Lankum Presents New Track 'Sergeant William Bailey' from Forthcoming Album

By: Caryn Robbins Oct. 12, 2017

LANKUM presents the new track "Sergeant William Bailey" from the forthcoming (10/27) album Between the Earth and Sky. The album drops October 27th, 2017 on Rough Trade Records. Pre-order at http://rtrecs.co/BTEAS Listen to "Sergeant William Bailey" now: http://rtrecs.co/sgtwilliambailey

About the song: "Satire in times of unrest is as potent a weapon as any, and this fact was not lost upon the ballad makers of Ireland's past. Songs poking fun at the British Army recruiting sergeant were common in the Irish tradition and represent a class of anti-war song unto themselves. This one is particularly special in that the site of William Bailey's recruiting attempts is Dunphy's Corner, just down the road from where the members of Lankum live on Dublin's northside. In our present era of social and political unrest songs that seek to lampoon and make fun of figures of authority, military or otherwise, are as relevant as ever." Ian Lynch, Lankum

Rough Trade recently announced the signing of Lankum, one of the most talked about bands to come out of Ireland in decades. The Dublin four-piece combines distinctive four-part vocal harmonies with arrangements of uilleann pipes, concertina, accordion, fiddle and guitar. Their first release for the label, Between The Earth And Sky, will be out at the end of the month.

Although an acoustic group whose repertoire is fundamentally based on traditional song, influenced by legends such as Frank Harte, Planxty, The Dubliners and the Watersons, subtle traces of the group's collective influences can be detected, ranging from American old-timey music to krautrock and drone. Their repertoire spans humorous Dublin music-hall ditties and street-songs, classic ballads from the Traveller tradition, traditional Irish and American dance tunes, and their own original material.

The band is comprised of brothers Ian and Daragh Lynch along with Cormac MacDiarmada and Radie Peat. When not on tour, Ian lectures in Irish Folklore and musical traditions at University College Dublin, while Cormac and Radie grew up as champion traditional players, on the fiddle and concertina, respectively. Yet Lankum are not purely "trad" themselves...rough-hewn and raw, they're the edgiest thing in Dublin right now. Originally formed by the Lynch brothers in the early 2000's as an experimental-psychedelic-folk-punk-duo, Lankum has since progressed through a number of incarnations, culminating in the four-piece group playing today. The word "Lankum" comes from the ballad "False Lankum", as sung by the Irish Traveller John Reilly Jr.

The release of their first album Cold Old Fire in 2014 and a subsequent appearance on the BBC show "Later... with Jools Holland" cemented their reputation as a band that successfully crosses genres.

Lankum are busy breathing new life into old music.