With "Welling Lights," their fourth album, the Green Lads place light and energy at the heart of the project. Original compositions, music inspired by Irish traditions that merges with electro.
From the very first sight of the received Compact Disc, we are immediately captivated by the aesthetic design that marks a very vibrant and meaningful cover.
Jaquette du Cd de GREEN LADS - Welling lights . abp.bzhBetween fiery oranges and more aquatic blues-greens, enigmatic projections of fractured elements seem to explode from a crater from which, in a low-angle view, our gaze inexorably turns towards a blinding light; a telluric, volcanic atmosphere emanates from this magnificent illustration that, between figurative rooting and contemporary pictoriality, makes the undeniable success of a beautiful object that no dematerialized version of music can replicate.
Kudos to the artists who, as with this project, continue to take great care of the appearance of their discographic production's casing, entrusting, as here, the design of the cover visual to Florian DOUCET... to other artists!
There is no self-centeredness from the band, as no individual or collective photo appears on the front, back, or inside of the digipack.
One must look towards the bright light described above to read the name of the group, GREEN LADS, and, as a priority, in bold and larger font: “Welling lights.”
“Welling lights,” like “bursting lights,” is a title of an opus that seems entirely in line with the previously mentioned graphic promise.
GREEN LADS?… GREEN LADS? But yes! You may have already encountered this name on our online pages, as the band, performing at the Celtomania 2023 Festival ( See article , gave a show in Bouvon and was featured as the 5th track on the collector compilation offered by the organization of the intercommunal and annual Celtic event in Loire-Atlantique (44-Bzh), titled “A Pigeon's Dream.”
Recorded as the 9th track of their own album “Nebula,” released the same year, this piece had already caught our ear, as we offered you a short one-minute excerpt to listen to.
GREEN LADS… “GREEN,” like, at the beginning, the prime and founding duo of violinists dressed entirely in green, who already mixed electronic music with traditional Irish themes, and “LADS,” like “guys,” to be taken in a more “green” sense, as the founder of the band, Antoine ROZÉ, confided during a radio show; we will then allow ourselves to use the term “lascars.”
GREEN LADS, which has evolved over time into an electro-Celtic quintet, is a Breton band from Ille-et-Vilaine that plays music inspired by Irish traditions, where violins, flutes, guitar, uilleann pipes, and tap dancing merge with electronic layers or percussive rhythms.
Since 2021, with a full set of compositions, certainly heavily inspired by Irish rhythms such as jigs, reels, polkas..., the 12 tracks of this 4th album, “Welling lights,” sound like the quintessence of the Irish electro Celtic style; this does not prevent the presence and breath of some enchanting melodies.
GREEN LADS is a band on the rise that, outside of Brittany, is firmly establishing itself across the entire French territory and is now opening up internationally, with a growing audience in the United States (the number one country on listening platforms) and concerts already being exported to Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, or the Netherlands.
It is time to introduce you to this Breton quintet, whether by birth or by adoption:
- Antoine MORIN, on wooden transverse flute and low and tin whistles. Originally from Normandy, Antoine arrived in Brittany in 2008 and honed his learning of Breton and Irish music with masters of the genre, as well as in the Rennes sessions.
- Fernanda KOSTCHAK on violin and vocals
Fernanda is Brazilian. She began studying the violin at the age of 8 at a conservatory in São Paulo. She played in various Irish music groups, a genre that, at that time (1999), was not yet very well known in Brazil. She joined a variety of music groups with which she traveled across her country.
After searching for Celtic music festivals, in 2011 a Breton musician friend advised her to come to Lorient. Since then, she has fallen in love with the region and its culture! In 2013, she brought her Irish music group from Brazil, with which she was able to compete for the Trophée Loïc RAISON, as part of the Festival Interceltique de Lorient.
- Neven Sebille KERNAUDOUR, on guitar and uilleann pipes.
Born in Trégor, Neven learned Breton from a young age, surrounded by piano and Breton music. He started with the piano and then turned to traditional wind instruments such as the bombarde, biniou, uilleann pipes, whistles, as well as acoustic guitar.
He participates in various projects and has contributed to about ten albums.
He spent two years in Ireland, specifically in County Clare, located in the province of Munster, and obtained a Master in Irish Traditional Music Performance from the University of Limerick.
