Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

Performing as Rodeny Owl, Mark McConville has been a shining light in Galway music over the last few years. A master of luscious, layered electric folk, the Armagh native released his most expansive project just over a year ago – the twelve-track LP Truth is Broken.

Last week, Mark followed up the record with Emerge and Sea – a shorter EP that qualifies as both an extension of his last album and a roadmap for the next.

Self-released and exclusive to Bandcamp, its three tracks include two new pieces and an acoustic version of one of the highlights on that 2023 record.

“I would see it more as a transition between what I did previously and what’s going to come next,” he explains.

“I have another album already half-recorded – it’s written and all. I think I’m going to be a little bit more broken down and maybe a bit less instrumentation on this album. More guitars, drums and bass kind of thing. So, I see it more as an in-between of the two things.”

Emerge and Sea’s title track, in particular, is faithful to the theme and tone of Truth is Broken. Dealing with modern customs and the stunted flow of digital information, it jangles and panics while remaining hazy and sweet melodically.

“The Truth is Broken album had a lot of that in it,” Mark says.

“Lyrically, that one in particular was very much connected to that album. There’s an acoustic version of one of the songs from that album as well, which is very different. I think I actually like it better than the album version and I think I might be going down that road a little bit more.”

That acoustic version is Modern Superstition, which is as much an alternate version of the original song as it is an entirely new composition.

Mark talks about stripping back to a more acoustic sound for his next project, but this song is evidence that a new approach might not need to constitute less ambitious arrangements.

Pictured: Rodeny Owl…new EP on Bandcamp.