This immortal coil

Who could have predicted a successful collaboration between Irish classical composer Patrick Cassidy and wistful indie chanteuse, Lisa Gerrard? Not many – that’s’ for sure! Cassidy is probably best known in this country for albums like the Children Of Lir and his Famine Remembrance project while Gerrard achieved cult fame in the 1980’s with Australian Goth legends, Dead Can Dance. Immortal Memory, the result of this unlikely pairing, has received huge worldwide acclaim with glowing reviews in papers like the LA Times and the Boston Globe, while the London Guardian described it as a work of “spine-tingling beauty.”

The album blends ancient mythological, classical and ethnic styles to create an original and highly accessible collection of pieces, which seems to have struck a chord with listeners.
“It’s the first time I’ve collaborated with someone else,” Cassidy says. “Up until now I’ve always worked alone. But I went over to Los Angeles to do film music and being such a melting pot you tend to meet lots of people. Lisa was working on the Gladiator soundtrack and I was working on the music for Hannibal when we met.”
When both projects were completed the two found they were at a loose end and decided to work together.
“It wasn’t really a formal thing,” says Cassidy “We both felt we should get back to doing music for music’s sake rather than working on movies which we’d both got into as a secondary career.”
Given their collective background it’s no surprise to discover that the overall sound of Immortal Memory is cinematic, with wide-screen sonic sweeps and haunting vocal textures.
“It wasn’t really about one specific approach, like my album Children Of Lir,” Cassidy explains. “We thought it would be nice to explore a few different styles together. I come from a classical area; Lisa has done her own thing over the years, often influenced by classical, medieval and ethnic styles of music. In one sense, it’s very Irish. A song like ‘Amergin’ for example, is definitely an Irish thing, a kind of a Druid spell.”
For Gerrard’s working on the album was about freedom to do her own thing. “It’s a completely different experience to working in films,” she prefers “There’s just no comparison. You have to re-invent yourself working on movies and you depend on so many different factors. When you do an album it’s totally yourself. I do films for money – it’s about feeding your kids and keeping a roof over your head.”
And what’s her take on the appeal of Immortal Memory?
“It’s about spirituality,” she says. “I don’t think you can stick it on in the car and go for a drive or listen to it while doing the dishes. You need to lie on the ground, close your eyes and listen to it and you’ll find it’s very peaceful. One review said, ‘this is an exquisitely beautiful album – if you like funeral music’ which I thought was funny. But we recorded it when the war was going on in Iraq and we deliberately created somewhere safe and reassuring.”

Immortal Memory is released on 4AD Records