There’s something about folk music and boats that just seems right. Whether it’s that feeling of the cruel and arduous journey, the harshness of the ocean spray or just a good old singalong sea-shanty, from Robert Louis Stevenson’s “yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum” right through to the likes of Fisherman’s Friends; the two have gone hand in hand and with Belfast Music Week only a matter of hours old, we find ourselves on board the stunningly restored SS Nomadic with a band from the North Coast who’ve almost literally taken the wind from our sails.
In Their Thousands as a band have been on the go for just over two years and how they’ve managed to ride the waves under our radar for so long is a mystery. Formed up in Co. Donegal by brothers Aidan and Declan McClafferty and their cousin Ruairí Friel, and soon joined by Liam Kelly, the band immediately set about writing and rehearsing original material.
Our first time seeing them live has left us reeling, right from the four part acapella harmonies on their opening track. Think back to that first time you heard Bon Iver and imagine you’re doing it on the middle deck of an old White Star Line vessel staring right into the whites of the band’s eyes. It’s intense, stunning, beautiful. It’s the most intrigued and excited I’ve been about a Northern Irish act in quite some time.
Treading the wooden decks is the perfect setting for these guys. Their seamless mix of edgy indie-rock, straightforward country and elements of traditional folk balladry are almost made for a life on the waves. We’re in a dry dock of course but we’re brimming with enthusiasm and poetic license and watching a band swap vocal leads, resonator guitars, lap steel and percussion as they effortlessly ease some metaphorical rudder to and fro and guide us through their latest EP, ‘Between the Waters’.
If you enjoy Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Three Blind Wolves and the like you’ll be seriously impressed with this band. Drop anchor over at iTunes and pick up their latest single.