“REAL LIVE BIRDS VOl. 1: Birds All Nights” Sofia Records May 2019
"In ‘Birds All Night (Real Live Birds Vol.1)’, Beylis lays down an evocative tapestry of avian sonics, combining bird calls she’s recorded herself with others played from cassettes and manipulated through pedals, while occasional percussion and tape interventions add texture and dynamic heft. Produced for this year’s Colour Out of Space festival in Brighton, with a selection of hand-made covers created by ‘the gonks of CooS’ its gorgeousness is matched only by its simplicity.
And when the source material is this good, who needs complicated anyway? Across just over half and hour, Beylis treats us to a beguiling mix of exuberant, jewel-like chirrups, mysterious hoots, full-throated warbles, swirling cacophonies and much more besides. Processing is subtle, usually touches of reverb and delay to give things a bleary, trippy feel.
Beylis inserts herself gradually into these bucolic scenes. Early sections are thoughtful but never tentative, with scattered thumps and hollow clonks darting into the lulls and then rumbling up against the chatterings for some low-key argy-bargy. Things get spookier as abstract tape squelches creep into the tranquil vibe. But it’s never intrusive, instead setting the scene for an extended bout of ornithological hauntology – or hauntological ornithology? – in which the voices of fanciers, scientists and spotters echo through the pastoral scene.
Although initially this seems nostalgic, Beylis’ aural patchwork has a much bleaker undercurrent. With bird populations around the world suffering massive decline due to habitat loss, and extermination of the insects that provide essential their food sources, Beylis’ disembodied commentary can’t help but summon the ongoing terror of extinction, evoking a future in which all we can do is listen, hopelessly, to these long-dead songs as we stare into an empty sky." - Paul Margree, We Need No Swords
"SCCHH...PHH" Chocolate Monk Records December 2017
Two collage compositions constructed from cassette tapes that have been spliced and destructed. The cassettes used to create these pieces are ones that Beylis has gathered and recorded throughout her life. The oldest recording found within was made by Beylis' father when she was learning to speak. Also spliced are tape field recordings made in Pittsburgh, California, Baltimore and New Orleans by Beylis and also by Willie Stewart. Futhermore are cassette tapes of roadside preachers gathered at truckstops across the USA, the voices of self-help gurus degenerating and melting away, weird & wild nature cassettes, prank phone calls from the Uke of Phillips tape zine, late night drunken confessionals and the warble and hiss inherent to any tape sound.
"GREEN BIRD FOUNTAIN" Wild Silence August 2016
"My parents used to tell me that I was born with two bumps on my head. "Like the little horns of a baby goat," my father explained. But the doctors in the hospital in Kiev quickly removed any evidence of them. Not long after my birth the whole family left for the new world. During the long, windy passage my grandmother nearly got arrested in Vienna for having an argument with a young solider. In fairness, he tried to steal a lollipop from me. We eventually settled in Baltimore, Maryland where I was ushered through a string of stern and extremely well postured piano teachers. I had my first recital at the age of 5. I climbed the steps up to the stage, stood beside the instrument, announced the piece I would perform and then mistakenly walked the wrong long away around the looming grand piano feeling mortification with every step. Playing piano in front of other humans has left me feeling awkward ever since.
I moved away from Baltimore at 17 and left behind the everyday presence of a piano in my life.
Everywhere I've lived since I've accumulated sound making devices: toy organs, casio keyboards, kids karaoke machines, mandolins, chimes, bells, twigs, food processers, and what-have-yous. Now I live in an old farmhouse in the middle of a bog in the emptiness of Ireland, surrounded by trees and with a constant changing stream of cats, donkeys, horses, goats, chickens, humans and a dog named Rooster Cogburn. Three years ago when a friend was packing up to sell his family home, an out of tune and hauntingly resonant H. Lange & Co, Berlin suddenly found itself in need of a new home. And thus the constant presence of the tinkling keys re-enterd my life.2
- Natalia Beylis -
"THE SUNKEN HUM VOL 2: On the Edge of the Bog: A Day in Three Acts" Green Field Recordings October 2015
ACT I Morning ACT II Twilight ACT III Night
All of these tracks are taken from a daily sound diary I kept in 2013 in which I recorded two minutes of my surroundings everyday and then published these to the world. I embarked on this phonographic archive with a voyeuristic curiosity that stemmed from a fascination with how people routinely spend their time. I figured the easiest way to satiate this curiosity was by dissecting my own typical day. On these tracks, I've patched together common sounds from my life in Leitrim (a sparsely populated county in the Northwest of Ireland) in the hopes of creating a tapestry of my day.
