The Widening Gyre (Altan album)
| The Widening Gyre | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| Studio album by Altan | ||||
| Released |
 20 February 2015 23 February 2015 24 February 2015 19 May 2015 |
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| Recorded |
Rehearsals: June 2014 at Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh's house in Derrybeg, Co. Donegal, Ireland.
Recording sessions: 29 July-7 August 2014 (10 days) at Compass Records recording studios in Nashville, Tennessee. Mixing sessions: up to December 2014. |
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| Genre | Celtic | |||
| Length | 58:59 | |||
| Label | Compass Records (746402) (US) Keltia (France) | |||
| Producer | Garry West and Altan | |||
| Altan chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| The Irish Post |  |
| Irish Voice | very favourable |
| The Irish Times |  |
| The Arts Desk | very favourable |
| The Telegraph (UK) | |
| PopMatters |   |
| Irish Music Magazine | very favourable |
| Folkworks (US) | very favourable |
| Trad' Mag | |
Recording sessions: 29 July-7 August 2014 (10 days) at Compass Records recording studios in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Widening Gyre is the twelfth studio album by Irish folk music group Altan and their eleventh studio album of original material, released in February 2015 on the Compass Records label. It was released to critical acclaim.
This is the first studio album of original material to be released by Altan in almost 3 years since the release of Gleann Nimhe – The Poison Glen in 2012. This is also the first Altan album to feature new band member Martin Tourish on accordion.
In January 2015, Altan revealed that The Widening Gyre would be the name of their new album to be released in Ireland on 20 February 2015, in the UK on 23 February 2015 and in the US on 24 February 2015. And as they borrowed the title from "The Second Coming", one of W. B. Yeats poems, the first Irishman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. Altan's official website published a presentation of their new studio album The Widening Gyre giving many details about the new album: the new musical direction taken by the band, the album recording process and the participation of numerous guest musicians as well as the titles of some of the new tracks. The very same day, on their "Widening Gyre" iTunes page, Altan revealed the titles of the 14 tracks from their new studio album and released them for sale.
On 27 January 2015, on their "Widening Gyre" Compass Records page, Altan made available short snippets of their new tracks.
Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh introduced the music on the album as an exploration of the influence of Appalachian music on Irish music. Recorded «with many good friends in the studio and Compass Records co-founder Garry West in the producer's chair steer[ing] the band in the studio to open up musically while somehow managing to help keep the integrity of Altan intact», the album is the result of a fusion «of the traditional Irish music that the members of Altan are known for, namely Donegal fiddling and Gaelic singing traditions, with American roots music, particularly that of the Appalachian bluegrass fiddle» and a celebration of the relationships between Altan and lifelong friends they've made through music.
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