVE REPORT: Áine O'Dwyer & Księżyc - Matthew Foster
  13. ↑ Fact Magazine, Nov 23 2016 - Le Guess Who? 2016: Why music sounds completely different when the world is ending - Chal Ravens
  14. ↑ The Attic, February 24, 2016 - Graham Dunning - Mechanical Techno Wizardry - by Robert E. Smith
  15. ↑ UnderTheRadar.co.nz, Thursday 20th April, 2017 - MUSIC NEWS, Irish Multi-Instrumentalist Aine O'Dwyer Announces Four-Date Church Tour
  16. ↑ UnderTheRadar.co.nz, 21 Apr. 2017 - Altmusic presents ÁINE ODWYER!
  17. ↑ Discogs - Aine O'Dwyer Discography, Albums
  18. ↑ MIE - Áine O'Dwyer - Gallarais MIE 045
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