Moving Hearts

Moving Hearts existed for just four years yet exerted a lasting influence on the evolution of contemporary Celtic music. Following Horslips, they ranked among the earliest Irish folk ensembles to incorporate electric instruments, channeling an intense, high-powered energy into music anchored in tradition. Recalling an early appearance by the band, Q magazine wrote, "saw them in Dublin, must have been 1982, and they just blew me apart...they're a sort of Celtic Little Feat." The founding roster assembled several of Ireland's finest players. Multi-instrumentalist Donal Lunny and singer, guitarist, and songwriter Christy Moore had already collaborated in Planxty. Guitarist Declan Sinnott had produced and arranged work for Celtic artists including Mary Black and Sinéad Lohan. Dublin piper Davy Spillane had appeared with Horslips. Within months saxophonist Keith Donald, an experienced session musician and member of Jim Doherty's Spon and Noel Kelehan's Quintet, came aboard. Drummer Brian Calman and bassist Eoghan O'Neill completed the lineup. Although this core group stayed intact for two years, Calman's departure over "musical differences" marked the beginning of repeated personnel shifts. After the second album, Dark End of the Street, Moore departed for a solo career and was succeeded by vocalist Mick Hanley. Following the live release Live Hearts, Hanley gave way to Flo McSweeney. Further changes ensued; by the final album the group had become an entirely instrumental ensemble. Political themes featured prominently in their material. Songs such as "Landlord" and "On the Blanket" addressed the plight of hunger strikers and the poor in Northern Ireland, while "Hiroshima Nagasaki Russian Roulette" and a charged reading of Jackson Browne's "After the Deluge" confronted the spread of nuclear arms. Moving Hearts served as the backing band on Van Morrison's 1985 album A Sense of Wonder. After the group's dissolution, several members performed in the cast of Bill Whelan's Riverdance.