By James Dever jamesdever Bandcamp tylerdever Bandcamp jamesdevermusic SoundCloud jamzdenver Twitter ← unrequited Previous track by this artist → The Undying Next track by this artist.
Cover art by James Dever jamesdever Bandcamp tylerdever Bandcamp jamesdevermusic SoundCloud jamzdenver Twitter ← unrequited Previous track art by this artist.
Released 6/6/2016.
Duration: 13:39.

Listen on SoundCloud or YouTube.

View additional files.
Read artist commentary.

General contributors:

• Conner Shaw (guitar)
• Breana Meyers ← unrequited Previous general contribution by this artist (marimba)
• Ben Hornacek (bass)
• Joe Darpino ← Raucousy Previous general contribution by this artist (narration)
• Cathy Verbyla (narration)

View or download additional files:

• Bandcamp track page archive

  • This track was also, for a short time, released as track #6 on a Bandcamp album "Music in Circles" (released 3/18/2020). This file is a Google-cached copy of New Irish Stew's track page, and includes various metadata (TralbumData), but nothing for the other tracks on Music in Circles, unfortunately.
  • new_irish_stew.zip (933.9 kB)

Artist commentary:

James Dever: (SoundCloud / YouTube descriptions, excerpt)

New Irish Stew is a graphic score written in early 2016 and premiered in April of the same year. The piece is written for three indeterminate musicians and two narrators.

The score is written in a literal circle with no beginning or ending given. It is up to the performers to decide where to start, when to end, what tempo, and if they wish, when to improvise.

Surrounding the music is a slew of cherry picked quotes from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. The narrators can either be cued by the outer, melodic line, or free to choose when to quote each line. The other voices heard besides the two narrators are audience members who were given specific quotes and told to say them whenever they wanted.

The premiere was performed at the University of Northern Colorado by guitarist Conner Shaw, marimbist Breana Meyers, bassist Ben Hornacek, and narration by Joe Darpino and Cathy Verbyla.

James Dever: (YouTube description, excerpt)

I absolutely loved writing this and I hope you love listening!

Quasar Nebula: (wiki editor)

Also released as part of "Music in Circles" (3/18/2020) — see the page archive in this track's additional files. Includes touched up commentary based on the SoundCloud description, and an updated photograph artwork.

James Dever: (Bandcamp artwork, from "Music in Circles")

James Dever: (Bandcamp about blurb, from "Music in Circles")

New Irish Stew is a graphic score written in early 2016. It is written for an indeterminate amount of musicians (minimum of 3) and narrators.

The score is written in a literal circle with no beginning or ending given. It is up to the performers to decide where to start, when to end, what tempo, and if they wish, when to improvise.

Surrounding the music is a slew of cherry picked quotes from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. The narrators can either be cued by the outer, melodic line, vice versa, or free to choose when to read each quote. The other voices heard besides the two narrators are audience members who were given specific quotes and told to say them whenever they wanted.