Basement Sounds are hosting a sold-out Christmas concert this coming Friday 16th at the beautiful Gerrards Church in Drogheda.
Music Generation Meath and Music Generation Louth, Grow Music and Mornington Vocal Academy are also involved and have nominated their own young students to perform on the night.
It’s a great and varied programme on the night featuring the work of Joni Mitchell, Ella Fitzgerald, String Trio, Choir arrangements of Christmas tunes and a few classic Christmas pop songs with a twist.
Another special performance on the night is from Holly Thomson and Clodagh King who have produced and recorded their own original song called ‘Christmas is Near’ here at Basement Sounds in Boomerang Youth Cafe.
They are releasing the track on all streaming platforms the morning of the concert, Friday 16th. Here is Holly and Clodagh explaining their song and recording process for their single ‘Christmas Is Near’:
Holly said: “I originally started writing the song in January 2020 because I wasn’t ready to let Christmas go just yet. I asked Clodagh if she would be interested in helping me out and writing some piano for it because I thought it would add such a cozy feel to the song.
“We both loved it but as it was January and we were heading into ‘the year of covid’ we never really did anything with it so it was lying idle until this year .The song has such a warm feel to it. It reflects the little joys around Christmas. The importance of sharing those joys with the people you love.
Clodagh said that what she loves about it is that there’s no “grand celebration”, none of the pressure that’s often associated with Christmas. All of the sweet little annual rituals are what make it.
Holly added: “It also celebrates our friendship and what we mean to each other and how we’ve grown together over the years. The line about “how to make hot chocolate right” was actually written for Clodagh and a conversation we had about her obsession with the drink!”
“We met with Sean (of Basement Sounds) at the beginning of November with no particular plan in mind and it was Clodagh’s idea to play him our song. From there it snowballed (excuse the pun) into something we could’ve never imagined.
“First of all, Basement Sounds has an incredible vibe. It’s so relaxed and the studio and space has a great creative energy. The first day of recording we had a hundred and one ideas included seeing if we could get some other artists involved.
“We had the joy of working with Daniel Armstrong, Ally Brett and Maria Lornec who are all insanely good and have worked with Basement Sounds in the past on their album “It’s A Drawda Thing”.
“The addition of their talent truly made the song what it is today. It was so special to be in that room and see the talent seeping out of everyone, and into something we are all extremely proud of.”
