Bring Your Own Hammer (BYOH) is releasing their second full-length album ‘From The Tombs’ on November 13th in collaboration with Peckham-based Dimple Discs. A masterclass in collaborative artistry that unites historical scholarship and contemporary composition, this barnstorming 21-song double album takes the listener on a journey through the history of crime, law and order in Ireland and among the Irish Diaspora in the long 19th century.
Bringing some of Ireland’s and Britain’s finest songwriters together with historians to create new and original song cycles based on historical sources and to interpret song material rooted in the history of 19th-century Ireland and of the Irish Diaspora. Not a band, nor an ensemble or even a collective, Bring Your Own Hammer is a faction – one that is armed with voices and instruments and dedicated to re-interpreting historical material in song form.
An incredible range of styles with superb pop songs, folk ballads, cinematic instrumentals, sean nós, an extended spoken word piece and more, this is a challenging, provocative and – in the best possible way – a sprawling record that captures something of the uncertain spirit of the times and people it focuses on. They too were diverse, sometimes chaotic, often unsettled individuals who met and were subsumed within wider historical circumstances in their communities and across different areas of the globe.
Indeed, the world you encounter on the record is somewhat odd (people accused of transforming themselves into hares to steal butter from cows, a man who collects shrunken heads, an old blind man taunted for selling his wife, a conman pretending to be the son of an American millionaire travelling around rural Ireland). It can also be a violent one (a girl in San Francisco killed by her Russian neighbour, a servant accused of killing her infant, a man who kills his child at a racecourse), and it is also a fundamentally familiar one with people driven by love, loss, care, greed, ambition, anger and bitterness to act in ways that bring them to the attention of the forces of law and order.
This fantastic album involves leading artists who have been at the forefront of producing compelling and ambitious music in Ireland and beyond. The lead track “From the Tombs” is a case in point, involving Mike Smalle (Cane141), June Miles-Kingston (Fun Boy Three, The Communards, Everything but the Girl), Bernard Butler (Suede, McAlmont & Butler), Fergal Lawler (The Cranberries), Marcus Holdaway (The High Llamas), Ian Catt (Saint Etienne) and Terry Edwards (Madness, Near Jazz Experience, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave). cleverly transform a grim historical footnote into something vibrant, honouring its tragic subject matter through polished indie-pop craftsmanship.
This album also features Luke Haines (The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof, Black Box Recorder), Sean O’Hagan (Microdisney, Stereolab, High Llamas), Audrey Riley, Cian Nugent, Adrian Crowley, Tony Higgins, SJ McArdle, Michael Walsh, Lisa Lambe, Hugh Bunker (Fatima Mansions), Damian O’Neill (The Undertones), Brigid Mae Power, Anne Gilpin (Morton Valence), Linda Buckley, Lavinia Blackwall (Trembling Bells), Inni-K, Not Quite Light, Kelsey Michael, Neil Farrell (Toasted Heretic), Michael J. Sheehy, John Carter Wood, Miriam Ingram, and Seán Mac Erlaine.
Listeners can experience these stories in song, traveling with a host of amazing artists across time, from the early 1800s to the 1920s, and to different parts of the world – from the west coast of Ireland, through the urban centres of London and Manchester, across the Atlantic to New York, San Francisco and L.A. and south to rural Argentina, Australia and South Africa.
Through their music and song, you too can confront the strangeness and familiarity of the past and something of the glee and gloom of 19th century Ireland and its Diaspora. The album is best enjoyed in four parts, corresponding to the four sides of the vinyl record (From The Sessions * From The Americas * From The Assizes * From The Island), or in one sitting, as one might watch a film.
As with the project’s debut album ‘My Grief on the Sea’, this double album was curated by Dr. Richard Mc Mahon, lecturer in History at MIC, Limerick and currently a visiting fellow at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, who explores forms of invented history, rooted in historical sources from Ireland and overseas. He is supported by Dr. Niall Whelehan, senior lecturer at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, who has written widely on the history of modern Ireland and the Irish diaspora with a focus on the 19th century.
On November 13th, “From The Tombs” is out everywhere, including Apple Music, Spotify and Bandcamp, where the debut album ‘My Grief On The Sea’ is also available on Limited Edition sea-coloured vinyl, CD and digitally.
TRACK LIST
SIDE ONE: FROM THE SESSIONS
01 Asking Alms – Cian Nugent
02 Ragged Red Shirt – Mike Smalle and Kelsey Michael
03 The Butter Witch – Adrian Crowley and maxo
04 A.M. – Audrey Riley with James Woodrow
05 Vagabond Song – Adrian Crowley and Sean O’Hagan
SIDE TWO: FROM THE AMERICAS
06 From the Tombs – Mike Smalle and June Miles-Kingston with Bernard Butler, Terry Edwards, Marcus Holdaway and Fergal Lawler
07 The Black Maria, O – Mike Smalle and Luke Haines
08 Sing a Song to Sing Sing – John Carter Wood with Marcus Holdaway
09 Powerplays – Marcus Holdaway
10 Pale Blue Dress – Miriam Ingram with Seán Mac Erlaine
11 Quinn the Adventurer – Adrian Crowley
SIDE THREE: FROM THE ASSIZES
12 Carrickshock (A Brief but Desperate Deed of Blood) – Tony Higgins with Hugh Bunker, Damian O’Neill and Michael Walsh
13 In the Dark – SJ McArdle and Lisa Lambe
14 I Swear to You – Brigid Mae Power and Linda Buckley
15 Luck – Michael J. Sheehy
16 The Cruel Father – Lavinia Blackwall and Neil Farrell with SJ McArdle
17 Vane Tempest – Mike Smalle and Marcus Holdaway
SIDE FOUR: FROM THE ISLAND
18 The Elphinstone Voyage – Fergal Lawler
19 We Were Bound – Michael J. Sheehy and Anne Gilpin
20 Na Connerys – Inni-K
21 Faultlines – Michael Walsh and Not Quite Light
CREDITS
Cast (as they appear): Cian Nugent, Mike Smalle, Kelsey Michael, Adrian Crowley, maxo, Audrey Riley, James Woodrow, Sean O’Hagan, Bernard Butler, Fergal Lawler, June Miles-Kingston, Marcus Holdaway, Terry Edwards, Luke Haines, John Carter Wood, Miriam Ingram, Seán Mac Erlaine, Michael Walsh, Tony Higgins, Hugh Bunker, Damian O’Neill, SJ McArdle, Lisa Lambe, Brigid Mae Power, Linda Buckley, Michael J. Sheehy, Lavinia Blackwall, Neil Farrell, Anne Gilpin, Inni-K, Not Quite Light
Curated by Dr. Richard Mc Mahon with support from Dr. Niall Whelehan
Dimple Discs catalogue no. BYOH0029LP
Released by Bring Your Own Hammer & Dimple Discs
All Rights Reserved. Distributed by Shellshock
Front Cover Image: Street Scene, “The Tombs”, Manhattan Detention Center, Centre Street, New York City, New York, USA, 1905
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR