The song “No Two Sides” is the first public solo work from Seán Mulrooney, who as frontman of Tau and the Drones of Praise reinvigorated lost pieces of spirit with 2022’s Misneach LP (review here). Based around acoustic guitar, duly minimal and subdued, it is nonetheless an intense listen in the protest-song tradition. Vibes off Rolling Stones, solo Lennon, and a flourish of electric psych, it arrives at its chorus, “There are no two sides to genocide/Do nothing to harm the children,” and makes a genuine hook out of tragedy that’s stirring rather than crass.

Certainly warfare among the various tribes in Europe is nothing new, but it sure is terrible. Have you ever explained war to a child who has no concept of it? I have. I put it like this: “It’s the worst thing that human beings can do to each other.”

I mean, what even was the point of the last 80 years of life on earth if we’re here? More genocide? Systematic slaughter? Men, women, children. Doctors. Reporters. These are war crimes my country stands behind ever single day. I am complicit just by existing. So are you. It’s going to get worse before it gets better, and there’s always the chance it won’t get better.

End all war. Today, preferably. Everybody just stops. I’m not saying there aren’t intractable issues between groups of people on an increasingly heated planet burning through resources like birthday candles, but to believe there’s no possible better answer to that than, “I kill you and take that thing,” is to completely lack faith in our species’ ability to grow. Millions of years of evolution argue other avenues.

From the PR wire:

SEÀN MULROONEY – New Song to Promote Peace in Palestine, ‘No Two Sides’

Release Date: Friday, 15th December 2023
#NoTwoSides #ChristmasNo2

In solidarity with Palestine and over 7,000 children murdered since October 7th (including 33 Israeli children), Irish singer Seán Mulrooney releases his first single as a solo artist.

After his recent ‘Misneach’ album release and tour with Tau and the Drones of Praise, Mulrooney was moved to express in a song what thousands of people have been demonstrating each week on the streets of Dublin.

‘No Two Sides’ is a clarion call for compassion and peace. It is a reminder of our collective humanity and a deliberate naming of that which so many are failing to name; genocide. “I want the perpetrators and conspirators of this genocide to hear our message loud and clear; ‘Even with the violence, we will not be silenced. Our love is greater than fear’.”

Mulrooney sings and plays guitar with support from Stefan Murphy (guitar and backing vocals) and Ellowen (backing vocals & percussion). The track was recorded in HellFire Studios Dublin.

Cover art was created by Dee Mulrooney. The piece, called ‘Every Child is Sacred’ was inspired by a photo from Palestinian photographer, Motaz Azaiza.

Mulrooney says “We are hoping that people across Ireland and the world will support this single and help it reach #2 in the Irish charts. Please buy on iTunes or Bandcamp from Friday 15th December to ensure it charts and please share widely.”

All proceeds will go to Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

https://www.instagram.com/tauandthedronesofpraise
https://www.facebook.com/tauandthedronesofpraise
https://tauofficial.bandcamp.com

Seán Mulrooney, “No Two Sides” (2023)

Be it established that, as the opening track of Tau and the Drones of Praise‘s Misneach makes plain in its title and hooky chorus, “It Is Right to Give Drones and Praise.” The third full-length and Glitterbeat Records label debut from the so-Irish-they-record-in-Berlin psychedelic world folk outfit blends the terrestrial and the ethereal to such a degree as to be a walking contrast united most of all by its seeming impossibility in addition to its underlying craft. Group spearhead Seán Mulrooney — guitar, vocals, songwriting, and so on — is a factor in bringing it all together as well across the eight-song/35-minute foot-on-dirt journey that is the record, but around his voice circles a breadth of arrangement and purpose that runs from nature-worship and not-quite-new-age-but-not-quite-not, gather-the-tribes mysticism to traditionalist Celtic folk and a final message of hope so vital that, yes, the song is actually called “Hope.”