- Natalia Beylis -
"THE SUNKEN HUM VOL 1: Field Recordings of Rhythms & Drones" Deserted Village October 2014
Each side of this tape contains a selection of 16 recordings of continuous murmurs chosen from the Sunken Hum Sound Diary (a year long sound art project of 365 two minute daily field recordings taken for a full calendar year). The sounds on this cassette are pure and unmanipulated.
You can visit a map of here all of the sounds on this release were recorded.
DIVIL A' BIT
"WHAT IS THE STARS?" Tesla Tapes November 2017
This is a companion album to "In Deference to the Squeamish"
Tracks recorded in ancient forests and along the canals of South Longford & Leitrim as well as in Carrowkeel Megalithic Tomb & the strange dark sunken cave beyond the tomb that depending on which crowd you ask are either portals to the otherworld or landing sites for extraterrestrials
All tracks by Natalia Beylis, David Colohan & Willie Stewart who play: wind up toys, cumbus, low whistle, stones, bells, mandolin, various rattle shakers, prayer drum, mountain banjo, dulcimer, the waters of the Royal Canal, branches, shepard's horn, saw, giant ball bearings,
footsteps, autumn leaves, banjo, wind-up music box, autoharp, seashells, voice, shruti box & floor tom
"BLACKBERRIES & JUNIPER TWIGS" Sofia Records September 2016
Live recordings from two Divil A' Bit gigs from 16/04/16. One played in the daylight and one when the sun went down.
"Blackberries & Juniper Twigs I" is an excerpt from a Divil A' Bit gig at Little Gem Records, Kildare Street, Dublin (Nighttime)
"Blackberries & Juniper Twigs II" is an excerpt from Divil A' Bit playing at the squat in Grangegorman, Dublin (Afternoon) Featuring the voice of Emer Brady leading a yoga session in the room during the gig.
"THE SUN SETS AT A FOOT'S PACE" Self - Released September 2015
This is a recording of a live soundtrack to a film by W.R Stewart.
"IN DEFERENCE TO THE SQUEAMISH" Feather Coyote Records May 2014
Recorded under canal bridges, through the woods & in churches (both dedicated & deconsecrated) of Leitrim & South Longford. All tracks written and recorded by David Colohan, Natalia Beylis & William Stewart.
THREE EYED MAKARA
"MOONMILK ROOF" Crow Versus Crow July 2017
"Moonmilk Roof, the debut release from free music collective, Three Eyed Makara – a revolving ensemble led by Natalia Beylis and Willie Stewart.
From within a forest set deep in the Irish countryside, Three Eyed Makara channel the sounds of mythical creatures battling in the stirred silt of the ocean floor; velvet antlers lock; tail fins flicker; pine scent; oak sap; heaving giants thrashing at the threshold, third eye blinking.
In this recording, Three Eyed Makara is Willie (percussion) and Natalia (Mandobird, electronics), Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh (viola), Djuna Keen (saxophone).
WOVEN SKULL
“WOVEN SKULL” Oaken Palace November 2018
‘Woven Skull dedicate their album to the Eurasian red squirrel, which is facing a particular difficult situation in Ireland and England. Due to the introduction of the Eastern grey squirrel by humans and habitat loss, their numbers have decreased dramatically over the last years. Without conservation efforts, the red squirrel could go extinct in this part of the world within the next 10 years.
“Recent work has seen Woven Skull up the volume, and this record’s opener ‘Exile on Warren Street’ sees McEvoy attack his intensely distorted guitar as if his life depended on it, while mandola and viola try valiantly to keep up. The whole thing sounds like it could fall apart at any moment, with Stewart’s clattering drums only adding to the mesmeric mess.
