Sideways Through Sound

How do ...
As you know, me and the missus Rima live in our lovely old Bedford TK, and on the evenings we often sit around the woodburner and listen to, and I have to say it cos I mean it, one of my favorite radio shows in recent years 'Sideways Through Sound'. The show is broadcast through Sydney's 2SER station and Mark 'thee sonic assassin' is the chap behind this wonderful show. Mark comes from good old rainy Manchester, but prefers these days the warm rain of the Australian east coast.

The show is a fantastic mix of psych/folk, electronica, strumming, droning and general psychedelic reverie all mixed in-between with Marks wandering, witty and insightful banter. We are 'mad for it/ love it' over here in the wren camp and you can imagine our delight when Mark sent a message to say that the new album 'The One Two Bird And The Half Horse' was to be the 'featured' album of this weeks show ! The album isn't really out yet so it is a lovely sneak preview for you folks. I will do a blog here when it is properly out.
The show is wonderfully downloadable every thursday from the website and you can grab the show that we were featured on here.

I am very touched by Mark's enthusiasm for the album and want to thank him here for the support and for listening so deeply whilst sitting in his beanbag with a glass of red.
Anyhoo, for anyone not aware of this brilliant show, I urge you to listen in, it is by far the best radio show that I have heard in quite some time. We usually (very slowly) download the show the next day as streaming on the mobile dongle in the truck is a bit crap !

Thanks again to Mark for the show and for the listening.

Arbouse Recordings

A while ago, my dear friend Keiron Phelan wrote to me with a very interesting idea. Alongside David Sheppard, Keiron records as Phelan Sheppard on The Leaf Label and they had been invited to contribute a piece to an intriguing project curated by Cyril Caucat, who runs the Arbouse Recordings label in France. The project is based on the menhir statues in the Fenaille Museum, an archeological museum in Rodez, France. The premise for the project was that the 'artists be invited to create a musical universe in 2008 around the collection of statues-menhirs of the museum' ... Dave from the aforementioned Phelan Sheppard is a busy chap doing his numerous wordsmitheries for various magazines and such, so this is where I come in :)



Keiron suggested that the two of us do it instead as Orla Wren. Great idea ! Cyril approves and off we go ... Keiron then sent me various lovely sounds he had made using glockenspiel, recorder, flute and ukulele. I chucked them all in my laptop and fiddled about and constructed an arrangement and then added all manner of little sounds, clarinet, melodica and some sad, yearning, melancholic things, as is my wont and the result is 'The Climbing Rope'.
The album includes some other 'luminary' figures in the genre, including Fennesz, Mira Calix, Greg Davis, Serafina Steer, Jasper TX and Sylvain Chauvaux ... The double album is a very beautiful thing and is out now and you can buy it here ...

I am thrilled to have been a part of this lovely thing.
My respect to Arbouse for doing it.
Cheers to Dave Shep for being too busy ;)
Jolly good.

KESH Recordings

Recently, I was kindly invited to contribute to a 'remix' project 88 TAPES for the KESH label, which is run by Simon Scott, ex drummer of Slowdive and a musician who records under his own name and also as Televise. This is a first for me into the idea of remixing, but the project was devised when Simon came across some old tape recordings of his improvised guitar from 1988, the idea was for various musicians to be invited to rework the hissy, clicky and quite odd sounds into something of their own. I liked this idea, so got to work after Simon had sent me a few very wonky and hissy tape manipulations, the result from Orla Wren is '33 fainting spells' ... which includes the amazing vocal of Russudan Meipariani, ( who also sings on four tracks on the new album 'The One Two Bird And The Half Horse' ) and has already received radio play from the brilliant Australian radio station Sideways Through Sound and also a very nice review by Mark from The Sunday Experience ...

"The bowed chimes of the mysteriously and eerie though strangely mesmerising '33 fainting spells' by Orla Wren indeed provides a strangely unsettling meditative calm, its tranquil though ostensibly reverent allure ominously manifesting into what can only be described as an enchanting centuries old Tibetan incantation".

