As it gears up for its Electric Picnic performance, Laois-based trio, Cua which comprises Shane Booth, John Davidson and Ros O’Meara, has started work on its sixth studio album.
“We are recording and producing it ourselves,” said Shane.
“It’s fantastic to play at the Electric Picnic. We played last year at Spike Island and were delighted to be asked back again this year,” he said.
“We are on stage at 12.05 am until 1.05 am on the Friday night on the Spike Island stage. Expect to hear dark cappellas, soaring melodic lines and world infused rhythms, all creating our style of dirty folk.”
The group has an expansive acoustic soundscape, blending guitars, fiddle, bouzouki, percussion and three-part harmony arrangements to create a folk styling that incorporates elements from the plains of this country to the mountains of Scotland and further afield, east and west.
“We released our latest album ‘Oh Sun Shine Down – our fifth recording’ last year to critical acclaim and radio play across Ireland and the UK. It was recorded over Covid and all done remotely,” Shane recalled.
“We have released four albums and an EP since 2012: ‘The Winter Tapes’, ‘Cua EP’, ‘Songs of the Hollow’ ‘ In Flight Off The Islands’ and ‘Oh Sun Shine Down.’ It has been a very productive time.”
Music has been a key part of the trio’s lives and played an integral part in bringing them together.
Shane who is from Killeen near Emo, has been around music all his life, with his late father, Richard, having been a huge part of his musical upbringing as folk choir leader and music teacher.
“I have been thankfully surrounded by music to the point where it seems to be major part of my DNA,” he remarked.
John’s grandfather began passing the fiddle and all its beauty onto him when he was just six years of age. Since then, he has brought his talents to every corner of the globe.
Ros, who is from Portlaoise town, works as a music teacher and music therapist.
He has been a core of the Laois music community from an early age, bringing the tradition of music from his father’s native Tipperary and his mother’s homeplace of Leitrim.
He has interwoven intricate styles to bring a new sound to the modern folk scene.
John and Aisling met while rehearsing an Irish dance show in Dublin that went to tour the US.
After a couple of years, they both moved to Nashville where Aisling helped in the setting up of a new Irish dance school and John worked as a session musician.
Since returning to Ireland, Aisling has followed in the footsteps of her late aunt Maura Shanahan, in setting up her own dance school, The Aisling Walsh Dance Academy in Shanahoe.
“The name ‘Cua’ comes from the placename for Shanahoe, ‘Seanchua’ as Geailge, meaning ‘old hollow.’ Cua started out from John and Aisling’s studio in 2011,” Shane recalled.
“I guess we usually pigeonhole ourselves into the genres of folk, world and roots music.
“However, it really is much broader than that, with elements of many genres, styles and geographical areas coming together to influence what we sometimes like to call Atlantean,” he said.
“Our aim was just to play our original folk music. We have a very broad taste in music and we wanted to channel it into something more acoustic and harmony based,” he said.
“We tour in the UK once or twice a year with our last tour being three weeks in March of this year. We are returning to the UK in March 2024 for another three weeks, hopefully with a new album to display.
“Our plans for the near future is to release our latest album early next year before we head back to the UK for our 2024 Spring tour.
“In the long term we hope to keep recording and touring and pushing our song writing to new places, keeping our three-part harmonies and our mixture of instrumental, a cappella and songs,” Shane said.
“It would be great to receive some more radio play and streaming in Ireland and to establish a worthwhile touring circuit in Ireland.”
Come see Cua on Friday night from 12.05am until 1.05am on the Spike Island Stage.
SEE ALSO – Check out our dedicated ’10 minutes on’ Talking Sport Podcast series focusing on various Laois clubs