Songs have their respective foundations in acoustic guitar or piano,  some feel born of the vocal melody, as with the side B leadoff “Ceol ón Chré,” but the scope of Misneach — for which I wrote a dud of a bio; I believe compensated; I should keep better track of these things — is such that everything becomes more. “It is Right to Give Drones and Praise” is the longest song as well as the leadoff (immediate points) at 5:51, but whatever the length of a given piece is, there are realities being made and unmade here. The smooth incorporation of layers as “It is Right to Give Drones and Praise” builds toward its first verse, the opening line, “I am the tree,” and Mulrooney continuing to work from that Loraxian point of view, tells you a lot, and the music becomes a part of the message across all that follows, whether it’s the chanting in “The Sixth Sun” — don’t let me do your Googling for you, you go right ahead and read up — or the sweet banjo-esque plucks and electric fuzz in “Thunder Thunder Hummingbird,” leading to the graceful, chime-inclusive chorus there.

Surrounding Mulrooney throughout is a cast of regular contributors and guests totaling some 16 players, but the amorphousness is part of what makes Misneach so engaging, as well as the ability to hear something new seemingly in each repeat listen, whether it’s “It Is Right to Give Drones and Praise” speaking to Velvet Underground or the wow-who-knew-it-could-be-done non-exploitative worship of femininity that persists in cuts like “Ériu” or “The Sixth Sun,” the sense of earth as mother and more than that ultimately simple archetype. The flutes and dance-in-field vibe of “Na Heilimintí” are gorgeous and insistent, energetic and live-sounding, and there are enough voices working at it by the end that a whole community seems to be singing. These atmospheres are purposeful and lush, but at the same time, Misneach is unflinchingly organic, and that too is essential to the impression it makes. If “It is Right to Give Drones and Praise” is the thesis through which the heart of the album is laid bare, “Ceol ón Chré” as a counterpart is likewise crucial both for its near-mandatory singalong inclusiveness and the spaces it leaves open, even with Irish singer-songwriter Damien Dempsey starting it off and taking part in what unfolds and Clannad‘s Pól Brennan adding flute to the procession.

“Bandia” offers a bit of attitude to coincide with its acoustic guitar strum — the “crowd goes wild like pink lemonade” — and the talk of an elder setting the sun makes at least a nice verbal complement to “The Sixth Sun” if its coming from somewhere else thematically. Its sound is likewise reflective of sunshine musically, a bright melodic wash of vocals before the verse adding to the classically psychedelic feel, though part of the appeal with Misneach is its ability to stand outside of time and genre. It is here there this that now then soon, speaking to ancients instrumentally with a message of a brighter consciousness for tomorrow. “Bandia” is less directly earth-mystical than “Na Heilimintí,” and markedly less Irish — Tau and the Drones of Praise have always woven through traditions from Ireland, South America, the Middle East, never so clear-headedly as in these songs — but for that rests well between “Ceol ón Chré” and “Ériu,” which pulls back some of the backing vocals and is essentially a flowing three-minute love letter to Mulrooney’s home via the goddess representing the land.

In some ways, its flourish of jazz, psychedelia, classic folk-prog and ‘world’ music is a fitting summary of Misneach, at least in mindset if not sound, but there isn’t really a single track that accounts for the entirety — there’s just more happening throughout than that, even if “It is Right to Give Drones and Praise” is the mission statement. “Hope” might also argue in its own favor. Certainly the closer is a standout, with its more gradual unfurling, graceful bounce, chants to one’s ancestors and posi-vibing resolution around the word “hope.” If nothing else, it underscores a commonality shared between the tracks of message and purpose. These are not haphazard songs about sitting in the sunshine. They are not unconsidered. “Thunder Thunder Hummingbird” feels light, perhaps suitably airy, and feels simple at the outset with just the one prominent vocal from Mulrooney before it hits into the chorus, but the lyrics are talking about receiving a healing blessing from nature, telling the listener that what that thing is that humans constantly seem to be seeking is already around us in nature. And at least so far as I can tell, it’s not a metaphor for casual sex, though even if it was I’m not sure that would make the point any less valid.

The flute and chimes in “Na Heilimintí,” the organic bass in “Ériu,” the whoops and shouts amid the ending choral movement of “The Sixth Sun” — these all become more familiar with time and they become part of the cosmic joy that Misneach ultimately proves itself courageous enough to radiate. Without getting into some heavy-handed diatribe about living in an age of woes, mostly of humanity’s own making, I’ll simply note that the message of love, hope and wisdom through the land is a welcome, beautiful counterpoint. And if in hearing it one takes away and internalizes a bit of the escapism, nobody’s going to be worse off.

