Every once in a while you'll hear a song on the radio which just hits you straight away. It will stay with you day-in, day-out and you will stop at nothing to get hold of a copy.
Such was the case with Apologise which was played on Mike Moloney's Irish Album on Ocean FM (Sligo/Donegal).
The combination of melody, vocals piano and violin would together melt the coldest of hearts.
Proof of the quality of the violinist requires just a namecheck - Maire Breatnach.
I hope it won't be too long before we associate that same quality mark with the singer and author of this song - Celine Carroll
Apologise can be found on an album called Itch. (Happy Trails Records).This album contains 10 quality songs all written,sung and produced by Celine. Celine also plays lead acoustic guitar and piano. Maire is featured on several other tracks the album.
Lyrics and samples are available on Celine Carroll's web site.
How I obtained the album is another story and I can safely say that I must have been the first person in the UK to get a copy. You should be able to buy Itch from Road Records and Nova Records, 9 Surrey Street, Littlehampton, West Sussex BN17 5AZ.
I met Celine in her hometown of Dublin the other day and she kindly agreed to take part in an exclusive interview.
Celine, Itch is a wonderful album and it has an almost ˜live" feel to it. How did you achieve this?
I purposely only had a few run- throughs of the songs with the band because I wanted everyone's playing to be spontaneous, kinda edgy, everyone playing off each other.'TIGHT BUT LOOSE' became our motto in the studio. In order to achieve this, we had one full rehearsal. When it came to recording, we set ourselves up in different rooms in the studio, put on our headphones and started playing. We could all hear each other playing. And it just sounded so natural and right.
I love the violin on Apologise and I've since discovered that the violinist is the legendary Maire Breatnach. When did you first encounter her and how did you get her to agree to perform on the album?
I always knew I was going to put a string arrangement on Apologise. I had recorded the strings myself on keyboards during the preproduction of this song. By the time I got to record it, together with the live feel of all the other songs, it was obvious that we'd have to record live strings. Enter Maire. My engineer, Ciaran Byrne recommended her. I called her up, had a chat, sent her my demos of the track. She liked the song and Bingo,came in and put it all down in a flash!!!!.
It was that simple.
Maire appears on other tracks too....
Yes, She layered violin and viola on Home, Itch, Slow My Wheels, Grey Sky Blue(awesome)and Flying .
While we're namedropping it would be wrong not to mention the other musicians involved...including yourself
My guitarist is Dave McGinley from Dublin, a wonderful musician, Paul Moore also from Dublin on bass and Jerry Fehily all the way from the Peoples Republic of Cork on drums. He's just amazing.
The entire band were great. Even Ciaran, my engineer played a mighty trombone solo on one track.
You've written all the songs on this album and your previous (debut) album Catch You As You Fall, have any of these been recorded by anyone else?
I've had one track from a previous album called Don't Get Me Wrong recorded by Frances Black. I think at the time, Frances was taking a departure from the folk angle that has appeared on all her other albums. She was going for a different feel on this particular album. Don't Get Me Wrong suited what she was doing and it became the title track of the album.
Is there a follow up album in the pipeline?
Not at the moment. Trying to shift this album on the masses is keeping me busy. But I do have a lot of songs ready to do battle. I just need someone to sponsor the musical war!!
You've no doubt been pleased with recent live shows, when is the next one and are there any hopes for touring Ireland and beyond?
We are in Bewley's Cafe Theatre in Dublin this Saturday, August 19th. It's a great gig because the venue is very intimate and cosy. Suits my style of playing and singing. After that, hopefully some gigs in the Autumn.
Your music has a rare quality of appealing to all ages. Is this fact reflected in the audiences at your live shows?
Absolutely. We get a great mix of ages. And I notice that everyone has their favourite song and they all pick different songs. With one exception-Bird In A Cage seems to win hands-down everytime with everyone.
A message to your fans (past, present & future)
Come on in, the door is still, and always will be, OPEN!!
Happy Trails,
Celine.
Celine Carroll...Thank you
Editor's Note
I must thank Celine Carroll for agreeing to take part , without whom this interview would never have happened. I would also like to thank Bernadette from Celtic Cafe for encouraging me to do this.
Recommended Links
Celine Carroll
Maire Breatnach
Frances Black
Celtic Cafe
Ocean FM
