Open Ears

In each episode of Open Ears, podcast host and producer Alain McFadden invites a guest to listen to a recording from Crash Ensemble’s catalogue. Together, they share first impressions, personal reflections, and explore the ideas, emotions, and stories the music inspires.

For the fifth episode of Season 4, Alain is joined by Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist, Jófríður Ákadóttir (JFDR). Together, they listen to TERRARIUM (2025) by Ann Cleare.

TERRARIUM maps the evolving geological strata of Ireland’s Midlands into sound. From ice to lake to bog to industrialisation to contemporary hydrology, a landscape of time is sonically constructed from the memory and myth that emanate from within this post-industrial terrain.

The Midlands have always existed in a flux between land and water, and TERRARIUM explores a unique site that encapsulates its ever-changing terrain. 
Nestled deep within Boora Parklands in County Offaly, one can find the ruin of a Mesolithic shoreline, which, dating to between 6800 and 6500 BC, is thought to be one of the earliest sites of human activity in Ireland. Situated a few miles from the main entrance to the park, the only way to access this site is by foot and the scenic route takes you through varied landscapes of bog, wood, and water. The site itself is like a puzzle that every visitor must interpret for themselves. Having lived so many lives from prehistoric to modern times, the land there is a time and energy sponge, and has an important story to tell. 

This episode features an extract from TERRARIUM - the third movement ‘Meolitchic Lake’ through to the fifth movement ‘Lake’.

TERRARIUM was co-commissioned by Crash Ensemble, November Music, and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. 

About the composer: 
Ann Cleare is an artist working in the areas of concert music, opera, installation, and site specific work. Described as “an altogether different artform” that draws from musical traditions, but pushes against and beyond them, articulating something that is at once about sound, but that is equally concerned with energy, motion, space, and the world itself”, her work explores the sculptural and expressive nature of sound, expanding the possibilities of timbre, texture, and form. Often exploring poetries of place, time, communication, and transformation, Cleare’s work aims to animate ideas through sound, immersing an audience in both the wildness and intimacy of sonic expression.

Find out more about:
JFDR ~ https://jfdrcurrent.com/ 
Ann Cleare ~ https://annclearecomposer.com/about-2/ 
Crash Ensemble ~ https://www.crashensemble.com/about

Presented by: Alain McFadden
Music featured: TERRARIUM (2025), by Ann Cleare, performed by Crash Ensemble
Host: Alain McFadden
Guest: Jófríður Ákadóttir (JFDR)

Open Ears Podcast – Season 4, Episode 4

In each episode of Open Ears, podcast host and producer Alain McFadden invites a guest to listen to a recording from Crash Ensemble’s catalogue. Together, they share first impressions, personal reflections, and explore the ideas, emotions, and stories the music inspires.

For the fourth episode of Season 4, Alain is joined by broadcaster, musician, and academic Doireann Ní Ghlacáin. Together, they listen to ‘Singing Sands’ by Lara Weaver.

About ‘Singing Sands’:
Singing Sands, written for the Crash Ensemble, is composed from Weaver’s field recordings of the singing sand dunes of the Rub’ al-Khali (Empty Quarter) desert in the Arabian Peninsula. The piece attunes to these unusual sounds through composed materials derived from my recording of a dune singing in late afternoon. Just as the sound of the dunes has been most often described by likening it to different instrumental timbres, Weaver was curious: how might a stringed instrument ‘sing’ like sand, or a trombone ‘boom’ like a dune? How can a group of musicians tune in to the resonance of the desert? Specific instrumental effects and musical gestures prompt members of the ensemble to engage with the dune’s harmonic and timbral characteristics, illuminating latent aspects.
The broader expressive gestures of the piece are then inspired by the sentiments she observed towards the singing dunes: to those who live in the desert here, the sound is a curiosity, a warning or a sign of something ominous, something that inspires awe and spiritual significance, but also a sound that has come to mean a place to gather peacefully (for it is difficult to sneak up on someone when the sand booms from your footsteps).
In the vast quiet of the deep desert, the singing of the sands invites a slow listening, attuning to the sounds of the earth, holding space for what might emerge.

Presented by: Alain McFadden
Music featured: Singing Sands (2025, by Lara Weaver, performed by Crash Ensemble
Host: Alain McFadden
Guest: Doireann Ní Ghlacáin

‘Singing Sands’ was commissioned by Crash through our Crash Works programme. It premiered live at New Music Dublin. 

Crash Works is a commission and development hub for music creators at pivotal stages of their careers, offered in partnership with Crash Ensemble and New Music Dublin. These new works are the culmination of a two-year programme of support, mentoring and development, during which each creator has been given the opportunity to investigate and develop new works.

