Notify are a band both untypical and typical of this website. How so, you might well ask?
Well, untypical in that it is not too much of an exaggeration to state that I became recognised amongst readers and the music “business”, as it were, for writing about progressive rock bands, initially on very amateur journals, then Prog Archives, latterly this website and presenting a show on the mighty Progzilla Radio.
However, Notify are very much typical of what I wanted this website to be and my own personal feelings on music. I loathe being forced into only listening to music that is so strictly categorised that anything which falls outside of narrow definitions cannot be discussed and rated. It is why I ceased collaborating on Prog Archives and set out on my own. I also know that those who visit this website and listen to my show love intelligent music, not merely particular types, but anything which requires more than a nanosecond of thought and consideration, unlike the appalling corporate tripe which is served up in mainstream outlets.
Notify hit all the buttons I like having pressed. Consummate musicians, imbued with a deep love of their craft, and producing art which prompts an emotional and intellectual reaction in the listener. Before I discuss the latest release from these Gaelic roots’ wonders, look at my previous reviews of music associated with the band by pressing the buttons below.
Come this Friday just passed (24th January), they have released Worlds Collide, a collection of concert orchestra arrangements featuring the MGCE Concert Orchestra & Cormac McCarthy with the Irish Concertina Orchestra. The Bandcamp page https://notify.bandcamp.com/album/worlds-collide has a full list of the collaborators on this rather special album, together, of course, with details of how to purchase the work.
I cannot recommend this highly enough. The natural curves and contours of the band are superb, and this project brings a staggering cinematic scope to their music. There are some wonderful videos on the YouTube channel, incidentally, including the fascinating “making of” documentary I have embedded below. The concert was recorded live on 11th May 2024 at a sold-out show in Glór theatre, and the enthusiasm of these young people is infectious.
There are nine tracks. The opening keyboards of Mays Smile/Amber Spring embrace you from the off before orchestra and concertinas combine, and every time I put this on, I find myself closing my eyes and imagining the sound filling the theatre, the finest of the classical, Gaelic, folk, and, yes, rock traditions washing over you. There are some wonderful guitar licks from Hugh Dillon especially (the solo five minutes in is gorgeous alongside the orchestra). It is embedded below for you, and I feel sure that you will agree with me that it is stunning.
Arty’s Words was a favourite of mine from Airneán, and was written for Arty McGlynn, an influential Irish musician who persuaded Pádraig Rynne to take music up as a profession in the 1990’s. That piano at the start is so dreamy, lush, and the body is added by the orchestra, whilst the concertina is filled with warmth before the floor is opened, as it were, the whole thing sounding as if it were specifically written for such a concert at such an auditorium. A loving version of a loving tribute.
Hiding in the Magic World and The Passing of Life are combined in the video I have embedded below. For those reading this review who are not familiar with this band’s work, and feel that Gaelic music is something which only a few dedicated obsessives preserve as a sort of cultural reminiscence, well just listen to that guitar at the start, and realise that this band are deeply contemporary, and the playing of the young artists is incredible, Tara Breen formidable on the fiddle, Ryan & Taylor providing for a groove laden rhythm section, jazz infused delight. McCarthy’s piano leads the close of the upbeat first part nicely into the more thoughtful, and, indeed, mournful second piece, deeply reflective, Pádraig providing his masterclass on his instrument. There will be a “live performance” award for 2025 on the website. These two pieces will feature in it. Stirring and stunning, I will play them on a radio show of mine in the very near future.
Idir (“between”) is a short interlude piece which could happily have been twenty minutes longer for me, but, of course, such was not its purpose. It is pastoral beauty.
In my review of Airneán, I noted that La Grene written by Hugh Dillon, was an interesting track, a sort of jazz fusion (particularly with the bass melody) meeting a traditional jig. Live, it opens with a beautiful combination of horn, woodwind, strings, a symphonic delight prior to the jig asserting itself, but still with that classical sensibility at the live core. This is probably the best track for which the title “Worlds Collide” can be summarised. Classical, traditional, pastoral, jazz, contemporary, all wrapped into one.
Other Side of the Glass features some wonderful skins work underpinning a piece of music written by Rynne in memory of his mother waiting in the window of the home to welcome him back from school. I loved the studio piece, and live with the orchestra, especially the strings, soaring above the core sound, the sense of love and excitement is enhanced here, especially the fiddle bouncing with the energy of youth.
The penultimate piece is Strawberry Sun/True Logic, this is, to these ears, a song of life, sitting down and allowing the verve of life in summer to infuse you whilst enjoying a drink, or six. Just short of halfway in, there is the most wonderful, improvised jam, something Fripp & co themselves would have been proud to come up with back in the day, and the piano and guitar continue this as the piece moves into the conclusion of True Logic.
We close with the longest piece here, The Strangest Thing. I have embedded this below. It is the opening track to Airneán and influenced by an American sci fi/horror television series. In my review, I noted the wistful voices which I thought more traditional progressive rock readers of mine would enjoy and think of Iona when they listened. Live, it is taken to another level. The flutes so enhance the opening passage, the addition of the multiple concertinas creating a wall of sound, this added to by the orchestra, the strings filling the ether, the drums pounding, before the voices enter four and a half minutes in and the ensemble bring us back to earth gently.
Worlds Collide is an album which celebrates life. Jealousy is a strong word, and not a particularly pleasant emotion, but I must say that it comes closest to how I feel about the persons present at this concert without my being there. What you hear on this album is an evening provided to you without any overdubs whatsoever, so as it happened.
A stunning album which lives long in the memory.