MacD on Music: Everything in Harmonia

Last week, I wrote about some of the many musical highlights of the coming months (also, for those who missed it, TRAMP’s EP is coming in October, not August). This week, I’m going to be taking a look at one of those featured, the Belfast-based (but Derry-led) Lord Jane.

Made up of Sam Foote (guitar), Dylan Norton (drums), Carl Small (bass), Aiden Reynolds (other guitar) and Clodágh May (vocals), the group have so far released three singles and have an EP coming next month.

I caught up with Clodágh May recently and we discussed the formation of the group and the music they’ve made so far: “The band started with Dylan and Sam. They’ve known each other forever and they started jamming and they were like ‘this is kind of cool. Let’s bring in a bassist and see what happens’ so Carl jumped in.

"Then Aiden came in on second guitar and Aiden and Sam are meant to be together. They’re like guitar soulmates. It’s absolutely incredible what they can do. Eventually they said ‘maybe we should bring vocals in and make this a thing’ so Sam messaged me asking ‘do you have space for a new project?’ and at the time I thought ‘nah, I can’t be bothered. I’m not driving to Belfast every week’ then he sent me stuff and I was like [snapping fingers] ‘I’m in’.”

“They started writing stuff two years ago and then I joined in June last year and straight away we knew that it was special. We felt really good about it and in November we recorded the EP. We’ve been sitting on this music now for ages. We’ve released two songs already, ‘I Did It To Myself’ and ‘It’s Been Too Long’ and we have another one out [now], ‘Harmonia’. There’s four songs on the EP.

"This is the third and when the EP is out on the 13th September, the title track is ‘Tulips’. When we wrapped up recording in November we listened back to everything and we put on ‘Harmonia’ and we all cried. The energy in the room, I can’t really describe it. You just had to be there. It just felt really right. That’s the song that’s like a part of our soul.”

“It was kind of an accident how the EP sort of shaped itself. We knew we wanted to release singles then an EP to end that little chapter but it worked out where the four songs we happened to record first tied into each other.

"The first song, ‘I Did It To Myself’ is about how you’re in self-destruct mode and you’re blaming everybody else but yourself but you realise ‘maybe I’m the problem here’. ‘It’s Been Too Long’ is about struggling with addiction. Doesn’t necessarily have to be substance or anything.

"It could just be a vice, something that keeps pulling you back and you know that it’s really bad but you’re like ‘it’s been ages. I’ll just do it once more, I’ll go back once more’ and it’s a vicious cycle. ‘Harmonia’ is kind of like a love letter to our mothers and our aunties and our sisters and me as well. It’s about struggling with how, being a woman, you can’t do anything right. You can’t win.

"You’re told ‘here’s all the boxes you need to tick’ and if you don’t tick all of them, forget about it. You have to be pretty, but you can’t be too pretty. You have to be quiet but don’t be too quiet because you’re weird then. ‘Tulips’ is the culmination of all that. You’re aware of these issues or that you have these obstacles and to grow you need to break the cycle and you need to break your own cycles.

"It’s a really nice way to end it. That’s basically what the EP’s about, and it was an accident. It just happened that way, but all the best things do, don’t they?”

And that’s it from Clodágh. Lord Jane’s new single ‘Harmonia’ is out now and the EP ‘Tulips’ will be released on September 13th.

Now, onto other business. The Free Derry Museum will be putting on some great events over the next few weeks as part of the Gasyard Féile. This Thursday (8th August) they’ll be hosting A Night of Music from Iraq and Ireland, featuring a number of musicians from both cultures playing traditional instruments in a newly formed acoustic ensemble beginning at 7.30pm.

This Saturday (10th August) at 3pm, there will be a book reading by Pat Magee from his book ‘Where Grieving Begins’ followed by an interview by Martina Anderson. Finally, on Tuesday 13th at 7.30, the museum will be hosting a music night featuring Jeanette Hutton & Ruairi O’Doherty, John Deery (minus the Heads), Declan McLaughlin & Jennifer Kelly and Ella McCafferty. All of these events are free admission so make sure not to miss them.

Finally, time for the socials. Lord Jane can be found on Instagram @lordjanemusic and Clodágh @clodagh_may. The Museum of Free Derry can be found @museumfreederry.