The eight minute ‘Hot Nights on Honeyhole Road’ is a something of a centrepiece, its eastern-tinged, Goat-worthy riff burrowing quickly into the brain as it’s repeatedly and explored endlessly atop a single chord. The second helping of the two-part ‘The Severed Ladies of Delhi Parade’ takes a similar approach, as it streamlines the longer diverging experiments of part one into another driven jam full of guitar cacophony and hypnotic repetition.’ - Cathal McBride, The Thin Air
“THE CRACKING OF THE LIMBS” God Unknown September 2017
‘Woven Skull have spent time in rural Ireland - a good grounding it seems for their ritualistic folk-dance guitar melodies backed by crushing metal riffs and rhythms. It’s a strange kind of musical cut-and-shut, to be sure, an odd combination that shouldn’t work, but definitely does; music that makes you want to dance naked around a Gypsy bonfire while head banging. There’s even a distant barking dog at the end.’ - Neil Hussey, Shindig Magazine
This is a split 7 Inch with Thor & Friends on God Unknown Records (GOD31)
Side A
Thor & Friends - Triangles
Side B
Woven Skull - Cracking of the Limbs
“THEY WERE PEBBLES BUT I CALL THEM STONES” Lancashire & Somserset Records August 2017
‘I took advantage of being at the seaside to lay in a store of sucking stones. They were pebbles but I call them stones. I distributed them equally between my four pockets, and sucked them turn and turn about.’ - Samuel Beckett
Recorded at SARC, Queens University, Belfast January 2015
Recorded by Aonghus McEvoy & Jorge Boehringer
Mixed by Tommy O'Sullivan Mastered by Red Red Paw
Woven Skull on this recording are:
Natalia Beylis - Mandola
Aonghus McEvoy - Guitar
Willie Stewart - Drums
Cullen Camic - Synths, Percussion
Eleanor Cully - Flute
Jorge Boehringer - Viola
Layout & Design by David Hand
“HIS CATTLE ARE PETS AND HE GOES WITH THE MOON” Cruel Nature Records July 2017
The title for this tape is taken from a line from Dermot Healy.
‘Now this.....this is something special! Woven Skull hail from the beautiful Emerald Isle and with 'His Cattle Are Pets And He Goes With The Moon' they have built on their former recordings to produce something epic and ambitious. Over just the two tracks, 'I' and 'II', they weave bucolic, abstract psychedelia into strange but beguiling patterns that worm their way into your subconsciousness. The music is full of wyrd drones and seemingly dissonant squeaks and squawks but it forms into a wonderful whole. The clever instrumentation helps build tension and then knock it back down, keeping the entire half an hour an evershifting affair that can disorientate and bewitch. It's less a movie score, more the soundtrack to one's internal monologue. A truly exquisite tape.’ - Andy, Dayz of Purple and Orange
Side A
Recorded by Woven Skull in Drumnadubber Wood
January 2015
Side B
Recorded by Woven Skull
Drumnadubber Wood
October 2012 with
Aaron Diek - Percussion
Cullen Camic - Synth
Also recorded at
Todmorden Unitarian Church
May 2015 with
Sophie Cooper - Trombone
Jake Blanchard - Shahi Baaja
Woven Skull are
Natalia - Manodola
Willie - Percussion
Aonghus - Guitar
Photo by Jeff Beylis
Mixed & Arranged by Willie Stewart
Artwork & Design by Natalia Beylis
“THE FOREST OF EVERYTHING” Cruel Nature Records June 2016
‘This half hour session recorded at Queens University in Belfast has them playing guitar, drums, and mandolin, and starts off as an instinctively building repetition. It soon crowns, and the rhythm drops out of the bottom leaving vacant space for the trio to reassemble into new and atonal shapes and polyrhythms. The mandolin is put to sitar-like use as a more melodic lead instrument in the middle half, but for the most part Woven Skull’s edge comes from their ability to rock without rocking, squeezing unexpected sounds from their relatively minimal setup (they don’t appear to do much when it comes to effects pedals). Woven Skull always manage to feel their way into some dead trippy corners, but this is easily one of their best recordings to date.’ - Tristan Bath, Spools Out
Recorded at Sonic Lab, Queens University, Belfast by Woven Skull September 2015
Mixed by Natalia. Cover Art by Aonghus.
“NIGHT AND NOTHING ON THE MOUNTAINS” Makarame Records June 2016
Originally released as a split tape with the other-wordly sounds of Hellvete
All Gamelan tracks recorded in Queens University, Belfast 2013.
All other tracks recorded in Drumnadubber Wood, Co Leitrim, Ireland 2013-2014.
Natalia - Mandola, Aonghus-Guitar, Willie-Percussion. Gamelan played by all three.
Photo by Helen McBride
“EMISSIONS FROM SUN BLEACHED BRAINS” Eiderdown Records September 2015
Black and green screen prints on yellow stock, art by Max Clotfelter.