Tau and the Drones of Praise, Misneach (2022)

Tau and the Drones of Praise, “It is Right to Give Drones and Praise” official video

Tau and the Drones of Praise on Instagram

Tau and the Drones of Praise on Facebook

Tau and the Drones of Praise on Bandcamp

Glitterbeat Records on Instagram

Glitterbeat Records on Facebook

Glitterbeat Records on Twitter

Glitterbeat Records website

The lineup for Desertfest Belgium 2022 in Ghent on Oct. 30 is starting to get awfully full for a one day festival. And weird, which of course is a good thing. Desertfest‘s second Belgian edition welcomes cult legends Coven here, most notably — and it’s interesting to note that Jinx Dawson has a “fresh new band” behind her — as well as Steak, Tau and the Drones of Praise, Celeste, Ggu:ll and The Devil’s Trade, so yeah, you could say that the bill is starting to get a little out there. So much the better. You’ve got Elder and Pallbearer up at the top — though I wonder if either is headlining — and Monolord to keep things grounded. Might as well indulge a freaky side too.

If you go, I bet this’ll be a trip. Would love to hear about it sometime:

DF 2022 GHENT: NEW NAMES! COVEN, CELESTE, AND MORE!

After last week’s name dropping avalanche for DF Antwerp, it was high time for us to deliver the goods for the Ghent edition, wouldn’t you agree? So here are some sweet additions to the 30/10 line-up.

COVEN is one of the most revered names in Occult Metal lore. After years of cult status, their legacy finally got the acknowledgement it deserves. Now backed with a fresh new band, legendary singer Jinx Dawson has taken Coven back on the road, and we’re excited to see them play Desertfest Ghent.

Also on the bill will be French post-metal sensation CELESTE, who certainly need no further introduction. Their extreme crushing power is known, loved and feared in equal measure. To further thicken the oppressive atmosphere at De Vooruit venue, we have engaged Dutch doomsters GGU:LL who will present their first new material in 6 years (out later this year on the Ghent label Consouling Sounds). And how about THE DEVIL’S TRADE, aka Hungarian singer-songwriter Dávid Makó and his very personal take on doom folk and Eastern European folklore?

We further welcome London-based rockers STEAK who have certainly turned heads with their adventurous new album ‘Acute Mania’. We’re very excited to see them bring this Floydian opus to our stage. And finally, Shaun Mulrooney’s musical spaceship TAU will be here, along with the mysterious DRONES OF PRAISE who will join him in his neo-folk psychedelic jam-outs.

You know where to find the tickets, and be aware you can get a reduced combi deal for the Antwerp & Ghent festivals combined. Day tickets for Antwerp have also been on sale since last week – so there’s plenty of opportunity to mix and match the festival days to your liking!

DF ANTWERP & GHENT REDUCED COMBI: 149 Euros
(valid 4 days: 14-16/10 – Antwerp & 30/10 – Ghent)

DF ANTWERP ONLY REDUCED COMBI: 120 Euros
(valid 3 days: 14-16/10 – Antwerp)

DF ANTWERP ONLY REDUCED DAY TICKET: 58 Euros
(valid 1 day: 14, 15 or 16/10 – Antwerp)

DF GHENT ONLY REDUCED DAY TICKET: 52 Euros
(valid 1 day: 30/10 – Ghent)

GET ALL YOUR COMBI & DAY TICKETS HERE: https://desertfest.be/antwerp/information/ticketing/

Stay tuned for further updates very soon!

http://www.desertfest.be/
https://www.facebook.com/desertfestbelgium/
https://www.instagram.com/desertfest_belgium/

Tau and the Drones of Praise, “It is Right to Give Drones and Praise” official video

The new album from Tau and the Drones of Praise, Misneach — the group’s third full-length and first for the wowie-zowie, world-psych, gosh-this-is-a-really-good-fit-for-this-band Glitterbeat Records — will be released on Oct. 21 and today brings a video for the opening track and lead single “It is Right to Give Drones and Praise.” The first words in the track and on the record tell you the story: “I am the tree.”

