Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

Clare native Síomha is one of the country’s most unique and artful singer/songwriters. And since the release of her much lauded, explorative and bilingual record Infinite Space last year, she has made a habit of playing the Taibhdhearc on the Galway leg of her Irish tours.

It fits right in line with the other venues she likes to frequent – devoted and curated arts spaces around the country with the reputation and capacity for special and intimate gigs. The trend is set to continue on Saturday week, October 28, when Síomha returns to An Taibhdhearc as part of her Infinite Space Reimagined tour.

This series of gigs celebrates an EP of the same name. Infinite Space Reimagined is a fresh take on the album – Síomha has reworked several tracks from the original LP, some more stripped back and faithful to her writing process, and others wildly ambitious collaborations with full orchestras.

Her set on this tour is in line with the former – an unvarnished, acoustic rendition of the songs that made her name in Irish folk, jazz and neo-soul.

“It’s been really, really good,” Síomha says of the tour so far.

“We’re all over the country now. We’ve been up in Donegal, over to Belfast, we’ve been in West Cork and loads of other dates in between. The show now is much different to the last time we would’ve come to An Taibhdhearc – it’s a far more stripped back and intimate show that we’re presenting… I think those venues [on the tour schedule] have a really good reputation as purveyors of brilliant music in these very small and intimate places.

“Prim’s Bookshop in Kinsale for example – I walked in the door and thought to myself how are they going to fit everyone in? They just magically turned the place around and they had sixty people in the bookshop which is amazing.

“The same with Levis’ in Ballydehob – they’re running gigs there a long time and they have such a good audience that come in. It’s really important that you have an audience who are interested and who want to come out to the gigs and listen to the music.

Pictured: Síomha…back at An Taibhdhearc.