“‘rish trio Woven Skull (mandola, guitar, drums) revel in sprawling takes on music of both this world and the sounds of the hollow hills …"Sun Bleached Brains” is a heady combo of live and field recordings, backyard gamelan, off-the-rails kosmiche jams, and their own take on Irish rural psychedelia.“ - Eiderdown Records
‘On Emissions From Sun Bleached Brains, the trio skitter confidently in a roving trance across loose ragas, spliced field recordings and a range of exotic wind and percussion, creating an atmosphere that nicely cushions sections of more intensive kosmiche meditation. That varying and fundamentally organic approach to the cosmic, underscored by the brilliance of Max Clotfelter’s ongoing j-card lunacy for the label, is generally what makes Eiderdown such an exciting source for this and all other manner of earthy psychedelics.’ - Dwight Pavlovic, Decoder Magazine
‘This is one of the tapes I have between my fingers. I begin down this twisted path. The trees make tunnels. Rain. Sudden and reliable. The most soothing of all waters. The mystery remains. They are Irish. I begin to satisfy my laziness. The day becomes an option. We have entered sacred territory now. Time is better. It is not so frightening. The walls become a healthy option. Like some decision made centuries ago. I turn the corner slightly. The course of the future. It’s all a game now. With no winners, only players. I zone in on the voice now and it startles me. Something has entered the realm, or I have left. This is magical realism. An invocation of the artistry. The artisans of past. The Old Ones. Who knew how to operate the forest. And the seas. The Old Ones who have come to look at their children. And what they have done. It’s the smoke from waste incinerators that seems to make our environs clean and pleasant to be around and in. I live for those drums. That synchronisation. Something faintly emerging from it. That sounds like a voice. And then it gracefully ends. Somehow we have entered the last third of the second track. I wonder if this is numeric. There’s moss growing where it shouldn’t be. We should not hack this of life. The earth is an emerging artwork. Only seen by our worlded eyes.’ - Rob Hayler, Radio Free Midwich
“LAIR OF THE GLOWING BANTLING” Penske Recordings August 2015
These tracks were recorded at Cracks in the Light Studios, Cork in March 2014 by Cathal MacGabhann, with special assistance by Patrick Cullen.
Mastered at Red Red Paw by Anthony Ryan
Sea Graves recorded live at Triskel Arts Center, Cork, April 2013.
Also appearing on this song is David Colohan (drones and vibes) and Jorge Boehringer (viola).
All songs written by Woven Skull, except ‘Blind Willy’ which was written by Sonny Sharrock
Art Work and design by Karen Browett.
“APPARITIONS AFTER DEATH” Supersonic Festival June 2015
Commissioned and released by Supersonic for their 2015 festival. This 10 inch lathe-cut came in a limited edition of 15. The covers were designed, printed and handmade from plywood by David Hand. Check out David’s label here: Lanchashire and Somerset.
“THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN DIFFERENT PLACES” Self Released June 2015
Limited Run of 50 Copies
‘Things that Happened in Different Places’ is a collection of recordings done in various studios, serendipitous spaces, overgrown forests and taken from live gigs around Ireland with friends between 2013 and 2014. These recordings were compiled, edited and mixed into a single half hour track by Willie Stewart in October 2013
Friends include:
Jorge Boehringer - Viola
David Colohan - Shruit, Vocals and Bells
Tola Custy - Fiddle
Mike Gangloff - Fiddle
Daniel Higgs - Bells and Strummed Banjo
Woven Skull is:
Natalia - Mandola
Aonghus - Guitar
Willie - Percussion
Artwork by Aonghus
“FAT BABY BLUES” Deserted Village Records October 2014
Limited Run of 100 Copies
Two track album available on cassette from
Come with the philosophical masterpiece zine “Danger I’m Awesome by Me” by Natalia’s 8 year old nephew Andrew.
Natalia - Mandola, Chimes, Metal Sheet, Gamelan, Saw, Seashells, Stones and Rocks
Willie - Percussion, Chimes, Gamelan, Gong, Autumn Leaves
Aonghus - Guitar, Gamelan, Footsteps
Recorded, compiled and mixed by Natalia
Cover Photo by Jeff Beylis
Design by Natalia
“THE WILD HUNT TAPES VOL. 1 - WOVEN SKULL & RAISING HOLY SPARKS - LIVE AT CONFLUX FESTIVAL” November 2014
This release come out on Huggin & Munnin: the web label of United Bible Studies and its extended family.
This is a live recording of a collaborative performance from Conflux Festival in Limerick, November 2014.
