Grada

Cloudy Day Navigation is what they call their new album, and one way or another, each of the dozen tracks on Gráda’s latest recording is about traveling, journeys or finding one’s way. That’s not surprising when you consider that the Irish band spent nearly eight of the last twelve months on the road and with the release of Cloudy Day Navigation, their third album on Nashville’s Compass Records, the band members look to do the same in the upcoming year.

“We all came to the band with songs we had written or collected since our CD The Landing Step, which was completed in 2004,” explains Andrew Laking, who plays double bass in the five member group. “Over a three year period we rehearsed, recorded and performed all of this material, eventually whittling it down to the twelve tracks that ended up on the final cut.” Each band member had equal input into what was finally chosen for the recording, and for the six tracks on the accompanying DVD. Working all that out, Laking pointed out, is sometimes a challenge given the different musical tastes and backgrounds of the group, but that’s also a major source of Gráda’s distinctive sound.

Laking was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and his background includes playing jazz as well as Irish music, studying guitar making in Canada, and working construction. Flautist Alan Doherty is best known outside Gráda for his work as lead soloist on the soundtrack for the film Lord of the Rings, and comes from Tallaght, just outside Dublin. Lead singer Nicola Joyce, who also plays bodhrán and fiddle, is from Galway in the west of Ireland, while guitarist Gerry Paul was born in Dublin, grew up in New Zealand, and now lives in Galway. Fiddler Colin Farrell grew up in the in the thriving Irish music scene of Manchester, in England, and recorded with the well known band Flook before joining Gráda.

With those varied experiences and influences it’s not surprising that the band has chosen the tale of a mysterious navigator lost at sea, “Steerer John Begg”, to draw on for the title of this collection. “Red Civic” is another side of travel, an understated and thought provoking musing on life away from home and what one may learn from it. “Cooler at the Edge”, which opens the collection, is another reflection on being in places where “foreign streets are so straight” and the sense of humor is different. The tunes on the album are mainly self penned, a mix up traditional and contemporary sources. The strength of Gráda’s own compositions and arrangements shouldn’t be overlooked; it’s here that the group largely defines its now well-established sound. There’s also an outstanding version of Grammy-winning songwriter and singer Susan McKeown’s “River”, a nod to the common Irish heritage of the diverse sources of Gráda’s music. Cloudy Day Navigation also features a reworking of the classic Suzanne Vega song, “The Queen and the Soldier”.

“River” shows the close connection Irish people have with the land, both in war and survival,” says Joyce. “Cooler at the Edge” and “Red Civic” are observational songs about home and abroad, singing about every day things made more important by their absence. “Steerer John Begg”, through all its mystery about the forgotten sailor, highlights his simple but unheralded role in the traveling we take for granted today.”

That traveling brought the five musicians close to home, to the Temple Bar Music Center in Dublin, to film the half dozen pieces on the DVD that’s part of the package. With assistance from the Deis awards scheme, “Steerer John Begg”, “River”, and four other songs were chosen “because they worked well live, and also because they showed a fairly broad spectrum of the type of music we play. It’s nice to bring out the live, visual aspect of our music,” Paul says.

Gráda teamed up again with producer Trevor Hutchinson (Lúnasa) and guest musicians Vyvienne Long, Dave Hingerty, Bill Blackmore, and Rasmus Skovmand, but the sound heard on Cloudy Day Navigation is all Gráda. “The longer we go on, the more our sound develops and matures. We're really happy with the direction the band is going in at the moment and are looking to build on that for future recordings,” Doherty explains.