Clear Colour + 7″

Tracklist:

1. Ralt
2. Projections
3. Garden
4. Corrib
5. Halo
6. Spring
7. Stonefly
8. Flutter
9. Trip
10. Violet
11. Up
12. October Moon

7

1. Untitled
2. Spring (II)

By the time Irish musician Maria Somerville started writing Luster, her landmark label debut for 4AD, she had lived away from her native Connemara for quite some time. Having grown up amongst the wild, mountainous terrain of Galways rural west coast, she later relocated to Dublin, where she patiently developed an atmospheric dream pop signature inspired by the landscape of her youth a spellbinding sound world of gusting ambient electronics, ethereal guitar strums, sparse percussion, and hushed lyrical vignettes. In 2019, this culminated in All My People, a self-released LP steeped in reverb, nostalgia and a yearning for home that won praise from discerning press and listeners alike.

It was upon returning to Connemara, in a house near where she was raised overlooking one of the countrys largest lakes, Lough Corrib, that work commenced on the songs that would eventually become Luster, an album that illuminates Somervilles music anew, pushing it forward in both sound and spirit. Where All My People conveyed memories and melancholic longing with misty slowcore balladry, these 12 tracks show us an artist whos more assured in the path her life has taken, and the person shes become in the process. As she sings in Trip I can see more clearly than I could before. I know now wat’s true for me.

Invigorated by her surroundings and emboldened by her community, Somerville found a renewed sense of creative energy upon returning to home soil. It provided fertile ground for free-flowing recording sessions in her small living room studio, where she stitched together demos that were then fleshed out with friends and collaborators, and later mixed by the renowned New York-based engineer Gabriel Schuman. Contributors included producers J. Colleran, Brendan Jenkinson and Diego Herrera (aka Suzanne Kraft), as well as Lankums Ian Lynch, whose uilleann pipe drones you can hear in Violet, and Margie Jean Lewis, whose violin bows reverberate through the ambient haze of Flutter. Sessions with musicians Henry Earnest and Finn Carraher McDonald (aka Nashpaints) helped tie it all together, while contributions from friends Roisin Berkley and Olan Monk enshrined the companionship theyve shared since Somerville returned to Connemara.

Listeners have had a window into Somervilles world every Monday and Tuesday morning since 2021 via her beloved Early Bird Show on NTS Radio, where her dawn chorus selections range from blissful ambient and shoegaze to traditional Irish folk songs. Since signing to 4AD that same year, Somerville has toured with her labelmates Dry Cleaning, and released two covers for the labels 40th anniversary celebrations taking on Nancy Sinatras Kinky Love and Air Miamis Sea Bird. With the release of Luster, she has signalled the arrival of a new era that will see her play around the world in 2025 accompanied by a live band. Rest assured though, no matter where Somerville goes, shell take a piece of home with her a living, breathing, timeless essence you can sense in every note, as clear as the air by the Corrib.