The Lucid is a posthumous album of music acclaimed by minimalist piano and electro-acoustic composer Conor Walsh, who sadly passed in 2016. The record has been assembled by Conor's friends and family - here, Conor's brother Pearse writes for Culture about the record, the man and his music.
Conor’s family and friends are proud, honoured and excited to finally have the opportunity to release – on his behalf - a debut and posthumous album, titled The Lucid. Conor had been working composing new music in the months and weeks immediately prior to his sudden passing in 2016 and had anticipated releasing an album in the near future. Three years after his untimely passing, Conor’s tireless graft and commitment to his music, as well as his dream to produce a full album of his works, will, at last, come to light as The Lucid is released on 11 March. So too – once more – will shine Conor’s musical brilliance and his unique sound which we hope The Lucid will illuminate for many fans far and wide to enjoy.
Listen to The Lucid by Conor Walsh, via Spotify:
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During a short, but precocious career, Conor performed regularly at major music festivals including Electric Picnic, Body and Soul, Another Love Story, Castlepolooza, and Other Voices. Conor garnered wide acclaim for his sole EP, The Front, released in October 2015 and received considerable praise overall for his distinctive and impactful brand of minimalist electro/acoustic music, underlined by a mellifluous mastery streaming through his pieces which left an indelible mark on the music scene in Ireland and beyond.
The rare authenticity and rawness of Conor’s music drew from those very same features bounding amidst the wild, rugged landscape of the west of Ireland where he was reared and where he had been living, composing music before his death. Nestled away in a restful corner of County Mayo, Conor took inspiration from the stunning surroundings and dramatic backdrops of Ireland’s more untouched quarters, enabling him to introduce openness and sincerity to his deeply expressive music. Conor, an avid fisherman, with an inherent inkling for wandering, was known to fearlessly traverse the often less travelled terrain found near the banks of the River Moy in County Mayo, or Lough Corrib in County Galway, just as he bravely ventured along a less common, and arguably more uncertain musical path.
In the wake of Conor’s passing, there was a state of uncertainty around the release of new music. The sense of precariousness among Conor’s family and friends was driven by a fear that the music which Conor had been working on might not yet have reached a level of development that would have been conducive to an album release, or even any release of new music at all. This feeling was spurred on not least by the collective acceptance among those close to Conor that Conor was a perfectionist with his music. Conor’s family and friends were acutely aware of Conor’s fastidious nature as an artist; recalling his tendency to toil and ambulate over his music and to analyse it in granular detail; rarely content to label a piece finished, no matter how coherent it sounded to others.
The Lucid only serves as.further reminder that in spite of Conor’s passing, his distinctive and transcendent sound and his remarkable soul will stay with us.
However, left in abeyance, locked away on Conor’s laptop, to which his family had to guess the password, was a whole array of never before heard music eventually uncovered after a successful hacking attempt weeks subsequent to Conor’s passing. Amidst the findings were numerous finished pieces of beautiful music and a cohort of tracks which had the capability to drive the production of an album which Conor had dreamt of and which should have been on the cusp of release.
Beating through the heart of the many fabrics sewn together on each track of The Lucid is a tone and rhythm of simplistic beauty, one emblematic of the minimalist genre from which The Lucid is borne. The simple and often soothing grace of The Lucid is, however, juxtaposed against the overall power and effect it has.
Watch: Conor Walsh's The Lucid - a preview
The Lucid, as the name suggests, provides clarity to the listener. The album serves to awaken the mind and stir emotions. While the music can be captivating, even spellbinding, it also infallibly manages to clear your mind. The music is unvarying in its ability to banish, even if only transitorily,
stresses and woes, to open a space in which to unleash your imagination and curiosity and to allow you to explore a world of emotion and sensation through a clear, unfettered lens.
Watch: Conor Walsh plays Quadrivium in 2010
As with Conor’s previous releases, The Lucid is set to, once again, burst a range of emotions into life for the listener. It is often melancholy and frequently soothing, but it can equally be uplifting and, at times, even adrenalizing. There is an acuity and passion that rings through the sounds on The Lucid, representing the assiduous shaping that Conor committed to his work and which is totemic of his utter avidity to play. The record has the ability to transfix the listener, and it will allow them to un-tap their own sense of awe and wonder of the world of music, and to explore the world of places and things which helped inspire Conor to make his music in the first place.
The often raw and unfeigned sound that bellows from the depths of The Lucid is symbolic of the rare and rugged landscapes of the west of Ireland from which Conor plied his craft and which were an integral influence on his work. The rhythm of the river, along the banks of which Conor spent much of his life, flows through his music giving it an almost tangible feel and a sense of meaning. The sheer power of the music on The Lucid pushes itself out to become something more; it transcends the boundaries often set between the listener and the paradigm from which the music is played and, even if just momentarily, it comes alive.
Watch: Conor Walsh at Other Voices in 2014
In its ethereal state, the music too transports you to a new place, instinctively causing the pulsation of body and mind as you listen to and travel with the music. The music can guide you to brooding lows and, in an instant, thrust you back out to exhilarating new heights. Such is its impact, The Lucid can transform from calming to rousing music in a heartbeat. Heart-stopping one moment, heart-racing the next; like the natural flow of the river at its core, the music seamlessly meanders from one juncture to another, steadily building you upstream, plunging you into a crescentic fall which rises from its source and grips you, before permeating to a renewed period of lull and a palliative passage to its natural, flatter conclusion – almost as if to steer you safely to the mouth of the river before you embark on your next journey.
Disengaged from the banality of the world outside you while you listen, perhaps, but not the music; soul-searching, emotion-succumbing, life-grabbing – you’re involved; you’re fully there, wherever ‘there’ may be for you.
This album is for Conor’s friends, family and fans who worked unflappably to ensure Conor’s final works would not be lost or forgotten and whom supported Conor both during and after his life. The album is also, of course, for Conor, who continues to gift us with beautiful, meaningful and eloquent music and in turn helps create memorable moments and experiences for listeners even after he has left the world. The Lucid only serves as further reminder that in spite of Conor’s passing, his distinctive and transcendent sound and his remarkable soul will stay with us, and what’s more, it will linger on for many more to hear, experience and enjoy in the future.
We really hope you enjoy the new music, and we thank you sincerely for helping Conor to bring it to the world.
Thank you, Conor - for bringing us back to that special place where only you know how to get to.
The Lucid by Conor Walsh is out now - get a copy and find out more about Conor's music here.
