Brilliant Irish filmmaker Myles O’Reilly’s “A City Under Quiet Lights :: Vol II”

The team behind Cork’s premiere fireside-folk festival, Quiet Lights, are delighted to present to the world the digital release of A City Under Quiet Lights Vol II

Filmed over the course of the 2022 festival, A City Under Quiet Lights Vol II is a captivating cinematic journey that invites the world to explore the heart and soul of Cork City through the lens of music and culture, with live performances by Jim Ghedi, Cinder Well, Martin Hayes, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, Máire Carroll, and Niamh Bury.

The film, shot, and directed, by Myles O’Reilly, captures intimate, one-song performances by the artists set against the backdrop of cherished Cork landmarks:

  • St. Luke’s – Jim Ghedi – Ah Cud Hew
  • St Fin Barre’s Cathedral – Cinderwell – Overgrown
  • St. Luke’s – Martin Hayes – An Braon Báisti
  • Coughlan’s – Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin – Embrace The New Day
  • Triskel Christchurch – Máire Carroll – Piano Étude No.6 by Philip Glass
  • Grand Parade Ferris Wheel – Niamh Bury – Who Am I

Jim Ghedi “A Hymn For Ancient Land”

The combination of gorgeous fingerpicking, verdant orchestration and heartfelt songwriting on A Hymn For Ancient Land can feel like a welcome antidote to the haughty irony of much of today’s alternative music. At other times, the genteel emotional register of the compositions and bucolic ambience of the track titles gives off an air of pastoral kitsch – a rose-tinted view of nature and folk music that feels strangely both naive and carefully constructed. Taken as a whole, this makes for an album filled with inventive guitar work that is occasionally hampered by over-egged production and sentimental arrangements [ . . . } Read Full Quietus Review