PREMIERE // Niamh – Fey
Post by Tommy
Funnybone Records is an independent record label based in Hartford, CT with a mostly-local focus and a diverse roster of identities and sounds. On September 15th, they will release Room For You, a compilation album to benefit Kamora’s Cultural Corner in Hartford as well as the Loveland Foundation’s Therapy Fund for Black Women and Girls, and the National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network. The compilation is available digitally and as a two-CD set, featuring local artists from Funnybone’s roster as well as outside contributors like Mal Devisa, Lady Lamb, and jodi.
Hullabaloo has the pleasure of premiering one of the tracks off Room For You today. Niamh’s “Fey” opens the second disc of the compilation in a gentle spiral of curious chords, as vocals rotate between probing, emphatic phrases and a softer chorus which slows down to consider its words. The narration is introspective and mind-racing, tracing a path through a split second’s hesitation. Savoring its title, the song seems to lament a bittersweet moment of validation that nonetheless makes them feel arcane and strange.
Niamh is the new solo project of Hartford based multi instrumentalist Jack Riley. Their previous solo project Pleasuremad was so-called for the mad rush to gain life experience under the threat of aging – Niamh on the other hand borrows its name from a character in the Fenian Cycle who lived in a land of eternal youth. Riley’s shift towards Niamh was informed by their coming-out, and their embrace of fluidity and presentness in a life they realized was better-rounded than they ever thought. “Fey,” they explain, deconstructs the interaction between sexuality and gender and their own more personal process of navigating and redefining it. Unveiling Niamh for the first time on Room For You, “Fey” previews a to-be-announced collection of songs created alongside Hartford producer Daniel Carr (Greetings…) and finds Riley embodying themself carefully and unconditionally.
Funnybone Records’ founder Dylan Healy describes Room For You as “an outcome to this ongoing objective of creating spaces… to confront and communicate difficult, honest feelings in hopes of better understanding ourselves and each other.”
“Our platform is a privilege that we are grateful to have built and developed with you these past three years,” he continues, “and we will continue to consciously use it to support the communities that enable us and inspire us.”
Room For You is available September 15th on Funnybone Records – pre-order it here via Bandcamp.
Room For You is available September 15th on Funnybone Records – pre-order it here via Bandcamp.