That lyric, delivered by vocalist/guitarist/songwriter/spearhead Seán Mulrooney — who works throughout the LP in close collaboration with an overwhelming-on-paper-but-fluid-sonically upwards of 20 players/guests — in some ways frames the entire perspective of the record. It is not only the voice of the land, but the spirit of the non-human lives that inhabit it. “I am the three.” Same tree the Queen cut down to build warships. Same tree as your cradle was made from. Same tree that built your house. Same tree your coffin will be made from. Mulrooney lays it all out front to back.

This moment, this song, is not only a call to realization of one’s place in the world, but to embrace both that breath you’re taking and the air that comprises it, and while Misneach goes far, far out in sound with an otherworldliness that’s psychedelic and devotional in kind, it remains ever tied to the land and to human experience within it. It is a celebration, urgent in the message of its own celebration, but there’s very little about it one would call a preach. The tree says, “come back to me,” but apart from that bit about the Queen, there’s very little judgment happening either in “It is Right to Give Drones and Praise” or elsewhere on Misneach. It’s not that kind of trip.

Since we’re still three months out from the release and then some, I imagine this isn’t the last time I’ll write about Misneach before it comes out. I was fortunate enough to write the bio for the record, so I’ve been sitting with it for a while now and there’s plenty to say, except perhaps just how wonderfully alive it is. If I get hit by a bus tomorrow or a piano falls on my head or I go get a real job or whatever, at least I got to say so. These moments are precious. To be appreciated and lived.

Enjoy the clip:

Tau and the Drones of Praise, “It is Right to Give Drones and Praise” official video

Taken from “Misneach” (out 21 October 2022, Glitterbeat Records)
Preorder/stream: https://idol-io.link/Misneach

Original song written by Seán Mulrooney
Filmed and edited by Kyle McFerguson
Additional footage by Karolina Zlocka
Costume and animation by Eva Garland
Animation and co direction, Dee Mulrooney

“Misneach” (noun)
From Old Irish “meisnech” (‘courage’, ‘spirit’)
“Misneach” encompasses a blend of courage, hopefulness, bravery and spirit.

The kaleidoscopic third album from Seán Mulrooney and his Ireland meets Berlin ensemble. Ecstatic folk-psych that full embraces the natural world and living ancestry, through joyful experimentation and deeply rooted sonics.

An inspired soundscape that echoes eclectic and eccentric atmospheres: traditional Irish folk, outsider pop, global sacred music and drone rock.

Features guests from Tindersticks, Clannad as well as Irish troubadour Damien Dempsey.

Tau and the Drones of Praise on Instagram

Tau and the Drones of Praise on Facebook

Tau and the Drones of Praise on Bandcamp

Glitterbeat Records on Instagram

Glitterbeat Records on Facebook

Glitterbeat Records on Twitter

Glitterbeat Records website

It’s right to give drones and praise. And a prime opportunity to do so will arrive this October with the advent of the third Tau and the Drones of Praise LP, Misneach, on Glitterbeat Records. The band, alternately based in Ireland and Berlin, Germany, and led by Seán Mulrooney, is expansive throughout the album, but as far into the spiritual or the cosmic as they go, there’s always a tie to the land and various folk musics it has produced. It’s a gorgeous record. There’s a bio I wrote for it that I might try to post at some point between now and when the album arrives, but I’m telling you as someone who’s lived with it for a while now that it is very much a record to be lived with, and the more you know the songs, the readier you are to join them in their collective sense of wonder and everything-worship.

Some of the material on Misneach also showed up in the recent Tau and the Drones of Praise live album, Tau Presents: ‘Dream Awake’ Live at Roadburn Redux (review here), so if you want to get a preview, that’s a good way to go. But the studio record pushes further, is more open — there are no fewer than 16 different players involved — and wears its heart not so much on its sleeve but as its entire outfit. I’ll have more to say about it before the Fall, I’m sure. The live album and the original livestream are both at the bottom of this post if you want to dig in.

The band posted the following on socials:

Tau and the Drones of Praise – Misneach – Glitterbeat Records

We have signed @glitterbeat_records!

My friends believe in the power of visualisation. Don’t let anyone ever tell you it is not possible.

I was told labels are not singing bands during the pandemic.

I was told you need to send them a fully finished album.

On the light of the full moon about a year ago, I sent one track to Chris Eckman label boss, he answered me right away and we began dialog.

This is my favourite label, I knew in my bones it was the right fit. It took us a while to sign the deal but its done.