Find out more about:
Doireann Ní Ghlacáin ~ https://www.instagram.com/doireannnighlacain 
Lara Weaver ~ https://laraweaver41.wixsite.com/composer 
Crash Ensemble ~ www.crashensemble.com/about

Open Ears Podcast – Season 4, Episode 3
In each episode of Open Ears, podcast host and producer Alain McFadden invites a guest to listen to a recording from Crash Ensemble’s catalogue. Together, they share first impressions, personal reflections, and explore the ideas, emotions, and stories the music inspires.
For the third episode of Season 4, Alain is joined by acclaimed singer songwriter Anna Mieke. Together, they listen to ‘Grey Area’ by Sam Perkin (2019).
Blending the essence of street skateboarding with contemporary music, Grey Area is a hypnotic journey through the streets, leading us to secrets that we find only if we are open to them.
Grey Area is a skateboarding film with live original score, available to view on Crash Ensemble's Youtube channel. Shot and edited by skate photographer and videographers Niall O’Byrne and Sam Curtin.
Composed by Sam Perkin. Performed by Crash Ensemble. Grey Area was commissioned by Engage Arts Festival, Bandon to the Sea with funds from the Arts Council. This was the very first release on Crash Records, Crash Ensemble’s own label.

Find out more about:
Anna Mieke ~ www.islandermusic.net/anna-mieke
Sam Perkin ~ www.samperkincomposer.com/
Crash Ensemble ~ www.crashensemble.com/about

Presented by: Alain McFadden
Music featured: Grey Area (2019, by Sam Perkin, performed by Crash Ensemble
Host: Alain McFadden
Guest: Anna Mieke

Open Ears Podcast – Season 4, Episode 2In each episode of Open Ears, podcast host and producer Alain McFadden invites a guest to listen to a recording from Crash Ensemble’s catalogue. Together, they share first impressions, personal reflections, and explore the ideas, emotions, and stories the music inspires.For the second episode of Season 4, Alain is joined by acclaimed musician and composer Peter Broderick. Together, they listen to ‘Invitation to a Journey’ by Deirdre Gribbin. The piece was a co-production by Crash Ensemble, CoisCéim Dance Company, and Fishamble: The New Play Company, for their theatre piece of the same name, which showcased the life and work of Eileen Gray. Gray is one of Ireland's most important artists as an architect and furniture designer and a pioneer of the Modern Movement in architecture. The piece was performed at the Galway International Arts Festival and released August 11, 2021.Deirdre is an award-winning composer who was born in Belfast. She is a graduate of Queen’s University, Belfast and Guildhall School of Music, London. She received her doctorate from the University of London. She subsequently was a Visiting Arts Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge and in 2013 was awarded a Sir Winston Churchill Fellowship for research on arts and disability programmes in the USA and Canada. She is a Fulbright Fellow and studied at Princeton University (USA).Deirdre has always been interested in the juxtaposition of drama and concert music. Find out more about:Peter Broderick ~ www.peterbroderick.net Deirdre Gribbin ~ www.deirdregribbin.com Crash Ensemble ~ https://www.crashensemble.com/aboutPresented by: Alain McFaddenMusic featured: Invitation to a Journey (2021), by Deirdre Gribbin, performed by Crash EnsembleHost: Alain McFaddenGuest: Peter Broderick

In each episode of Open Ears, podcast host and producer Alain McFadden invites a guest to listen to a recording from Crash Ensemble’s catalogue. Together, they share first impressions, personal reflections, and explore the ideas, emotions, and stories the music inspires.For the first episode of Season 4, Alain is joined by acclaimed musician and songwriter Sam Amidon. Together, they listen to Drones, Variations, Ornaments by Nico Muhly, taken from Crash Ensemble’s album Ghosts (2017), released on Bedroom Community.Drones, Variations, Ornaments unfolds gradually, accumulating restless energy until it sails along on the kinetic rhythms of American postminimalism. A striking coda reveals the chamber orchestra lurking beneath the brash new music ensemble.Nico Muhly is an American composer whose wide-ranging output includes orchestral works, chamber music, sacred music, and music for the stage.Find out more about:Sam Amidon ~ https://www.samamidonmusic.com/Nico Muhly ~ https://nicomuhly.com/biography/Crash Ensemble ~ https://www.crashensemble.com/aboutPresented by: Alain McFaddenMusic featured: Drones, Variations, Ornaments from Ghosts (2017) by Nico Muhly, performed by Crash EnsembleHost: Alain McFaddenGuest: Sam AmidonWith thanks the Bedroom Community