IMAGES

DISCOGRAPHY

January 2023 - "Lucia" is released on CD / LP and digitally on Friday 29th Jan, 2023.

“The music - ornate and elegant - flits from spry to haunting. A quietly beautiful triumph.” - The Irish Independant

“In removing conjecture, he draws closer to the heart of his subject matter, each classical guitar track conjuring up images of the dancer in flow” - The Sunday Times

“By any standards this is an extraodinary piece of work” - No More Workhorse

“Deft and well-considered, the work spins and soars. An elegant discordant gem. The guitar cascades, dances and flies.” - The Irish Times

“A triumph” - Irish Daily Mail

As part of the celebrations marking the centenary of James Joyce's Ulysses taking place in Dublin and globally on the 16th of June 2022, Axis Ballymun presented the world premiere of ‘LUCIA’ - a suite for guitar and strings composed by multi-award nominated musician Joseph Chester.

Lucia Joyce spent 47 years in institutions as a result of mental illness, including long periods in isolation. She died in the notoriously cruel St. Andrew’s asylum, Northampton at the age of 75. And yet, in her youth she had shown enormous potential, as a dancer and illustrator. Over the course of two years, Chester took ten key moments from the life of Lucia Joyce, ten facts of her existence, and composed a piece of music for each, to pay tribute to her, to bear witness to her and, in some fantastical, imaginary way, let her speak. The Paris Times wrote that, “James Joyce may yet be known as his daughter’s father." Some say she was a muse for Finnegans Wake. Her father described her as, “A fantastic being with a mind as clear and unsparing as the lightning.” However, after undergoing tests, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was committed in 1936.

She would never know freedom again.

“I was interested in Lucia’s story for what it tells us about our historic fear and lack of understanding of mental illness and how perhaps creativity and mental illness can be inextricably linked. Silenced in life, Lucia was silenced once again in death when her papers (including her correspondence with Samuel Beckett) were all destroyed by her nephew, Stephen Joyce.

I released my last album, Jupiter's Wife, at the very start of the pandemic and so, what would ordinarily have been a very busy time of concerts and promotion became a time of reflection and taking stock. Jupiter's Wife and indeed its predecessor, The Easter Vigil had been quite lyrically dense albums and, as with every new project, I wanted to move on to a new challenge. And so I thought, 'What could be more challenging than to make an album with no words?' I had already started to expand my musical horizons by beginning to learn to read and write music and teaching myself some classical guitar technique. I made some arrangements of Turlough O'Carolan and some old traditional Irish tunes, adapting them to the classical guitar and was casting around for a theme.

It was around this time that I heard a radio documentary on RTE Lyric FM called "Dancing With Lucia," about the daughter of James Joyce who had been a dancer of great potential before being diagnosed with schizophrenia and spending 47 years in institutions. Her story resonated with me very deeply. The idea came to me very quickly to try and tell Lucia's story through music. There followed an intense period of research, trying to dig up any reliable information. The problem is that when it comes to Lucia, there is such a whirlwind of rumour and speculation around her, lots of it wild and salacious, most of it completely devoid of evidence, that it becomes incredibly difficult to glimpse the real person.

To avoid adding to the noise and gossip around Lucia, I decided to take ten key moments (I added one later), facts of her life and compose a piece of music for each, with the hope that these pieces would add up to a cohesive whole, both musically, and more importantly as a portrait of Lucia as a real, breathing, living person. No judgement, no speculation, just empathy.

I wanted the music to have a sense and feel of Paris in the early 20th century and as such was influenced greatly by the sound world of Eric Satie and Claude Debussy but also other more modern composers such as Toru Takemitsu, Leo Brouwer, Stephen Goss, Laura Snowden and many other composers of contemporary music. This has been by a mile, the most ambitious, project of my life, at turns seemingly impossible, yet exhilarating, painful, and yet enlightening. At times it felt like an insurmountable challenge. And then I thought, "If not now, when?"

Joseph Chester, Rennes, 2022

April 2020 - "Jupiter's Wife" is released as a double-CD and digitally on Friday 1st May, 2020.

One Of The Greatest Irish Albums Of The Decade - Irish Daily Mirror

The Same Rarified Territory As Robert Forster Of The Go Betweens - RTÉ

Folk In Its Purest Form - Magic, Revue Pop Moderne

This Music Stimulates The Mind As Much As It Pleases The Ear - The Sunday Times

An Early Choice Music Prize Contender - Playirish

An Album To Lose Yourself In ****½ - The Sunday Business Post

He Should Be A Household Name - Irish Independent

This Music Lifts Us Far, Very High From Our Smallness ***** - Benzine Magazine

A natural successor to 2017's critically acclaimed "The Easter Vigil" the latest offering from Joe Chester moves from themes of losing inner spiritual and sacred belief to losing faith in each other and the dissolution of a lifelong union and marriage in the broader sense. "Jupiter's Wife" (Juno, Roman goddess of marriage) is a deep and rewarding well, filled with the complexities and conflicts that befall a shipwrecked relationship in a time before divorce was an option. The experience is contentious, doused in the tension between want and need. Joe draws artfully on daring imagery to give extraordinary colour to the impending abyss. The soundscape is equally rich with comforting atmospheric depth and an earthy, natural flavour that is relentlessly strewn with many a gratifying and devast ating turn of phrase.