The compilation was mastered by Taylor Dupree ( 12K ) and is due to be released in January as 500 copies on CD, 88 copies on 'C88' cassette ( geddit ? ) and FLAC download ... available from BOOMKAT, SMALLFISH, NORMAN RECORDS and P*DIS in Japan ...

Highly recommended ...

Jolly good :)

Old film footage wanted

I have just finished my first film for the track 'the first born daughter of water' which will be the last track on the new album. Here are a few stills from the film and I have enjoyed so much the process of this film making that I wish to ask if anyone has some old family footage that they may have and be happy for me to turn into a film for the album ? The older the footage the better and preferably transfered onto digital format. Please email me here if you can help ... fumbtack@googlemail.com :)
Thank you much

x tui x

New Album Finished !

I am really happy to finally announce that the new album is complete and now being packaged in various ways for the selected labels that I have chosen to submit this new work to :)
Ten tracks in total make up the album and there is my film for the last track and Rima's beautiful stop motion animation for the track 'the fish and the doll'
I will announce which label this music will be released on as soon as I know :)
It is really quite strange and exciting to finish and to now be making steps to make this album available
It is made up of two years of collecting tender sounds
and wrapping them around this music that I have called
Orla Wren 'the one two bird and the half horse'

I hope that you like it

x tui x

Six Paintings Born

I have spent the last many some weeks being curled around in this music ... the album that will become the follow up to my debut 'butterfly wings make' on Expanding Records in 2006 ... two pieces with Keiron Phelan ( phelan sheppard ) on guitar are now completely finished and mastered ... two more with the wonderful Jessica Constable are now finished and another two are musically complete and waiting only for Moomlooo to add some wonderful vocals ... I now have only the beginning piece and the gentle ending to complete the new album ... Rima is making a beautiful move/click animation for the beginning piece and I am busy with my first film for the last track and also with this track I am happy to announce that a wonderful lullaby will be added by Russudan Meipariani ...
One more track was selected for the album, but I may just keep that one in my back pocket ... we will see ...
back to work then :)

x tui x

Trees and Routes

The images that I have used on the orlawren.com website are old, old crinkled photographs of my mothers side of the family. Some of these my grandfather carried around with him in his back pocket, mainly ones of my grandmother. The main image at the top of the site is my mother as a young girl, holding hands with her mother on the beach. Without these people and their loving, I couldn't write this ... thank you to them.

My nine children around the fire

So, it is time to write some words here as the website is almost fully ready ...
Scotland provides snow and much rain at these times and I am happily sitting weaving these nine chosen tracks for the new Orla Wren album ... like nine children around the fire, warming my days and evenings, and as each piece reveals itself to me slowly, the melodies and beautiful contributions find themselves being gently woven and taken in unexpected directions. I will post new updates here as the album is nearer and ready to be heard :) The pictures to the left are stills from a film that I am making for one track on the album ... also Rima has begun her beautiful animation for the first track on the album and after many weeks of gentle pencil drawing and 'move, click' 'move,click' ... it will be a very beautiful beginning to the album ...

Tools for the beautiful work

A wee pic of a few instruments that I use to make sounds ...
a prize if you can name them all ;)
I use these for all my projects and have been busy in the last few days on two new 'nootk' tracks and also on the website for that project
( thank you again to Rima for coffee and monumental code-geekery )
Feel free to have a looksee ...

x tui x

The new orla wren album ready early 2008

Hello ... here are a few wee words to begin this place of news and things that I maybe write about a few thoughts or moments ...

The album tracks are now chosen and thank you for the very beautiful vocals that are now coming back in from susan, jess and clare ... moomlooo to follow ...
And also thank you to keiron phelan for some really beautiful guitar

So now it is almost winter in Scotland again and time to sit by the fire with these nine pieces and work on the fine detail and final 'arrangements' ...

Two years in the making ... two years here in this cottage ... when it is done we will leave and be on wheels again to take orla wren to visit and play on the streets of Norway, Sweden and Finland ...

hope to see you there ...
x tui x