Ceann Capaill

Irish multi-instrumentalist Declan Haughian marries windswept Gaelic folklore with sophisticated, ecstatic post-rock, and moodsetting spoken word with his project Ceann Capaill.

The project began "with old tapes stored in dusty roofspaces, handed down to us by family and friends. We used the audio as a theme and a grounding to which the music belongs."

Though centred on Haughian’s songwriting and creative direction, Ceann Capaill comprises a flexible unit of musicians, expanding and contracting for each expression.

“I grew up in a rural Irish community which still retains the visible effects of colonial takeover,” writes Haughian. “A stunning place of scenic beauty and unmatched community spirit, but with a strong undercurrent of resentment, handed down by the people who came before us and the people before them.” Through his compositions, his project Ceann Capaill asks the questions of how this came to be and how to come to terms with it now. His music reflects this dichotomy of sublimity and tension with searching, soaring maximalism offset against rarefied and radical tenderness.