Mike Gangloff

MEITHEAL - Early in the Spring, Late in the Fall

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Mike Gangloff is best known as a member of drone improvisers Pelt and Spiral Joy Band, as well as Appalachian old-time outfit The Black Twig Pickers. In March of last year he performed at one of Vicky Langan's Black Sun events in Cork, alongside David Colohan's Raising Holy Sparks, and the Cork Sacred Harp Singers, with which Langan is  involved. The three musicians played a short piece togethe

r to close the show. The trio, now named

Meitheal

, reconvened to appear at Newcastle's Tusk Festival in October.

The material here is largely culled from the Sacred Harp tradition, with vocals backed by Gangloff and Langan's twin fiddles and

Colohan's harmonium and shruti box drones. On the Tusk recording, each member sings lead in turn (culminating in what may be Colohan's finest recorded vocal to

date). The unadorned, unaffected approach allows the musicians' characters, and the traditions that shaped them, to shine through. In this way the music effortlessly reunites the folk traditions of Ireland and the Southern United States, while being informed by the hillbilly drone of Henry Flynt. Songs that date from as far back as the 19th century are placed in an unusual yet sympathetic context, retaining their directness and emotional power. 

This release consists of both the Cork and Newcastle sets, as well as a rehearsal prior to the latter, and so contains Meitheal

's entire recorded work to date. 

Early in the Spring, Late in the Fall by Meitheal

Mike Gangloff - voice & fiddle 

Vicky Langan - voice & fiddle 

David Colohan - voice, harmonium & shruti box 

1.1: Recorded by Sam Grant, October 6th 2012 at the Tusk Festival in The Star & Shadow, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. 

2.1: Recorded March 8th 2012 at Black Sun in Plugd, Cork, Ireland during a solar storm. 

2.2: Recorded October 6th 2012 during rehearsals for the Tusk set. 

Artwork by David Colohan. 

Pan illustration from 1920 songbook of "The Quaker Singer", David Bispham. 

Thanks to Lee Etherington (Tusk), Sam Grant and Carapace.

Numbered edition of 100. Includes download code.

Meitheal play at TUSK Festival, Newcastle this October

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TUSK Music Presents:

TUSK Festival 2012

October 5-7 . Star & Shadow . Newcastle Upon Tyne

Meitheal (Irish pronunciation: [ˈmɛhəl]) is the trio of Vicky Langan from Galway, David Colohan of Longford and Mike Gangloff of Virginia. All are deeply involved in esoteric musical forms of various kinds (Wölflinge, Raising Holy Sparks and Pelt respectively) but each succumbs to the irresistible pull of some kind of folk music, both through influences weighing on their aforementioned identities and via, for example, Langan’s deep involvement in the Irish Sacred Harp community and Gangloff’s fiddle and voice in old-time trio the Black Twig Pickers.

Meitheal was born earlier this year when Colohan arranged a series of solo Irish dates for Gangloff, leading to an inevitable three-way throwdown that drew from their collective well of ancient music lore and their skills as improvisors. Meitheal is still very much an embryonic entity, we fully admit – no releases, one gig under their belts, no one’s ever heard of them – but knowing them individually, combined with being blown away by the 8 minutes that appeared on Youtube means we had to have them here.

We don’t doubt that when you hear them, you’ll know why.