Connell McBride

Electronic Artist

Hi, I'm a prizewinning keyboardist, composer and electronic artist from rural Ireland making experimental electronic music that incorporates elements of House, Hip Hop, Folk, Traditional Irish, Funk and Jazz. 

I love using digital and analogue hardware with eclectic samples that include archaeological and world instruments.

At present I'm releasing music from my studio album: 'The Quartz Pebble' - an experiment in using traditional Irish and pan Celtic folk melodies with electronic music and production methods. 

Check out the radio edits of Drowsie Maggie and King Of The Fairies below.  Other tracks from the album together with album artwork can be seen further down the page.  If you like what I'm doing please consider featuring it on your programme, podcast, blog, or other project.

Email me at info@connellmcbride.com with any enquiries.

Radio Edits

Album

The Quartz Pebble

Connell McBride

The Quartz Pebble, is a reimagined audio space where indigenous European dance music is fused with analogue synthesizer sounds and electronica. Lose yourself as you journey through this strange yet familiar soundscape.

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The Quartz Pebble

Inspiration from Vasko Popa’s Poem:

“The Quartz Pebble” draws its name from a poem penned by the acclaimed Serbian poet, Vasko Popa. His evocative piece about a simple pebble paints a vivid picture of an ordinary object, revealing its hidden depths:

Headless Limbless

It appears

With the excitable pulse of chance it moves

With the shameless march of time

It holds all

In its passionate 

Internal embrace

This poem resonated with me on a profound level. The seemingly unremarkable quartz pebble, despite its simplicity, carries the weight of existence. It has witnessed the relentless passage of time, holds the energy of creation itself, yet remains unassuming – a smooth, white surface concealing a universe within.

The Quartz Pebble as an Inspiration for the Electronic Music in this Album:

The cornerstone of my musical approach to this album was to seek to craft soundscapes that evoke a sense of intimacy and vastness from within the familiar yet captivating structures of folk music, electronic music, acoustic instruments and designed sound. The object is to use electronic textures and melodies as tools to build immersive worlds within which connect listeners with the deeper levels of understanding that lie dormant beneath the surface.

The Concept of “The Quartz Pebble” Album:

With “The Quartz Pebble,” I’ve had the opportunity to embark on a more profound exploration of electronic music than ever before. I’ve been experimenting with synthesizers for years, but this project has slowed me to relentlessly push my boundaries of sound design, experimentation with unconventional structures and fusing the disconnected in the process. Each track is a journey, exploring an idea, a place, an emotion, or a personal memory captured within the digital realm.

I’ve tried to leave some tracks feeling like smooth, polished pebbles – deceptively simple on the surface, yet layered with detail waiting to be discovered. Others are raw and untamed explorations, mirroring the complexity of experience we all feel. But throughout the entire album as it is developing, a unifying thread persists – a connection to the core idea of the quartz pebble, the deafening silent symphony of existence.

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