I am eternally grateful for this new opportunity, as is the ever evolving Drones of Praise. Our album MISNEACH is done, vinyl is in production and it is coming out in Oct.

This means the world to me. It is my spiritual path to share this music to the world. I am humbled by anybody else who supports this vision, we support each other. That’s how it works. There are no rules in art, make it as you flow.

Thank you so much Glitterbeat Records and all the TAU family.

To Sonia for your unwavering, unconditional love.

See you on the road, the path is open.

Do mo Ghoalta go lèir
For all my relations

Photo Laura Zlocka

https://www.instagram.com/tauandthedronesofpraise
https://www.facebook.com/tauandthedronesofpraise
https://tauofficial.bandcamp.com

https://www.instagram.com/glitterbeat_records/
https://www.facebook.com/Glitterbeat
https://twitter.com/Glitterbeat_Rec
https://glitterbeat.com/

Tau and the Drones of Praise, Tau Presents: Dream Awake Live at Roadburn Redux (2022)

Tau and the Drones of Praise, ‘Dream Awake’

Admittedly, the title doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but the thing says what it is. Having been confirmed to play the prestigious Roadburn Festival in 2020, Tau and the Drones of Praise — who mostly record in Berlin but are very much from Ireland while drawing from various other folk traditions as well — took part in the 2021 Roadburn Redux first-ever virtual edition of the fest, which for obvious and much-recounted reasons couldn’t meet in-person (they ended up playing Roadburn 2022 too).

The name they gave to the set (posted here) was ‘Tau Presents: Dream Awake,” and the concept was a special set focused spiritually and musically on past and present as much as future, new songs, new explorations of older material, and a full interpretation of what Tau and the Drones of Praise, as a project spearheaded by Seán Mulrooney, are as they head toward their impending third studio LP. Thus, Tau Presents: Dream Awake Live at Roadburn Redux is what it says it is, and its release through Burning World/Roadburn Records continues a long tradition of recorded live outings from the Tilburg-based fest, even if the avenue taken to get there is a little different.

Led by Mulrooney on vocals and guitar, the band includes guitarist/synthesist Ruairi Mac Neill Aodha, bassist Iain Faulkner, percussionist/vocalist Bob Glynn, drummer Ken Mooney and the whistle and vocals of Pól Brennan, known for his work in Clannad, who brings a distinct and suitable flair of Irish folk to “Éist le Ceol an Chré” and “Seanóirí Naofa,” the former of which will be on the next Tau record, the latter the title-track of 2019’s EP of the same name (discussed here). Roadburn Redux was the second livestream for Tau and the Drones of Praise behind a live set captured in Dublin (posted here), and though that broadcast was somewhat less ambitious as regards setting and presentation — it was in black and white, where the Roadburn stream was full color, surrounded by a more lush studio set and so on — the real difference in ambition between the two is in the scope of the music itself.

Granted, three songs from the Dublin stream feature on side D of the 2LP here, with “Craw,” “Mongolia” and “Speak Your Truth” rounding out, but here they serve as part of a broad-scope, encompassing and engrossing vision of a psychedelic-bent world-folk. From the invocation of MesoAmerican spirit guides in the leadoff “Kauyumari” amid warm melodies and fuzz guitar, call and response, harmonized ’60s rock and more, Mulrooney serves as a guide through traditions from Mexico, the Mesopotamia, Asia and Ireland, moving deftly from “Huey Tonantzin & Mother” and the Aztec-minded “Tonatiuh” into “Bridge of Khaju” (look it up, it’s gorgeous) in Iran before the nine-minute “Erasitexnis: Four Horsemen Medley” draws it together with Mediterranean flair and a vital percussive jam.

The sense of movement, of travel, isn’t to be understated. It extends to the journey the music is undertaking, but also to the entire group’s ability to move the listener from place to place, idea to idea. And it’s worth emphasizing that Tau and the Drones of Praise are not just mashing influences into songs, or cynically putting a Middle Eastern part beside an Irish folk part and calling it something else. One side or another may come to prominence in a given track, but even in pieces like the hard-science-as-philosophy “It’s Already Written,” which opened the band’s 2019 self-titled LP, or “Espiral,” which closes this set in gloriously freaked-out fashion and comes from 2016’s Tau Tau Tau where it sat directly next to “Kauyumari,” there’s a drawing together of ideas, a genuine sense of mixture as everything comes filtered through the band’s own impulses.

