Lankum are a contemporary Irish
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
group from
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
, consisting of brothers Ian and Daragh Lynch, Cormac MacDiarmada and Radie Peat. In 2018 they were named Best Folk Group at the
RTÉ Folk Music Awards, while Radie Peat was named Best Folk Singer.
The band were nominated for the RTÉ
Choice Music Prize Irish Album of the Year in 2017 for their album ''Between the Earth and Sky'', and won the prize in 2019 for their album ''The Livelong Day''.
History
The group were originally known as Lynched, after the brothers' surname, and released their debut album ''Cold Old Fire'' (2014) under that name. In October 2016 they announced in a statement that they were changing their name to Lankum to avoid associations with the practice of
lynching. The statement read: "We will not continue to work under our current name while the systemic persecution and murder of black people in the USA continues."
The name Lankum comes from the folk ballad "False Lankum", as sung by the
Irish traveller
Irish Travellers ( ga, an lucht siúil, meaning "the walking people"), also known as Pavees or Mincéirs (Shelta: Mincéirí), are a traditionally peripatetic indigenous ethno-cultural group in Ireland.''Questioning Gypsy identity: ethnic na ...
and folk singer
John Reilly.
In 2017, the band signed to
Rough Trade Records and recorded their album ''Between The Earth and Sky'', to analogue tape with producer/ engineer
Julie McLarnon
Julie McLarnon is a British recording engineer and record producer, known for working solely to analogue tape. Founder of Analogue Catalogue Studios, she has recorded albums for artists including the Vaselines, Lankum, Jeffrey Lewis, King Creosot ...
, before recording the final track "the Granite Gaze", and mixing the album with producer John "Spud" Murphy in Guerrilla Studios, Dublin. It was released on 27 October 2017 and subsequently nominated for
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British ra ...
. ''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
'' named it folk 'album of the year' 2017.
In 2019, the band recorded "The Livelong Day" with producer/engineer John "Spud" Murphy in the Meadows recording studio, Wicklow and in Guerrilla Studios, Dublin. It was released on 25 October 2019 and went on to win the RTÉ Choice Prize 2019.
In 2019, Lankum's video for ''The Young People'', directed by filmmaker
Bob Gallagher, won Best Irish Music Video Award at the Irish Film Festival in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
, England.
Artistry
Their music has been characterised as "a younger, darker
Pogues
The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse". ...
with more astonishing power". Reviewing their third album ''The Livelong Day'' (2019) for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', Jude Rogers described it as "a folk album influenced by the ambient textures of
Sunn O))) and
Swans
Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Someti ...
, plus the sonic intensity of
Xylouris White and
My Bloody Valentine".
Members
*Ian Lynch – vocals,
uilleann pipes
The uilleann pipes ( or , ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the elbow"), from thei ...
, concertina, tin whistle, percussion
*Daragh Lynch – vocals, guitar, percussion, piano
*Cormac Mac Diarmada – vocals, fiddle, viola, banjo, double bass,
vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...
, piano, percussion
*Radie Peat – vocals,
bayan,
concertina
A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front.
The ...
,
harmonium
The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. Th ...
, organ, piano, electric organ, harp,
mellotron
Discography
*''Where Did We Go Wrong?!'' (2003) - as Lynched (only Ian and Daragh Lynch)
*''Cold Old Fire'' (2014) – as ''Lynched''
Awards and nominations
RTÉ Choice Music Prize
, -
, align="center" , 2017 , , ''Between The Earth And Sky'' , , Album of the Year , ,
, -
, -
, align="center" , 2019 , , ''The Livelong Day'' , , Album of the Year , ,
, -
RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards
, -
, align="center" , 2018 , , ''Lankum'' , , Best Folk Group , ,
, -
, align="center" , 2018 , , ''Radie Peat'' , , Best Folk Singer , ,
, -
, align="center" , 2020 , , ''Lankum'' , , Best Folk Group , ,
, -
, align="center" , 2020 , , ''Radie Peat'' , , Best Folk Singer , ,
, -
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British ra ...
, -
, align="center" , 2016 , , ''Lynched'' , , Best Group , ,
, -
, align="center" , 2016 , , ''Cold Old Fire'' , , Best Album , ,
, -
, align="center" , 2016 , , ''Lynched'' , , Horizon Award , ,
, -
, align="center" , 2018 , , ''Lankum'' , , Best Group , ,
, -
, align="center" , 2018 , , ''The Granite Gaze'' , , Best Original Song , ,
, -
Other notable accolades
, -
, align="center" , 2019 , , ''The Livelong Day'' , , NPR Music's 25 Best Albums of 2019 , , 8th
, -
, align="center" , 2019 , , ''The Livelong Day'' , , MOJO's 75 Best Albums of 2019 , , 58th
, -
, -
, align="center" , 2020 , , ''Lankum'' , , The Irish Times 50 Best Irish Acts In Order , , 8th
, -
Notes
: Ian and Darragh Lynch released ''Where Did We Do Wrong?!'' in 2003 as ''Lynched.'' However, it seems that this incarnation of ''Lynched'' is not the same musical project as that of the same name which would go on to become ''Lankum'', as ''Cold Old Fire'', released in 2014 with Cormac Mac Diarmada and Radie Peat, is often described as the group's "debut album".
References
External links
Official websiteLynched website (no longer updated)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lankum
Musical groups from Dublin (city)
Irish folk musical groups