A feast for the ears

If you have no interest in the shenanigans on the Electric Picnic main stages, if Underworld leave you underwhelmed, if you think Joan As Policewoman couldn’t get arrested, if OMD have you thinking OMG... well, you can see where I’m coming from. Fear not, though. There’s no need to retreat to your tent with a case of Jim Beam and an iPod brimming with tea-addled sean-nós singers. There are actually some bands that the folk afficionado might want to listen to on the EP bill, even if you might have to wander off into the far-flung regions of Stradbally’s expansive back lawn to find them.

Before doing so, you should check out James Vincent McMorrow, flying the flag for Irish folkies on the main stage. I have to confess that I’m not a major fan of his record. I’m not an admirer of ‘big’ production and it left me feeling like I’d eaten the whole chocolate cake by myself. However, I recently downloaded his Daytrotter session which is just a guitar, that spectacular voice and the odd dab of backing vocals. And whoa, there you go – all of a sudden I’m a believer. If his Electric Picnic set steers its course in this direction then it should be one of the festival’s highpoints. There are very few voices that can hold up on a festival stage without the usual rock schtick of pyrotechnics and theatrics. James Vincent McMorrow has one of the few that can.

Also playing with the big boys is the Monster of Folk himself M. Ward (who holds the award for the second best cover of Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’). He’s probably better known this side of the Atlantic as the half of She And Him that doesn’t have a sponsorship deal with Rimmel Cosmetics (Zooey Deschanel take a bow). Having teamed up with Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes and Jim James of My Morning Jacket to tour and record as Monsters Of Folk he has certainly clocked up more than his fair share of live activity (especially for someone who reportedly doesn’t like touring very much). It’s not the playing that gets to him so much as the weeks of living out of suitcases you’ll be happy to hear. I can’t help thinking they should have booked Monsters Of Folk, if only so that we could have tucked in a set on the side from Will Johnson, who, whilst not officially in the band, nevertheless plays drums with them live and would certainly be worth seeing in his own right.

Almost a lone standard bearer for traditional music (would you count Sharon Corr? I’m not sure she has much to do with traditional music) would seem to be the ubiquitous Sharon Shannon who will be there with one of the incarnations of her big band. I’m surprised she isn’t farther up the pecking order. She’s not in the size of type that you need the Hubble Telescope to read. Then again she’s not in the big block letters either – and remember that apart from being tantamount to a national treasure, Sharon Shannon gives good festival. There will be dancing, there will be drunkeness and hilarity, there will be grinning from ear to ear. And that’s just on the stage.

So having appraised yourself of the goings on, or lack of same, on the Main Stage and found out where the good burger van you’ll want to point yourself in the direction of whatever else is worth hearing.
At this year’s Electric Picnic it would seem that the Salty Dog stage is folk central. Making the big noise at the big red boat this year will be Californians Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros. But the ship will also be rocking under the oceanic onslaught of a scurvy band of Irish musicians too. Having called her label Mermaid Records Maria Doyle Kennedy should feel right at home as, I suppose, should Jerry Fish. There will also be performances from Prison Love, The Mighty Stef, The Rubberbandits and The Cajun Kings. Fling will be bringing a little traditional flourish to the folkiness, and to make you feel that extra little bit special, Plymouth’s Black Dogs return to Ireland for the first time in four years. Phelim Drew unveils his new band The Undertakers and BP Fallon will be performing too. Sneaking in under an alias there’ll also be a chance to see Robin James Hurt whose recently released Market House EP features The Band Of Midnight Love. It’s as this rather than under his own name that he is billed. He’ll be fresh from the Fleadh Ceoil in Cavan with his band of musical misadventurers which features members who between them have played with and for Mariah Carey, The Waterboys and Ronnie Drew.

There are other goodies on offer. But you might have to ferret them out. Pearse McGloughlin will be putting in an appearance as part of the Brownbread Mixtape’s contribution on the Word Stage. If you have never caught Kalle Ryan and his anarchic cohorts in action at their regular gig in Dublin’s Stag’s Head then you’ll need to know that their shows are always themed. This one will be no exception but they’re kindly people, they know you’ll very likely be addled and they chosen to keep to a laudably straightforward concept of ‘Irish Festivals’.