Deep end of The Ford are an Avant-Garde improvising collective who create “apparently antiquated soundscapes with instrumentation which is far from antiquated” (CRM)

 

Deep End of The Ford contains: The voice of Lorcán Mac Mathúna; Eoghan Neff on fiddle and looping station; Flaithrí Neff on VPipes, uileann pipes, and low whistles; Seán Mac Erlaine on bass clarinet and live electroniccs; and and Martín Tourish on Accordion.

They are an Avant-Garde improvising collective with extensive musical experience and knowledge (CVs include extensive touring with productions such as riverdance, recording for some of the leading international Jazz labels; and extensive academic research and publishing – the group has two PhD’s and two other Doctoral theses approaching their final stages).

A combination of virtuoso musicians in their respective fields, Deep End of The Ford combine to create music “on a technically virtuoso level.” "Without exception all musicians seem to have been touched by genius.” (Celtic¬Rock.de). Musically; Deep End of The Ford (DEOTF) place the improvisatory techniques of the individual in broader ensemble frameworks. In An Táin, DEOTF simultaneously takes input from five musicians in this context to create an elaborate soundscape of microtonal adjustments, overtones, and flexibility of rhythm that contributes to its sense of epic adventure.

 

Lorcán Mac Mathúna is an improvising singer and composer with a special interest in the nature of vocal music. His many projects investigate and elaborate on the improvising nature of the human voice in solo and collaborative settings. This includes A Cappella Sean-Nós singing, contemporary compositions of an improvised nature, music composition theory based on poetic forms, and much, much more.

Lorcán’s first release in 2007, Rógaire Dubh, was the first step in a career which focuses on the performance of Sean-Nós conventions within diverse musical frameworks. Developing on the improvised nature of Sean-Nós, he collaborated with Irish composer Ian Wilson and improvising saxophonist Cathal Roche, in Common Tongue, to release Want and Longing in 2010. In 2011 he released the critically acclaimed Dubh agus Gheal: Darkness and Light –Loric Colloquies with his Hiberno-Norse project Northern Lights.

Commissions include a descriptive performance ‘Tásc is Tuairisc’ for the Borradh Buan 2009 festival with Simon O Conor, and ‘An Táin from the Book of Leinster’ for the William Kennedy Piping Festival 2010, and 'From Derry to the Sea', a special commission by the city of Derry for the 2013 Fleadh. An Táin was recorded in 2011 and released in 2012.

Lorcán has undertaken studies in traditional music styles and extended techniques; of traditional music from select European and Asian cultures investigating their correlation with sean nós song style; of vocal dance music, which lead to the compositional project, Preab Meadar, with traditional fiddler, Daire Ó Breacáin; and the correlation between oral metre and improvisation in western Oral music.

As well as a solo and group performer, with performances from Germany to Vancouver, Lorcán regularly teaches singing in schools programmes, music organisations and festival workshops.

 

Flaithrí Neff is a multi-award winning uilleann piper and composer from Cork. He was a soloist with various orchestral works in Europe such as “The Brendan Voyage” and “L'Epopée Celtique”. He has worked with stage shows like “RiverDance”, “Micheal Collins” and “The Pirate Queen”, and has worked with groups such as NeffBros, Afro Celt Sound System; and musicians John Spillane, Fionnuala McSherry, and Carlos Nuños.

Flaithrí holds an Honours Degree in Music from University College Cork; a First Class Honours Master of Science Degree in Music/Audio Technology from the University of Limerick; and a Ph.D.from the Computer Science Department at University College Cork researching in the field of Advanced Interface Design using Virtual 3D Sonic Environments. He has had more than a dozen academic papers published.

 

Eoghan Neff is a multi-award winning fiddle player and composer. He is a recipient of awards such as “Seán Ó Riada”, “Dónal 'Doc' Gleeson” and “British Forum for Ethnomusicology”. He has worked with stage shows like “RiverDance” and “Selkie”, and has worked with groups such as NeffBros, Fiddlesticks, and the UCC Gamelan ensemble; and musicians such as: Tommy Peoples, Cyprian Love, Anxo Lorenzo, Martin Tourish, and Carlos Nuños. Eoghan is awaiting his PhD in music, on the solo fiddle music of Ireland, at Cardiff University and has published a number of papers on ethnomusicology and traditional music studies.