Self-produced as with all of Joe's solo work, this album was partially recorded in Sun Studio, Memphis on legendary rock 'n' roll producer Sam Phillips' original analogue machines. In fact, the entire record was first committed to tape to achieve a full and natural feel. "When I walked through the doors at 706 Union Avenue, the house engineer, Ples Hampton told me they had spent the previous night wiring in all of Sam Phillips’ original equipment. My heart quickened" says Joe of the musician's mecca. The bulk of the recording took place in Joe's studio set up at his home in the south of France with powerful contributions from Julie Bienvenu (A Lazarus Soul) and members of The Waterboys - Trevor Hutchinson, Anto Thistlethwaite and Steve Wickham.

Referring to the sonic inspiration for the record, Joe says "in 2017, while returning from some concerts with Steve Wickham in Belgium my old acoustic guitar was smashed beyond repair by the airline and so I was forced to begin the hunt for a replacement. After much searching I found, in Brittany, a near 40-year-old and fairly beaten up Lowden acoustic. Designed by George Lowden from Bangor, Northern Ireland, these guitars have a truly unique sound. More importantly, as soon as I picked it up, music flowed from it with ease and I was truly struck by the feeling that this thing was playing itself, almost as though it were possessed. The instrumental tracks on this album are a homage to this wonderful instrument." Joe has had a stellar 2019 with the release of his lost album "She Darks Me" a nd further widespread acclaim as guitarist and producer of "one of the greatest Irish albums of the decade" (Irish Independent) with A Lazarus Soul.

"The Heart of Saint Laurence O'Toole" is the first single to be taken from the album and will be released digitally on Friday 6th March, 2020. Joe calls it "a modern folk ballad based on a true story."

November 2018 - She Darks Me - Joe Chester’s ‘lost’ album virtually unheard since it’s original recording. Written during stolen moments in between collaborations in L.A with Gemma Hayes and touring with The Waterboys, this collection is among Joe’s most melodic and liberating work.

“She Darks Me is elegant, measured and all the better for it. High time the listening public caught up with Joe Chester. She Darks Me has all the makings of a sleeper hit.” - Hot Press Magazine

Listen to a radio edit of “Anything In The Long Run” below. Recently added to the RTE Radio 1 playlist.

CD, Stream & Download

October 2017 - Special Edition re-issue of Joe's debut album A Murder of Crows was released on Friday 27th October 2017. The quality digipack repackage includes original artwork and five bonus tracks featuring live tracks, original demos and unreleased material.

"This record occupies a special place in my heart. Some great music captures that point in your life, youth I think it’s called, when the world is alive with optimism, energy and hopefulness. But even better music captures that moment when the future is still dizzy with possibilities but is yet somehow tempered by our human frailties and the knowledge that it doesn’t always go to plan. This is such a record, gorgeous from beginning to end." - Tom Dunne

February 2017 - Joe's fifth album, The Easter Vigil was released on Bohemia Records to substantial critical acclaim.

This fifth album is another beautifully produced collection. From the string-driven Spy Wednesday to the gentle venom of the title track The Easter Vigil with melodies that linger and lyrics that prod and provoke. Recommended. - The Sunday Times

Juliette Walking in the Rain is genuinely breathtaking ; and the haunting “Valley Of Tears” is truly transcendent. A hugely rewarding album. - Hot Press

Chester’s fifth album is yet another reason to wonder out loud just how and why he isn’t much better known. Chester’s stylistic traces have rarely been better outlined. Dark Mornings is melody incarnate, brimming with chiming guitar chords and wistful lyrics, while Valley Of Tears is as beautifully sorrowful as the title indicates. The pleasures of the remaining tracks unfurl somewhat more slowly, but are no less rich or rewarding. - Sunday Business Post

With some heavy-duty guests, including cellist Vyvienne Long, in tow, the respected Dublin producer's fifth album, an exploration of faith, love, discovery and belief, is deep, personal and intriguing. - Evening Herald

Archbishop McQuaid, Julliette Binoche, the “national razor” and the Swastika Laundry all get mentions on Joe Chester’s haunting new album, The Easter Vigil. "Spy Wednesday" bristles with lyrics worthy of Elvis Costello. The Easter Vigil is his most profound and moving work yet. - RTÉ

http://www.joechester.com/ 

http://lemix.online/ 

::Recording ::Distribution ::Sync Rep

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