Rattling Ark – Bello Bar – Live Review – 19/06/26
by Killian Laher

Rattling Ark is the latest project that cello player Kevin Murphy has formed, and they launched their debut album Top of a Mountain at the Bello Bar in Dublin.  Support came from A Clatter and Drone, minus their drummer, who played a set of impressionistic folk.  They played a gorgeous version of As I Roved Out, and other highlights included the ominous John My and a haunting Even Though.  Their performance whetted the appetite for the main act.

Kevin Murphy seems most at home when performing on the stage, joined by Lizzie Murtough on cello, Consuela Nerea Breschi on violin and Thomas Haugh on zither and various electronic bits.  Together they form a trad-influenced meditative brew, with Hare In The Corn and Coleraing Jig sounding like traditional airs, while Leprechaun and Omos Silverskin showcased Murphy’s eerie vocals.  The title track of the album, Top of A Mountain, has probably Kevin Murphy’s strongest singing, while Anne Lovett’s Lament is a complex, esoteric tune which had the audience spellbound.

The set finished all too quickly, but we got a brief encore with Lizzie Murtough on spooked-out lead vocal on their version of Three Lovely Lassies From Bannion before they finished with a tune that may be called Whippy Lad.  It was a night of strange and wonderful music.  Kevin Murphy and co are operating in the margins of the trad space, and they create a compelling sound.