Back in Brittany in 2020, he created GALANTA (Irish traditional music) and recorded the album "Spi," released in May 2022, with the Breton guitarist Jean-Charles GUICHEN ( See our review ).
He joined GREEN LADS the same year.
- Antoine ROZÉ, on violin, vocals, ukulele, viola, and electronics.
Born in 1989 in Rennes and holding a degree in telecommunications, Antoine chose music as a continuation of this first life path. With his first project AROZÉ, a blend of violin and electronic music, he ventured into the world of performing arts and decided, in 2018, to separate the Celtic part of AROZÉ to create a dedicated project…: GREEN LADS!
After various other experiences, he also joined, in January 2024, alongside Gaëtan GRANDJEAN (guitars), Cédric MOTTE (bass, keyboards), and Ronan DESPRE (drums, percussion), Alan STIVELL as the principal violinist for the "Célébration" tour.
- Marie GUENEAU is on tap dance and, as you will hear, is, beyond dance expression, a rhythmic instrumentalist in her own right, essential to the stylistic sound links of the group.
With an ever-present electro backdrop, which, due to its rhythmic structures and diverse sounds, is never repetitive, overwhelming, or obscuring, during these 48 minutes, you will, amidst swift violins, guitars, and flutes, alternately travel between frenetic dance music, sung or unsung ballads, "electro rap" featuring the iconic figure of beatbox battles, BreZ, and even, nearly "electro-symphonic" or film music…
On its communication materials, GREEN LADS does not fail to specify its artistic intentions:
“Like its cover, ‘Welling Lights’ tells how multiple, sometimes contrasting energies find their cohesion in a harmonious and luminous whole.”
It goes without saying that this aim is largely achieved, to the point that the very rich diversity of the musical content generates a program that captivates us as a whole, with the pieces seeming to feed off one another, while largely revealing, in terms of original compositions, the vast field of possibilities available to the ensemble.
If the founder Antoine ROZÉ appears, in solo, in a duo with Antoine MORIN, or in collaboration with other composers, including former members Stéphane NOËL, Mary O’NEG, as the main composer, all the musicians also participate in the creation by co-signing these original notes, which give the project a choral aspect.
We particularly enjoyed the collaborative composition, “Celtic eruption,” the title that opens the album with, supported by reimagined traditional tap dance, a powerful electro sound, but which, as mentioned earlier, never masks the plaintive sound of an uilleann pipe, a vocal chorus, or an intrepid duo of violins.
This piece stands out as the perfect emblem of the record, certainly, but also of the group that knows how to mix frenetic rhythms, swirling melodies, and ballads.
In a different style, equally neo-Irish, we will also highlight track 4, composed solo by Antoine ROZÉ, “Let it out,” featuring the bright voice of Giacomo, known as Jack MERIGO, leader of the Celtic Punk Rock group from the Dolomites (Italy), THE RUMPLED, which also plays Irish folk-rock, invited on this track by GREEN LADS.
Introduced on the ukulele, in a folk color, this time more discreetly accompanied by electro, supported by choirs, violins, guitars, and flutes… and tap dance, the lyrics penned by Nicolas ENGEL encourage us to fully reveal ourselves.
Be...
Just who you want to be
Serene, happy and free
All you need to do is to believe in you
Be...
The one you know you are
Your inn superstar
All you need to do is to believe in you
You can be...
A man with a dress
You can be
A penniless princess
You can be…
A damsel in distress
Or a beautiful mess!
Let it out !
Be the one you are
Deep down inside
Be the one you hide
Let it out!
Be the one who feels
He's been denied
Be the kid who cried
[…/…]
Sois…
Tout simplement qui tu veux être
Sérénité, bonheur et liberté
Il te suffit de croire en toi
Sois…
Celle que tu sais être
Ta propre star
Il te suffit de croire en toi
Tu peux être…
Un homme en robe
Tu peux être
Une princesse sans le sou
Tu peux être…
Une demoiselle en détresse
Ou un magnifique désordre !
Laisse-toi aller !
Sois celle que tu es
Au fond de toi
Sois celle que tu caches
Laisse-toi aller !
Sois celui qui
Se sent rejeté
Sois l'enfant qui pleurait
[…/…]
La piste 7 nous réserve une très jolie pause dans un jardin enchanté… et enchanteur.
