Sacred Sarah Sands

Part of the Sacred Spaces project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/sacredspaces

Reimagined by Bill McKenna.

"Why I chose that recording? Well, in a sense, I didn't actually choose that file. I jumped on this project rather late - about 2 weeks ago - and there wasn't much left to choose from. So, I decided to grab the church organ recording of the infamous "Danny Boy" song because it's ubiquitous and rather annoying... even for a Mick like myself.

Approach? I wanted to do some post-modern fuck up of the recording but I ended up feeling like I didn't have the time nor the skills to do so. Instead, I ran the track backwards, stretched it a bit, added some vibrato, spectral gate and a little distortion and then recorded some extra synth notes: some strings, a bit of organ, ambience and other riffs.

I sat with it for a few days and then I attacked it again. But I think I always wanted to go for a minimalist approach. Then I put it away again.

When I came back to it, I felt like it was some strange ghostly homage to my ancestors and to all the lost and desperate immigrants today, sailing on makeshift rafts or overcrowded, filthy boats or even nightmarish coffin ships... which is what some called the vessels traveling west to America in the 19th century."