And oh, it’s a good time. Tau Presents: Dream Awake Live at Roadburn Redux is not at all a minor undertaking. With the Dublin tracks, it comes to a whopping 13 songs and 81 Earth minutes, but terrestrial concerns and whatever else you were doing this afternoon need not apply. Be it the incantations of “Huey Tonantzin” or hearing the song of the land in “Éist le Ceol an Chré,” the memorable boogie of “It’s Already Written” and the mountainous trudge uphill in “Mongolia” — less slog than adventure, but still carrying a sense of, well, carrying perhaps a heavy backpack along for the trip — the feeling of motion is no less palpable than the sense of place at any given moment, even if that place is somewhere in a swirling cosmos of spirit and mind. It doesn’t seem like coincidence that “Speak Your Truth” features here as a closer, since ultimately that voyage from start to finish is the truth of the outing as a whole.

In Old Irish, “Imbás” — positioned ahead of the half-in-Spanish “Espiral” — translates roughly to “inspiration,” but carries with it a sense of that inspiration being born of a kind of clairvoyance given by the land. It would be hyperbole to say Tau and the Drones of Praise are tapped into these kinds of cosmic energies, but that is what the music is seeking to do, and admirably, there’s nothing tongue-in-cheek about it. There’s no irony here in adapting songcraft to the various wonders of craft from around the world, and more, in uniting them for the purposes of this material, this set. Rather, Mulrooney and his assembled cohort are all-in, all-go, and the energy they bring doesn’t need to be loud to immerse the listener in the space they’re creating.

To put it mildly, this was a special set. Its reach goes outside the common bounds of genre and so is suited to the festival that gave it a home, but in representing the past and what’s to come for Tau and the Drones of Praise, ‘Dream Awake’ feels comprehensive while existing on a wavelength largely its own, whether you tag that as neo-folk or acid-this-or-that or whatever it is. There is no cheapening the accomplishment of sound and performance here, and rarely are artists willing to be so naked in portraying where they’re coming from. Perhaps it helps that Tau are coming from everywhere. Whatever else one might say about it — and there’s plenty more one could — this was a beautiful moment. The effort to preserve it should be commended.

Tau and the Drones of Praise, Tau Presents: Dream Awake Live at Roadburn Redux (2022)

Tau and the Drones of Praise, ‘Dream Awake’

Tau and the Drones of Praise on Facebook

Tau and the Drones of Praise on Bandcamp

Burning World Records on Facebook

Burning World Records/Roadburn Records on Bandcamp

Burning World Records/Roadburn Records store

Burning World Records website

About five minutes after I sent in this playlist, a mass email went out from Gimme Metal to reinforce the guidelines for how to make shows in terms of length and allowing room for promos, voice tracks, and so on. If in fact that’s more than coincidence, I won’t say I didn’t earn it, considering. Some of this stuff I’ve played before — Apostle of Solitude, Uncle Woe, Scott Kelly probably — but a lot of it is new too. If you’ve been on the site at all this week, you’ve probably already seen premieres for Soldat Hans, Uncle Woe and Ealdor Bealu (the latter today), and Moura and that new Geezer were recently featured here as well. You see? It’s all about cross-promotional synergy between varying sides of the massive corporate machine that is The Obelisk. We own Coca-Cola now, if you didn’t know. A recent pickup.

Keep an ear out for the shift from MWWB to Tau and the Drones of Praise. There’s some weirdo back and forth in the playlist here that I love, especially in that middle block of music. I tried to talk less and cram in as much music as I could. You know how it is. Next time, I’ll try to keep it to the established timeframe. I try to be good. And no, The Obelisk didn’t really buy Coca-Cola. Not that I would if I could, but I can’t even afford a can thereof, let alone the company itself.