“This performance began with about twelve minutes of Raising Holy Sparks performing with David Colohan, Vicky Langan, Ivan Pawle and myself. The Raising Holy Sparks set then melding into a Woven Skull set when Willie and Aonghus joined us on stage and all the musicians then came together to make one big Woven Skull explosion.” - Natalia
Released in December 2013.
Recorded and mixed by Natalia Beylis and David Colohan
Photo by Claire Guerin
“WOVEN SKULL & NACHT UND NEBEL SUMMER TOUR” Self Released July 2013
Limited Run of 100 Copies
A split cassette tape with Woven Skull (Ireland) & Nacht Und Nebel (UK) made for their Summer Tour of Europe 2013.
Side A (Track 1 ) is taken from a live performance from May 2013 at Molloy Dowling’s Opticians on Kildare Street, Dublin. Playing with Woven Skull are Natalia (Mandola, Metal Sheet), Aonghus (Guitar), Willie (Floor Tom, Chimes), Jorge aka Core of the Coalman (Viola) & David aka Raising Holy Sparks (Shruit, Chanting).
Side B (Track 2) is from Nacht Und Nebel - dark sparse manipulations of cello through pedals. Nacht Und Nebel is Henry Davies.
Each cassette tape cover is hand printed.
Side A recorded and mixed by Natalia
Side B recorded and mixed by Henry
Artwork and Design by Natalia
”FOR ESME, IN LOVE AND SQUALOR (TWO OF THREE)” Self Released July 2013
Limited Run of 50 Copies
A CDR with a picture of Willie and Esme the Goat (RIP) on the cover. Comes with a copy of the zine “Hypno Sheep: A Six Point Program” by Willie. Recorded in Drumnadubber Wood in 2012 as a collaboration between Woven Skull and members of Nuada.
This album is the second of a three album set. The tracks for each one of the three albums have been recorded, chosen by and mixed by one of the three members of Woven Skull. “For Esme, In Love and Squalor” is made by Willie.
On this recording:
Natalia - Mandolin & Mandola
Aonghus - Guitar
Willie - Percussion
Ferris - Horn & Whistle
Sam - Hurdy Gurdy & Lute & Saz
Recorded, Compiled and Mixed by Willie
Cover photo by Natalia
“WOVEN SKULL & CORE OF THE COALMAN” Feathered Coyote FCR24 June 2013
Limited Run of 100 Copies
A collaboration between Ireland’s Woven Skull and Core of the Coalman, the solo project of Jorge Boehringer, originally from the USA and now based in the UK.
“The recordings took place in August 2012 in the Drumnadubber Wood in Leitrim. Folk-inspired tunes, experiments with sounds and space and field recordings interweave on this album to the effect of a very immersive experience, taking you straight into the recording process with the band.”
Recorded by Willie Stewart and Jorge Boehringer
Compiled, mixed and mastered by Jorge Boehringer
Artwork by Alan Doyle
“Dawn of Ends” Woven Skull & Core of the Coalman Self Released December 2012
This is a collaborative track with Core of the Coalman released on the 21st of December 2012 to celebrate the end of the Mayan calender.
“TENUNAN TENGORAK” Self Released April 2012
A five track album of improvised music played on Balinese Gamelan during cold winter days in Belfast in January 2012.
Recording and mixed by Natalia
Artwork and Design by Natalia
Each CD comes in an individually stitched cover
“Cновидение (ONE OF THREE)” Self Released April 2012
“One of Three (сновидение)” is a mix of field recordings gathered from around the woods of Leitrim and the riffs of Woven Skull. The physical cdr comes with a handprinted colour cover and a handmade book of illustrations made by Natalia. The final track is a recording of the frogs mating in the little pond by the house.
This album is part of a three album set. The tracks for each one of the three albums have been recorded, chosen by and mixed by one of the three members of Woven Skull. “One of Three (сновидение)” is been made by Natalia.
Cover art by Natalia
”MOODS OF THE HILL PEOPLE” Fort Evil Fruit FEF03 February 2012
Limited Run 100 Copies
Recorded in Drumnadubber Wood and in the Church in Drumshanbo.
Artwork by Jane Lives
Recorded and mixed by Natalia
“GOAT HERDER” Self Relesaed April 2010
Limited Run of 25
Woven Skull’s first cdr. Originally limited to 25 with all copies lost to the winds.
Cover photo of Melanie the Goat (RIP) who lived a long happy life and in the end roared “into the dying light.”
Recorded and mixed by Natalia
Photo by Natalia