Brighde Chaimbeul + Loula Yorke at The Mount Without
Headfirst Editor's Pick

"Sell out warning! The most sensational figure in Scottish smallpipes since they were first forged! Brìghde revitalised a dying sound, moving it beyond the folk tradition and her native Isle of Skye towards the global stage. Now she’s collaborating with sax maestro Colin Stetson on towering, droning masterpieces of experimental mystical minimalism. Totally unmissable for trad and drone fans alike. "

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A gig held at The Mount Without on Thursday 18th September. The event starts at 20:00.


Ear Trumpet Presents: Brighde Chaimbeul, Standing Show at The Mount Without, Upper Church Ln, BS2 8FN - All Ages (Under 18's to be accompanied by a responsible adult)

Standing Show at The Mount Without, Upper Church Ln, BS2 8FN - All Ages (Under 18's to be accompanied by a responsible adult)

Doors 7:30pm, Show 8:00pm

Brìghde Chaimbeul (pronounced Bree-chu Chaym-bul)) is one of the most exciting musical minds in the world of Celtic folk today. She’s a master of the Scottish smallpipes – the bellows-blown, mellower and more emotive cousin to the famous Great Highland bagpipes – and she’s taken them to the global stage. A native Gaelic speaker from the Isle of Skye, Brìghde roots her music in her language and culture. She rose to prominence as a prodigy of traditional music, but has since begun a journey to take the smallpipes into uncharted territory.

Her third album “Sunwise”, to be released in June this year, includes guests on uilleann pipes and organ, as well as Canadian composer Colin Stetson (saxophone) and her father Aonghas Phàdraig (spoken word) and brother Eòsaph (vocals). Extending the fearless, experimental ethos of her lauded 2023 album "Carry Them With Us,” Brìghde Chaimbeul's new music continues to push the boundaries and expectations of both experimental and traditional sonics.

Brìghde Chaimbeul's previous album “Carry Them With Us" was featured on several year-end lists for 2023, including The Quietus "Best albums of 2023" (#13) and The Guardian's "Best Folk Albums of 2023"(#7). Over the past two years Chaimbeul has appeared at Roskilde, Le Guess Who?, Rewire and other major festivals.

One can talk about Brìghde’s awards (BBC Young Folk Award; BBC Horizons Award; Songlines Top of the World...) and her wide array of collaborators (Caroline Polachek; Colin Stetson; Gruff Rhys; Aidan O'Rourke) but after it all, her music speaks for itself. Haunting, entrancing, breathtaking, beautiful – this open-eared, understatedly virtuosic performer is transforming and creating new definitions for Scottish folk in the 21st century.

"Arresting, hypnotic compositions...with dissonance often stuttering next to moments of deep beauty. Both of its time and out of time." -- The Guardian

"Unique, exciting and forward-looking. Some of the most satisfying and complete music to be found anywhere in these islands." -- The Quietus

“Simultaneously ancient and modern, profound and direct” – The Guardian

“Enchanting ... Chaimbeul has an ability to bring a strangely modern, almost electronic, sound from this most traditional of instruments.” The Wire

Loula Yorke

Loula Yorke is a UK-based composer, sound artist and modular synthesist. Though she debuted with the YSMYSMYSM album back in 2019, she’s become increasingly prolific over the years, and in 2024 alone dropped the hypnotically looping Volta album on Truxalis, completed a long-form ambient excursion called speak, thou vast and venerable head for quiet details and issued a new vinyl version of her A Man On a Galloping Horse Wouldn’t See It LP via Castles in Space.

Yorke didn’t stop there, either, as she also launched a monthly mixtape series documenting her ever-evolving creative process in her Cottage Studio, which has already picked up a dedicated following of deep listeners. She’ll be marking the first anniversary of this project by releasing The Book of Commonplace, an hour-long sound piece that pulls together and reworks some of the best bits she’s offered up during the past 12 months, as well as a double album of music created during the year.

eartrumpet

Entry requirements: no age restrictions (under 18s to be accompanied by an adult over 21yrs, 1:1 ratio)

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