Early In The Spring, Late In The Fall

Mike Gangloff is best known as a member of drone improvisers Pelt and Spiral Joy Band, as well as Appalachian old-time outfit The Black Twig Pickers. In March of last year he performed at one of Vicky Langan's Black Sun events in Cork, alongside David Colohan's Raising Holy Sparks, and the Cork Sacred Harp Singers, with which Langan is involved. The three musicians played a short piece together to close the show. The trio, now named Meitheal, reconvened to appear at Newcastle's Tusk Festival in October. The material here is largely culled from the Sacred Harp tradition, with vocals backed by Gangloff and Langan's twin fiddles and Colohan's harmonium and shruti box drones.