Before There Was Air CD

The new Boa Morte album ‘Before there was air’ was released in September 2019 to outstanding reviews in the UK and Ireland (see below). In-depth reviews have compared the work to that of Robert Wyatt, James Yorkston or Jim O’Rourke. The band played the Sounds from a Safe Harbour festival in Cork and Other Voices in Dingle. A track was featured on official Spotify playlist Fresh Folk This is a great Irish album in a year of great Irish albums.

Reviews of ‘Before there was air’ (10^th Dec 2019):

***** (5/5) RnR Magazine (UK) – “The tunes flow into each other creating the sense of a suite, as if Brian Eno’s Apollo, Atmospheres and Soundtracks had been recorded instead by Robert Wyatt and James Yorkston”.

9/10 Norman Records (UK) – “There’s an off-kilter approach to music-making here, with woozy arrangements exposing the true beauty of their chosen instrumentation. Glorious, earthy and touching music, sometimes with shades of James Yorkston or Gruff Rhys”

**** (4/5) The Irish Times – “slow burning alt-folk doesn’t come any more steady or smooth”

For Folks Sake (UK) – “Boa Morte deliver an album awash in sound that challenges one to listen with an open mind. Before there was air is a gift that has been dropped on an audience that must listen closely to comprehend all its beauty”

Record Collector (UK) – “It’s the kind of slow burning, heart swelling folk music which practically transports you into the same quiet room as the players themselves. Stick on the fire and soak it up.”

The Examiner (Ireland) – “Extraordinary.. has the capacity to make musical ideas sound simultaneously surprising and indisputably correct. Closest in spirit to the mercurial melodic sounds of former Sonic Youth guitarist and avant-garde artist Jim O’Rourke”

Golden Plec (Ireland) – “With Before there was Air, Boa Morte have produced a majestic, mood-laden alternative folk soundtrack. Perfect for the strange times we live in.”

Harmonic Distortion (UK) – “Plaintive piano, softly plucked guitars and understated vocals are enhanced with unobtrusive synth drones, violin, viola, cello and even close-mic’ed floor creaks. You can literally hear the room and the atmosphere within. The lyrics have a poetic timeless beauty”

Hot Press (Ireland) – “This is a luxurious listen crammed with hushed hymns and magnetic slow-burners. Some things really are worth the wait”

Americana UK – “Boa Morte return with a disturbing dream of an album. Stripped back and paradoxically multi-layered with the merest hair-breaths of pauses between the portrayal of emotional responses”