Lankum

Lankum is an Irish quartet comprising Ian Lynch, Daragh Lynch, Radie Peat and Cormac MacDiarmada. The band have consolidated their reputation as one of Ireland’s most important voices following the release of their 4th, Mercury-nominated, album False Lankum (Rough Trade, 2023), which has garnered critical acclaim across the board and brought their music to legions of devoted new fans. 

False Lankum is conceived as a single piece of music, comprising 12 inter-connected songs unfolding across an epic 70 minute duration. Drawing on traditional songs and primitive techniques, the band have created an immersive, psychedelic listening experience incorporating experimental overtones and rumbling drones wedded with classic songwriting, close vocal harmonies and timeless narratives.  

Performing a run of sold out, scaled up shows in support of the new record, the Lankum live show has evolved into a modern day powerhouse, with the band’s acoustic instrumentation (uilleaan pipes, fiddle, accordion, guitar, tin whistle and percussion) and close-harmony vocals transforming into a vast, kaleidoscopic wall of sound. 

Lankum began their career in the Irish folk scene, but their musical inquisitiveness and innovative approach have always pushed them beyond its boundaries. With their 2023 album False Lankum, they definitely arrived in the avant-garde. They delve deep into the history of Irish and English traditionals, combining them with prog rock sound experiments and improvisation. Life-wearied songs of day labourers and peasant women of yesteryear are modernised with agonising playing styles from free jazz and bone-rattling extremo metal.