With an adventurous spirit and a passion for charting the road less travelled, Beoga have shown that Irish traditional music can take fresh new directions. Constantly evolving, the quintet have proved that new audiences are eager to embrace the genre’s life-affirming energy.
That world-facing potential was proven by the popularity of their collaborations with Ed Sheeran on his all-conquering ‘÷’ album. Those two songs - ‘Galway Girl’ and ‘Nancy Mulligan’ - have been streamed over a billion times on Spotify alone. Their creative connection continued with some huge outdoor shows, including an unforgettable once-in-a-lifetime moment when they joined Ed during his headline set at Glastonbury.
Emboldened by the experience, Beoga focused on creating attention-grabbing hooks rather than exploratory instrumentals. As accordionist Damian McKee notes, “We were making music like we’d never done before. It was like starting again from scratch.”
“Irish music can sometimes be complicated for complicated’s sake,” adds bodhrán player Eamon Murray. “We had to step back, make it more direct and get to the point quicker.”
Key to that new approach was identifying the collaborators who could help Beoga continue to explore fresh territory. They called on some old friends (the Grammy-nominated producer Jonny Coffer, Northern Irish artists Foy Vance and Ryan McMullan, plus regular touring partner Niall McCabe) alongside some fresh creatives in the shape of Lissie and Devin Dawson. Beoga put together a wealth of new material during sessions at Foy Vance’s studio in the Highlands, at multi-instrumentalist Seán Óg Graham’s home studio in County Antrim and at Angelic Studio in Northamptonshire.
The result is Beoga’s forthcoming mini album ‘Carousel’, which will be previewed by the brand new single ‘In A Rocket’. Featuring vocals from Lissie and a topline written by James Bay, it blends Beoga’s Irish-fuelled rhythms with Lissie’s Midwestern folk-pop as it looks ahead to better times to come. “Spent too long in this lonely room,” Lissie emotes, “Kicked out the locks, going to run with you / Sun’s waiting on the other side.”
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