Áine O'Dwyer is an Irish experimental musician, known for her live performances and recordings, which explore the aesthetics of sound and its relationship to environment, time, audience, and structure. Originally from

Pallasgreen Pallasgreen or Pallasgrean () is a village in East County Limerick, situated on the Limerick–Tipperary N24 road. The name means "the Stockade of Grian," referring to an ancient Irish Goddess of Love, who is associated with the nearby hil ...

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, she studied at the

Limerick School of Art and Design The Limerick School of Art and Design (LSAD; ga, Scoil Ealaíne Agus Deartha Luimnigh) is a constituent art college of the Technological University of the Shannon, located in Limerick, Ireland. The school operates on three of TUS: Midwest's ...

(graduating 2006) and in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

at the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

(graduating 2011). She is currently based in London. As a child, O'Dwyer played the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

tin whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

and

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

. She now performs primarily on harp and

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Live performances

Published accounts of O'Dwyer's live appearances include ''The Music of the Future'' by Robert Barry, who describes O'Dwyer lying on the floor under a baize cloth, plucking the strings of a harp with her feet, during a performance at the Supernormal Festival in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. O'Dwyer's appearance in November 2015 at London's

Cafe Oto Cafe Oto is a venue for free jazz, experimental and free improvisation performances located in the Dalston district of London, United Kingdom. Founded in 2008 Cafe Oto (''sound'' or ''noise'' in Japanese) is located in the heart of Dalston and p ...

, in which she dressed as an 18th century scullery maid, backlit with a fan flailing her hair, and played the accordion, was described by ''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quiet ...

'' reviewer Matthew Foster, as "a terrifying sight for the average wuss",' while Chal Ravens of ''Fact Mag'' described a performance by O'Dwyer as "like an invisible banshee haunting the pipes of the church’s organ, O'Dwyer pummels us with gothic drama from her concealed lair above the altar" and experimental artist Graham Dunning described her live sets as "always refreshing, often very melancholy but often with deliberately jarring sections or silly interludes". O'Dwyer has also collaborated with artist Alice Maher on a live show, ''Visitant'', which combined dance, music and visual art, performed at the

Project Arts Centre Project Arts Centre is a multidisciplinary arts centre based in Temple Bar, Dublin, which hosts visual arts, theatre, dance, music, and performance. History Project Arts Centre was founded by Jim FitzGerald and Colm O'Briain in 1967 after a thr ...

in 2014 and based performances on her own drawings of mythical creatures.

Albums

Her albums include ''Gallarais'' (2017), ''Beast Diaries'' (2017), ''Music For Church Cleaners'' (2012), ''Locusts'' (2016) and ''Gegenschein'' (2016). ''Music For Church Cleaners'' is an album of pipe organ improvisations, utilising graphic scores, recorded at St Mark’s Church in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

, while church cleaners continued to go about their duties. The sounds of the cleaners' activities were included on the recordings. This album was released on cassette and later expanded into a full-length album as ''Music For Church Cleaners Vol I & II'' (2015). Her album ''Locusts'' is No 6 on '' Thump's'' The 25 Best Experimental Albums of 2016 list.'' Thump'', 14 December 2016
Best of 2016, ''The 25 Best Experimental Albums of 2016'', Colin Joyce
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Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ODwyer, Aine Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century Irish women singers Irish accordionists Women accordionists Irish harpists 21st-century accordionists 21st-century women musicians