When Hush Comes To Shove - Silences Interview

With the public appetite for winsome acoustic folk showing little sign of being sated, it’s no wonder so many new acts are happy, when it comes to established templates, to lap them up and start again.
It’s always dispiriting when young talent drapes itself in the morose cast-offs from older lags. However, the hope, of course, is that the rummaging around is simply a necessary first stage in the construction of a more fetchingly personalised look.
Silences – a four piece from Armagh who circle the song-writing of singer and frontman, Conchúr White – may seem just like all the other wispy, phone-ad aspiring wastrels active at the moment. However, they have a strong aspiration to stand out.
Inventively produced by Declan Legge, they’ve already (off the back of debut EP Nevernames) attracted the attention of the Other Voices people – appearing on one of the Derry-set shows, and also being invited to play the O.V stage at this year’s Electric Picnic. And while they’re a tight mixture of family and old school friends, there’s a healthy push/pull dynamic at play, that Conchúr insists will prevent them from ever getting too complacently cosy.
“Death Cab For Cutie are a group that we reference quite a lot and are certainly a shared favourite,” he says. “I can't speak for all the guys . I definitely don't share Mickey's love for jazz or Jonny's penchant for Chopin. Breandán's obsession with golden oldies makes for difficult car journeys and Chris is going through a phase of listening to weird, alternative, Scottish music. We probably shouldn't be in a band.”
Their new EP, Sister Snow, is an effective blending of the confused and the sure-footed. A step away from the audience, according to the singer, and towards a more rewarding aesthetic.
“I think our first was very accessible,” he says, “this one probably isn't as commercial. I believe we could have put out another batch of songs that would be as radio friendly as Nevernames. We wanted to highlight the range of sound.”
 The title track offers great encouragement: it is a spindly slice of spacey, spooky ambience and mood. While the promo that accompanies it (all weird mummer costumes and bucolic unease) looks like something dreamt up at the recent folk horror conference at Queen's.
“Yeah, it's bit crazy,” says Conchúr. “We used the likes of Alice in Wonderland and Pan's Labyrinth as reference points. Essentially we wanted to have a video that touched upon the narrative of the song without being too literal. We certainly had a lot of fun making it anyway.”
And fun was had too recently in Nashville, where  Conchúr spent some time working with local musicians.
 “I was sent out with a few other Irish writers,” he says. “On a very basic level, it was about doing co-writes with musicians from the UK and the US in the hope of getting some songs published. It was a great learning experience and I think we established some strong relationships which should hopefully stand us in good stead for the future.”