cathymcevoy

My newest video, Even When I’m Strong, has just been released. Please check it out and, if you like it, tell others…..

The song deals with something most people experience at some stage of their lives, profound bereavement. It sounds very personal but it’s not about my own grief; I wrote it for a friend of mind after she lost her partner far too young. I hope it can bring comfort to anybody dealing with loss. Shot by Jonathan Lavery at Camelot Studios and featuring the mighty Clara Rose on lead vocals, plus Josh Johnston on piano, and string quartet comprised of myself, Lioba Petrie, Mihaly Magyarics and Oleksandra Kristieva. I was recovering from Covid at the time, hence the mask.

While you’re there, take a look at Strange Kind of Rain, written and recorded with support from the Arts Council of Ireland

It’s inspired by the sea shanty tradition, a genre which has gained a certain cachet lately, thanks in particular to a number of TikTok hits during the pandemic. While the finished piece doesn’t have much in common with the work songs of a 19th century merchant sailing ship, it does draw on a range of cultures and references, and on languages real and invented, just like the crew of a typical merchant vessel. Throughout the writing process, I was haunted by a host of different images; the challenges faced by 21st century fishermen, biblical imagery, sirens luring ships onto the rocks. But the images that I really couldn’t stop thinking about were those of the tiny, overloaded migrant boats making perilous crossings to the EU that have become all too familiar in recent times. The work is scored for choir, cello, percussion & speech, performed by myself, Pia Dunne, Paddy Groenland, Michael McCartan & Sadhbh O’Sullivan on vocals, Lioba Petrie on cello, and Alessandra Azevedo voice over. I hope you’ll check it out.

Heard You Call My Name released!

The latest single from my current EP is now available from 

Penned by yours truly and performed with raucous energy by The Gospel Project, this first single from the Letters to Loved Ones EP is guaranteed to have you humming and clapping along. Or your 99c back 🙂 Enjoy.

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I started writing songs when I was about 8 years old. This didn’t seem like any great achievement at the time because as a child I thought everyone wrote songs (almost everyone in my family writes). I was a finalist in the 2FM Yoplait Song Contest four times in my youth…never won it though 🙂 Later I went on and studied more ‘serious’ Composition at degree level in Trinity College Dublin and Masters level at NUI Maynooth. In 2020 there was further training, El Curso de Composicion Musivisual at Musica Creativa, Madrid. And I’ve also received the following Music Awards/Professional Affiliations:

 

•  Awarded Agility Award from the Arts Council of Ireland, 2021
• Recipient of Meath County Council Regional Bursary Arts Award, 2018
• Awarded Travel and Training Award from the Arts Council of Ireland, 2016 for purpose of attending Conducting Gesture and Voice Course, Voice Care Network, Minnesota, U.S.
• Selected to represent Ireland at the EU Youth In Action Community Arts event Connecting through Creativity, Mayfield Arts Centre, Cork, 2014
• Member of the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO), Phonographic Performance Ireland (PPI) and Recorded Artists Actors Performers (RAAP)
• Founder member of and former secretary to the Irish Composers’ Collective
• Member of Artists’ Panel of the National Concert Hall’s Music in Mind Programme

More importantly, here’s some work I’d like you to check out:

Letters to Loves Ones EP available to download!

   

Letters to Loved Ones. It has been an epic journey (I write long letters!), so thank you to those of you who’ve continued to show support and interest.  My own blend of gospel, folk and alternative rock, the EP features an impressive array of guest vocalists: Cian Mekitarian of The Sydney Garrison, Enda Reilly, Clara Rose, Maurice Burns and The Gospel Project as well as drums, bass, keys, and, naturally, strings.  Find it on CDBaby and on

For those nostalgic folk among who you who remember the days when people used to make these physical objects called CDs, I have a few of them lying around the house too. If you’d like one  just pop me an email and I’ll get one out to you.

The Lazy Band debut album released 

Anyone who follows the fortunes of The Lazy Band may be surprised to learn that in my garden is our debut album. But we’re not called ‘The Lazy Band’ for nothing! It took 8 years, but we have finally managed to get this gorgeous 14-track collection recorded, produced and released. Check it out – 

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Older:

Bamboo Sessions Sunday June 7th, St. Finian’s Church, 

This was one of the most enjoyable projects I’ve participated in in a long time. A singer-songwriter night with a difference: live string quartet. 6 Dublin-based songwriters – myself, Danny G, Celine Carroll, Edel Meade, Enda Reilly and Sive – performed our own songs and each others in arrangements for string quartet prepared specially for the event. The quartet featured myself and Imogen Gunner on violins,  Mary Barnecutt on cello and Niamh Roche on viola. Lovely venue, great crowd and a terrific evening’s music. Here’s two samples of the night’s music:

 Choral Piece for Under My Bed 2015:

On Friday March 13th, a piece I composed for SATB choir, piano, cello and soprano soloist, was premiered as part of Under My Bed in Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin. If you missed it last year, Under My Bed is an extraordinary project; people from the arts world and beyond are invited to write a short piece on the theme ‘under my bed’, the resulting works are then performed over several magical nights in one of Dublin’s most charming venues, and most importantly, vital funds are raised  for children’s charity Barnardos.

I assembled a special ‘Under My Bed’ mixed voice Choir for the event, all of whom are shared their talents freely and out of sheer goodwill.I still can’t believe my good fortune in getting the singers and musicians I did on board. Here we are pictured during rehearsal…the furrowed brows testify to the fact that the piece is a little tricky! But the performance went really well. Delighted to have been part of this marvellous event.

Checkout the  News page for further info.

A random collection of some other material:

My Hallelujah, performed by The Gospel Project

Ease My Worries

Lead vocal performed by Elga Fox.

Testament

Performed by The Gospel Project

Another Winter

Piece for Prepared Piano, performed by David Adams