Lankum

Though grounded in Ireland’s age-old musical traditions and acoustic instruments, the Dublin quartet Lankum channel an experimental, near-punk ferocity through sustained drones, psychedelic textures, and arresting four-part vocal blends. Having issued several recordings in the 2000s and early 2010s as Lynched, the group joined Rough Trade and issued their first album under the name Lankum, 2017’s Between the Earth & Sky. Critical acclaim surrounding that release paved the way for the wider breakthrough of 2019’s The Livelong Day, which captured that year’s RTÉ Choice Prize. Four years afterward, False Lankum arrived, again intertwining traditional material with original compositions while projecting an intensity more commonly associated with amplified ensembles.

Ian and Daragh Lynch, brothers, launched the initial lineup in the early 2000s, juxtaposing inherited songs with self-penned pieces in a folk-punk manner. Taking their surname as inspiration, they adopted the title Lynched; after Cormac Mac Diarmada and Radie Peat joined, the quartet delivered its debut, Where Did It All Go Wrong, in 2013. Although punk, Krautrock, psychedelia, and drone continued to surface, the musicians increasingly foregrounded the traditional repertoire of their homeland. Their 2014 follow-up, Cold Old Fire, crystallized the ensemble’s signature approach—dense four-part harmonies supported by Uilleann pipes, fiddle, concertina, and guitar. Securing a deal with the veteran British independent Rough Trade, the band renamed itself Lankum, borrowing the spelling from John Reilly, Jr.’s “False Lankim,” and released Between the Earth & Sky in 2017. Engineered and mixed in Dublin by Julie McLarnon and John “Spud” Murphy, the album earned widespread praise from U.K. outlets and markedly raised the group’s profile.

Two years later The Livelong Day further refracted traditional Irish elements through psychedelic and experimental-folk lenses. Among its original pieces stood an unsettling, wide-ranging interpretation of the folk standard “The Wild Rover,” and the record ultimately secured Ireland’s 2019 RTÉ Choice Prize. The band waited another four years before issuing a successor. Appearing in March 2023, False Lankum confirmed Lankum’s status as contemporary re-inventors of inherited song. Although performed on conventional folk instruments, the stark, Watersons-style vocal harmonies and brooding force aligned the music more closely with punk and avant-garde sensibilities.