“If you can play a song on the piano or guitar and make people feel something then that’s great... If it doesn’t pass that test, then it’s not good enough”: Conchúr White on going solo, McNally guitars and finding a new voice with fingerpicking
White's debut album, Swirling Violets, finds the former Silences guitarist exploring the outer reaches of his imagination and changing his approach because this time out, the set all hangs on him
(Image credit: Nathan Magee)
Conchúr White, a singer-songwriter hailing from County Armagh in Northern Ireland, released his debut album in January. The appropriately titled Swirling Violets contains the signature woozy Bella Union sound but with plenty of Conchúr’s own character running through it.
“It feels totally new because it’s my first album,” he says. “I’ve been in bands before, without going through that album process, so every facet of this is novel and exciting. It’s great to have the experience.”
Solo vs band
As Conchúr mentions, before striking out as a solo artist, he was more involved in bands, so this relatively new guise is one he found himself in almost unwittingly. “I never really thought about being a solo musician and using my name, to be honest,” he admits.
“With the bands before, like Silences, I would write the music and the words and then my friends in the band would all add their parts. I do miss that camaraderie, but I think the nature of writing by myself – and initially recording by myself – meant it made sense to be solo.
“So I do miss the social aspect, but I like the flexibility, and when I go on tour the budget means it would be near impossible with a band and I would have to turn it down.”
There is a certain shedding of preconceptions to his writing as a solo artist, as Conchúr explains: “There are certainly things that are liberating about [this setup]. People talk about authenticity in music and sometimes I’m not quite sure what that means, but when I write something now, the only person I need to satisfy is myself.
“Of course, it helps if people like it, but when I was in Silences, I was conscious of the guys liking it and now I just go ahead, which is freeing.
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“But I do miss the feeling when I’m on stage with people. I love that collective work ethic when you’re moving towards something. It’s like sport in a way; there’s nothing better than working together to achieve something.”
Musical cohesion
Conchúr’s main achievement as a musician so far is his debut album, Swirling Violets, a Bella Union release that is a delicate balance of the label’s dreamlike sound and Conchúr’s own style.
“I wanted it to sound very cohesive,” he says. “In the past I’ve gone through phases, so I’d use a lot of synths and then I’d use piano, so with this I wanted that cohesion.” The album also has accompaniments to frame Conchúr’s songs.
“I’m always conscious of overproduction,” he says, “and songs that rely on it wouldn’t come across well with just me playing them. For me, if you can play a song on the piano or guitar and make people feel something then that’s great. It has to be successful in that sense – and if it doesn’t pass that test, then it’s not good enough.”
ConchuÌr White - Righteous (Why Did I Feel Like That?) (Official Lyric Video) - YouTube
Conchúr currently plays solo mainly on acoustic guitar, so he pays attention to a way of playing that embellishes his songs enough.
“I predominantly use a style of fingerpicking,” he tells us. “I’m not the most technical guitar player, but I’m aware of the dynamic of moving from fingerpicking to chords. Because it’s just me, it’s one of the only things I can control to make my set diverse. And I don’t use many tunings.
“On the album I only used standard tuning and DADGAE, which is the tuning Rivers is in. So I’m aware of the diversity in my playing, which is why, with the percussive element, the acoustic guitar is best for me when playing live.”
Conchúr’s connection with Northern Ireland’s McNally Guitars goes way back
Although Conchúr finds electric guitars as interesting as acoustics (“I love my Stratocaster, it’s so reliable, but I really want a Gretsch…”), his main instrument is a McNally OM, built by his friend Ciaran McNally.
“We’ve known each other since we were 13,” Conchúr explains. “When I was in Silences he said he would build me a guitar – and it was great, but it was such an early one for him and he got so much better. So he said he had one for me to try and I loved it. I’ve been using it since. Even though it wasn’t custom-built for me, it’s perfect.”
Glenn Kimpton is a freelance writer based in the west of England. His interest in English folk music came through players like Chris Wood and Martin Carthy, who also steered him towards alternate guitar tunings. From there, the solo acoustic instrumental genre, sometimes called American Primitive, became more important, with guitarists like Jack Rose, Glenn Jones and Robbie Basho eventually giving way to more contemporary players like William Tyler and Nick Jonah Davis. Most recently, Glenn has focused on a more improvised and experimental side to solo acoustic playing, both through his writing and his own music, with players like Bill Orcutt and Tashi Dorji being particularly significant.
