John Francis Flynn shares the spooky new song ‘Willie Crotty’

Dublin songwriter John Francis Flynn has revealed a second song form his new album Look Over The Wall, See The Sky.

With the release of the album one we’ve highlighted as one of the 16 to look out for before the end of the year, Flynn has released another song called ‘Willie Crotty’ ahead of the album’s November 10th release, after ‘Mole In The Ground’.

The song is a woozy dirgey atmospheric take on an old song, it drags and wheeze and will fit very well on a Halloween or Samhain playlist no doubt.

This eerie rendition of ‘Willy Crotty’ was recorded in a bedroom in Leitrim using the unlikely combination of a clarinet, a handheld radio, a Casio SK1, a harmonica and an effects pedal. Where we might hear horror or feel terror, John explains that these sonic provocations are his guttural language and are always aiding the emotional leverage of the song, in a way that traditional instruments can’t. As for the song’s protagonists, “these are the sounds of their lives are being torn apart.”

The video was directed by Ruth Clinton and Cormac MacDiarmada (Lankum).

Album Pre-Order Link

There’s a new interview with The Quietus to read too.

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John Francis Flynn Tour Dates

 Fri, Dec 1^st – Set Theatre, Kilkenny

Sat, Dec 2^nd – Vicar St, Dublin

Fri, Dec 8^th – Roisin Dubh, Galway

Sat, Dec 9^th – St Luke’s, Cork

Sun, Dec 10^th – De Barras, Clonakilty

Thurs, Dec 14^th – Dolan’s Warehouse, Limerick

Fri, Jan 12^th – Out To Lunch Festival, Ulster Sports Club, Belfast

Fri, Jan 19^th – Brudenell, Leeds

Sat, Jan 20^th – Celtic Connections, Drygate, Glasgow

Sun, Jan 21^st – The Caves, Edinburgh

Tues, Jan 23^rd – The Exchange, North Shields

Wed, Jan 24^th – YES. Manchester

Thurs, Jan 25^th – Hare and Hounds, Birmingham

Fri, Jan 26^th – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

Sat, Jan 27^th – The Exchange, Bristol

Tues, Jan 30^th – Concorde 2, Brighton

Wed, Jan 31^st – The Dome, London

Thu, Feb 1^st – Point FMR, Paris

Mon, Feb 5^th – Paradiso Upstairs, Amsterdam

Sat, Feb 10^th – Silent Green, Berlin

Thu, Feb 22^nd – Theatre Royal, Waterford

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About Look Over The Wall, See The Sky

Often, to imagine Ireland is to fantasise about rolling hills, giants, saints and snakes. As John Francis Flynn says, it involves “a fair bit of paddywhackery and I hate paddywhackery.” The psyche-celtic album artwork for John’s second album Look Over The Wall, See The Sky, hints at this too though: a crystal goblet of luminous green Crème de Menthe resting upon a mossy ledge, perfectly encapsulating this imagined idea of Ireland in a way that is both funny and poignant. But, if you have to imagine Ireland in the first place, then you’re probably not too familiar with its reality: the towering glass giants of Google and Facebook, the unaffordable luxury hotels lining the Liffey amidst a homelessness epidemic and the highest rents in Europe.  

To listen to Look Over The Wall, See The Sky is to witness history through a modern lens in a trance-like state. As expected, Flynn’s contemporary influences are sufficiently esoteric, from ‘The Heart Pumps Kool Aid’ by —__–___ to ‘The invention of the Human’ by Dylan Henner (a concept album about an AI learning to sing). However, he was also inspired by his contemporaries in the traditional music scene in Ireland, many of whom contributed to the album, as well as those outside of it, such as noise-rockers Gilla Band and Rising Damp. 

On his last record, I Would Not Live Always, John was much more conscious of bringing acoustic instruments and weird synthesized sounds together as a concept. But now with his unique musical language fully formed, “I feel freer within that language to experiment and take it further without it being too conscious or premeditated”. 

Album Tracklisting:

1. The Zoological Gardens
2. Mole In The Ground
3. Willie Crotty
4. Kitty
5. The Seasons
6. Within A Mile Of Dublin
7. The Lag Song
8. Dirty Old Town