SJ McArdle - Hesperus
Irish folk singer-songwiter SJ McArdle has released a new single entitled ‘Hesperus’ today. It is part of an ongoing series of titles issued by Bring Your Own Hammer (in association with Dimple Discs) where musicians are tasked with creating songs rooted in the work of Irish writers born in the nineteenth century. They have partnered with the Irish Women’s Writing (1880-1920) Network for ‘Hesperus’, which is inspired by the poems ‘Fiametta’, ‘Sunset’ and ‘Greeting’ by the poet Ella Young (1867–1956), a prominent figure in both the Irish cultural revival and in republican movements of the early 20th Century before relocating to the USA in the mid-1920’s to lecture in Irish myth and lore at the University of California, Berkeley. The poems that inspired ‘Hesperus’ are rich, poignant and brimming with ‘strange imaginings’.
“I was sent these three examples of her extraordinary poetry and fell in love with the flow and the intoxicating sensuousness of her language,” says McArdle. “The lyric came easily, inspired by ‘Fiametta’ and ‘Sunset’, but the bridge is lifted almost completely from ‘Greeting’, my favourite of the three. I particularly loved her reference to the rise of Hesperus in ‘Sunset’.”
Based north of Dublin in Drogheda, Stephen Joseph McArdle is a songwriter, musician and curator, perhaps known for his acclaimed 2022 album ‘Old Ghosts In The Water’. Its accompanying song cycle/stage show PORT was described by The Irish Times as “an impressive song cycle, intriguing and evocative, rooted in folk but coloured by expansive and imaginative arrangements”, while BBC Radio Ulster said “it has all the ingredients of great folk songs”.
SJ had previously led the award-winning Irish folk band Kern, touring extensively and releasing two albums. He has also worked as a singer-songwriter in Nashville and Germany, which resulted in the critically acclaimed 2014 album ‘Blood and Bones’ (featuring Rodney Crowell). He is also in trad trio Long Woman’s Grave with Nuala Kennedy and Trevor Hutchinson (double bassist with Lúnasa, The Waterboys, Natalie Merchant and more).
SJ’s songs and performances have featured in radio, film and television and he has recorded and toured extensively in Ireland, mainland Europe and North America, gathering a loyal following and critical accolades along the way. He is currently working on ‘All My Dream Companions Gone’, a project set in Ireland during World War I that features guest vocalist Lisa Lambe and is produced by Trevor Hutchinson.
Bring Your Own Hammer (BYOH) brings historians and composers together to create new song cycles based on historical sources and to reinterpret song material rooted in the history of 19th century Ireland and of the Irish diaspora. It is not a band, a group, an ensemble or even a collective. If anything, it is a faction, but unlike 19th century Irish factions, who met, armed with sticks and two-handed wattles in fairs and markets, it is armed with voices and instruments and dedicated, as no faction before, to the reinterpretation of historical material in song form.