Thanks if you listen, thanks if you’re reading. Thanks in general.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 03.18.22

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is April 1 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

There were a few that were up there, but I think this is the set I’ve gone back to most since Roadburn Redux last year, and when I think about the potentiality of not being at Roadburn 2022, Tau and the Drones of Praise are among the acts I’m saddest to miss. Putting out a live-2LP version of their ‘Dream Awake’ set that aired last April in place of a physical festival makes a lot of sense to me. The performance was great, the songs incredible, and the vitality with which they were presented gives them a character of its own. By the time it aired, I’d already said that their prior stream from Dublin in Dec. 2020 (posted here) should be a live record. Some of those songs, as it turns out, will appear here as bonus tracks.

My only question here is whether I need to also buy the limited yellow vinyl edition as well as the CD and DL. I have not yet decided. We’ll see. Vinyl’s due in June, CD/DL now, so patience might be a factor.

From the PR wire:

First release of the Roadburn Redux 2021 festival that was held 100% online to much applause

TAU will be back at Roadburn 2022 to play in front of an actual live audience

This album and cd include the whole set played at Roadburn Redux and 3 bonus tracks from a session they played in Dublin in December 2020.

Could this be one of the first ever live stream LPs?

Get it here:
For US: https://roadburnrecordsusa.bigcartel.com/
For digital + cd/2LP: Bandcamp: https://tauofficial.bandcamp.com/
Store: https://www.burningworldrecords.com/products/tau-presents-dream-awake-live-at-roadburn-redux-cd-2lp-pre-order (comes with direct download)

Tau is the group formed by Seán Mulrooney who started his voyage into psychedelia music as a member of Dead Skeletons in 2012/2013. Tau who have released 2 LPs and 3 Eps to date have now evolved into Tau & the Drones of Praise.

Their music has been called Shamanic Rock, Ancestral Goth and neo Folk to name a few. The most recent explorations into Mulrooney’s ancient Irish spirituality and folk music traditions has made the sound something singular and unique.

Tau & the Drones of Praise was already slated to appear at the cancelled Roadburn Festival 2020, participated in Roadburn Redux back in April, helping to tide us over in yet another year with no physical edition of the festival. Their hypnotic neo-folk performance featured an appearance from Clannad’s Pól Brennan, and dived headfirst into their back catalogue of delights. No-one could accuse them of phoning it in. As Mulrooney says, “As was with the lockdown situation last year, we hadn’t been in the studio together for months. We were adulated to perform again and get creative. Even without an audience, we built our own world. There is something vital about the whole concert. I’m very proud to release this journey through past, present and future material, Dream Awake”.

Roadburn comments: “We’re thrilled to announce that this acid-tinged psych troupe will be packing up and heading to Tilburg in April, led by Dubliner Sean Mulrooney. Bringing along a suitcase full of extrasensory delights and magic potions, no doubt, Tau & the Drones of Praise will be setting up shop and handing out feel good vibes like nobody’s business. Expect to leave this earthly plane and head out on a meditative voyage of sonic discovery – Sean will be our guide through shamanic experimentalism, folk-led flourishes and far out lysergic luminance.

Having already wowed the crowds at highly regarded festivals throughout Europe, such as Transmusicales, Fusion Festival and Le Guess Who? we’re beyond excited to be one of the first stops on their return to the live stage. Expectations are high!”

Tracklisting:
1. Kauyumari 05:09
2. Already Written 04:58
3. Huey Tonanzin & Mother 10:32
4. Tonatiuh 05:58
5. Bridge Of Khaju 04:34
6. Erasitexnis: Four Horsemen Medley 09:43
7. Éist Le Ceol An Chre 07:39
8. Seanóirí Naofa 04:19
9. Mbás 06:27
10. Esprial 07:23
11. Craw (Live In Dublin) 05:18
12. Mongolia 04:24
13. Speak Your Truth 04:36

Tau and the Drones of Praise:
Seán Mulrooney Guitar/Vocals
Bob Glynn Percussion/Vocals
Ruairi Mac Neill Aodha Guitar/Synth
Iain Faulkner Bass/Vocals
Ken Mooney Drums
Pól Brennan – Whistles/Vocals

https://www.facebook.com/tauandthedronesofpraise
https://tauofficial.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/burningworldrecords/
https://roadburn.bandcamp.com/
https://roadburnrecordsusa.bigcartel.com/
burningworldrecords.com

Tau, Presents ‘Dream Awake’ Live at Roadburn Redux (2022)

Tau and the Drones of Praise, ‘Dream Awake’