 

Martin Tourish is an Accordionist, Composer and Producer. Named as being in the top 3 piano accordionists in Irish music in The Rough Guide to Ireland and featured on The Rough Guide to Irish Folk Music Vol. 2, he has brought his instrument to a new level by being the first piano accordionist to win TG4's prestigious "Young Musician of the Year" in 2008, an accolade regarded by The Irish Times as being "the Irish Music equivalent of an Oscar".

When his debut album Clan Ranald with bouzouki player Luke Ward was released, it was listed by music critic Earle Hitchner of the Irish Echo and Wall Street Journal, as being in the top 20 albums of 2005.

Martin has been involved with many types of music, including Balkan, Klezmer, Rock, the music of Astor Piazzolla, and has shared the stage with acts as diverse as Altan, The Cafe Orchestra and Patti Smith, recorded with Nectar and Carmine Rojas (of David Bowie and Tina Turner fame) and in 2007 amongst other gigs in Europe, completed a three week German tour of the album as well as playing in Asia. In Ireland, he has taken part in the Facing North Tour which saw him share the stage with Danish duo Haugaard & Hoirup, played on the Trad Connections tour which combined elements of traditional, classical, jazz, and ethnic musical styles, and also was involved in the development of "Invoke" and "Real-Eyes" which saw the combination of trad, rap, and ariel dance.

 

Seán Mac Erlaine is a Dublin based multi-instrumentalist and composer, recognised as one of Ireland's most forward-thinking jazz musicians. Seán works in a variety of settings maintaining a busy performance schedule in Ireland and internationally, working in free improvisation, contemporary jazz, folk music and experimental theatre.

An accomplished woodwind instrumentalist, Seán plays alto and soprano saxophones as well as clarinet and bass clarinet. He holds a first degree honours Masters of Music (Jazz Performance) from DIT and a Diploma in Jazz Performance awarded by The Guildhall School of Music, London and has studied composition with composers Stephen Gardner and Ronan Guilfoyle. He is currently a PhD candidate at GradCAM (Graduate School of Creative Arts & Media), developing a practice-led research around live electronics in solo woodwind performance.

Seán performs with a hugely diverse range of musicians and artists reflecting his own versatility and interest in cross-platform work. Within the field of jazz he has worked with leading Irish players including Tommy Halferty, Mike Nielsen, Ronan Guilfoyle and Simon Jermyn, and international artists including Frank Gratkowski, Hayden Chisholm, Christian Weidner and Christian Skjødt. Seán has also played with a range of folk / traditional musicians including Caoimhín O’Raghallaigh, Iarla O’Lionaird, Martin Tourish, Eithne Ní Chatháin, Petter Berndalen and Lorcán Mac Mathúna. In contemporary circles he has performed with The Smith Quartet, The ConTempo Quartet, David Toop, John Godfrey (as a member of The Quiet Music Ensemble) as well as a once-off performance with Detroit techno legends Underground Resistance.

He has performed his own music at many festivals including i & e festival, The Dun Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures, DEAF, Bottlenote Festival, Cork Jazz Festival, Bray Jazz Festival, Foligno Jazz Festival, Dublin Fringe Festival, The Dublin Theatre Festival, The Kilkenny Arts Festival, 12 Points! and The Venice Biennale '09

In 2007 his group Trihornophone won Music Network's Young Musicwide Award, Seán was awarded the 2008 Cork Jazz Festival Best Young Irish Artist Award. In 2009 Dublin Institute of Technology awarded him the ABBEST Scholarship to undertake a practice-based PhD in around live electronics practice. He was nominated for Best Sound Designer and won Best Production at The Irish Times Theatre Awards 2010. He is a founder member of Bottlenote, a collective of creative musicians working in improvised and new music (www.bottlenotemusic.com). Seán can be heard on over 30 CDs and his work has been released on several international labels.