Acclaimed Irish musician Fionn Regan's sixth album, Cala, is out now on Abbey Records. Listen on your favorite streaming service here!
Additionally, his song "Riverside Heights" premiered on FLOOD Magazine yesterday who said, "Over sparse Spanish guitar, Regan's voice gently sets the scene of a warm summer night. With hardly more than backing harmonies and twinkling keys gracing each chorus, the song is quite peaceful..."
Cala, named after the Spanish word for creek, continues to receive widespread acclaim-The Times proclaims, "The Irish singer returns to the spectral soundscapes and vivid, impressionistic lyrics that made his debut so haunting and beautiful," while MOJO adds, "Regan's typically poetic sixth album conjures a singular, almost meditative mood via fingerpicked guitars and subtle cinematic textures. His honorary membership of the Trinity College Literary Society is fully justified throughout."
The ten-song album was performed entirely by Regan and was written at his home in Bray, on Dublin's coastal outskirts, which might partly explain Cala's recurring imagery: stars, moon, ocean and sun. "The album does have fundamentally elemental, visual components," he notes. "I wouldn't mind knowing why! It's a mystery to me, how songs evolve. Thankfully, they do. But I've never got anywhere when I've tried to work it out." Regan concedes, "the place you're from continues to resonate."
Cala is similarly drawn from intuition, rooted in acoustic guitar as well as piano, and atmospherics. As Regan hears it, "[Atmospherics are] sparse cinematic moments, like a super-eight movie." He furthers, "A kickdrum here, a footstamp there, some slight modern twists influenced by the time period we're in. I've not overthought it much. I hope the songs can shine in that way. The song comes first, then the sonic palate, then the words give a sense of place, or landscape."
Born in Bray, Ireland, Regan rose to prominence with the release of his 2006 debut album, The End of History, which was followed by the release of his 2017 album, The Meetings of the Waters. Over the course of his career, Regan has been nominated for the Choice Music Prize in Ireland, the Mercury Prize in the U.K., the Shortlist Music Prize in the U.S. and is an honorary member of the Trinity College Literary Society. Additionally, his song "Abacus" was sampled by Justin Vernon on "00000 Million" from Bon Iver's 22, A Million. The pair have since met and worked together in Berlin.
CALA TRACKLIST
1. Collar of Fur
2. Head Swim
3. Riverside Heights
4. The Ocean Wave
5. Volca
6. Cala
7. Brass Locket
8. Hunting Dog
9. Glaciers
10. Under the Waves / Tokyo
Videos