“Harbinger”
By Old Clump
Written by Eamon O’Leary; vocals, guitar: Eamon O’Leary; vocals: Emily Miller; bass, Wurlitzer: Shahzad Ismaily; recorded and mixed by Shahzad Ismaily; mastered by Michael Hynes. Copyright ©2011 Old Clump
Old Clump is the musical project of Dublin native Eamon O’Leary, who has been a fixture in NYC’s Irish music scene since 1992. O’Leary also teaches at the Augusta Heritage Center, the Catskills Irish Arts Week, and the Alaska Irish Music Camp. Live at Mona’s—a recording documenting weekly sessions hosted by O’Leary and Patrick Ourceau at the Lower East Side Irish-music venue in New York City—was released in 2004.
Esopus 17 (Fall 2011)
Esopus CD #17: Fear Itself
After our readers submitted their most intense irrational fears for our fifth subscriber invitational, we invited 13 musicians to select one fear to use as inspiration for a new song for this issue’s CD. Some of the tracks convey these phobias with absolute gravity: For instance, Edinburgh-based band Meursault delivers a haunting and heartbreaking take on Wendy Cohen’s anxiety about dropping dead on the street and leaving loved ones behind (“No Knock at the Door”). But there are lighter approaches, too, like Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt’s “Spew,” a raucous number inspired by Dave Miranda’s fear of vomiting in public. Whether serious or comic, sad or buoyant, all of these wonderful songs prove that fear is as rich and potent a source of musical inspiration as any other human emotion.