Composé par Antoine ROZÉ et Stéphane NOEL, interprété par les deux musiciens, aux côtés d’Antoine MORIN, le morceau titré « Garden break », nous emporte dans une ambiance quasi symphonique, où cordes et flûte, en poétiques volutes, hélicoïdalement, s’entrecroisent magnifiquement, rythmées par de cristallins cliquetis électroniques, nous conduisant jusqu’à l’évanescence finale.
Quels mystiques instants qui vous enveloppent de sérénité, en vous emmenant, entre autres, par l'imaginaire, vers les douces collines verdoyantes parsemées de lacs argentés et de tourbières brun foncé, des Midlands.
Mais, en contraste et en piste 10, retrouvez les côtes sauvages irlandaises, balayées par les tempêtes, avec l'ample « Storm's embrace » (l'étreinte de la tempête), une ample et collégiale composition et interprétation où alternent, sur un rythme électro bien marqué, denses et fougueux moments et instants de très courts répits, durant lesquels, la flûte glisse, avec souplesse, ses accents celtiques, le tout ponctué d’un scandant chorus vocal. Un nouveau moment symphonique à écouter à bon volume, la qualité de l’enregistrement et du mixage, assurés par Antoine ROZÉ, le permet, aisément.
Nous n’oublierons, surtout pas, de mentionner, en dernière piste, le pictural « Maple swirl » (Tourbillon d’érable), pièce attribuable aux identiques compositeurs et interprètes de « Garden break » qui, à la manière d’une musique de film proposée en générique de fin, clôture admirablement, en tournant autour d’un thème central, ce très riche, dense, original et intéressant album de GREEN LADS.
Nous avons, en effet, beaucoup aimé ce disque particulièrement énergique, lumineux, aux propositions musicales contrastées, voire éclectiques, mais toujours s’inscrivant dans l’homogénéité d’un style, d’un album, et, in fine, d’un spectacle, dont, à l’écoute du C.D., on devine déjà, la brillance.
Cette publication discographique nous projette, de part et d’autre de la Mer Celtique, dans un nouvel et créatif Interceltisme identitairement réciproque aux sonorités rythmiques et technologiques très actuelles.
En effet, ce sont des Bretons qui jouent de la musique celtique aux couleurs irlandaises.
Vous nous direz que GREEN LADS n’est pas le seul groupe à pratiquer cette « musique-sœur », mais consentez qu’il devient assez unique, en entremêlant, hors de tous traditionnels, des compositions originales d’inspiration irlandaise avec des sons électroniques en sachant que cette démarche n’est aucunement opportuniste, mais guidée, dès le début du projet, par un fondamental et assumé choix artistique.
Au carrefour des codes de la musique celtique et de la modernité des rythmes électro, découvrez GREEN LADS et ses pétillantes « Wellings Lights », opus qui se révèle comme un brillant enregistrement « signature ».
GREEN LADS aurait pu être un simple groupe de musique traditionnelle, mais par sa ligne artistique bien personnelle, le quintet devient créateur d’une prospective néo-musique irlandaise…
Procurez-vous, sans hésiter « Wellings Lights » en CD ou 33 tours vinyle sur cette page et, plus largement, les publications discographiques précédentes de GREEN LADS, numériquement pressées ou, sur sillons, gravées, en vous rendant sur cette page
Gérard SIMON
Illustration sonore de la page : GREEN LADS - De l'album « Welling lads » :
"Celtic Eruption" - Extrait de 01:00.
D'autres extraits sonores sur Culture et celtie, l'e-MAGazine : (Voir site) .
La page officielle du groupe GREEN LADS sur viagramophone.com : (Voir site) .
The titles of the CD by GREEN LADS - "Welling lights":
01 - Celtic Eruption - 04:11.
02 - Lost In The Green - 03:41.
03 - Autumn Lights - 03:53.
04 - Let It Out (Guest: The Rumpled) - 03:23.
05 - First Day On Holiday - 04:48.
06 - Wild Chase - 03:52.
07 - Garden Break - 04:21.
08 - Swaying Pulse - 4:45.
09 - Summer Rush - 04:16.
10 - Storm's Embrace - 03:43.
11 - Friends and Fame (Guests: BreZ and Pauline KONDRAT) - 03:04.
12 - Maple Swirl - 4:03.
Total duration: 48:00.
____________________
GREEN LADS - "Welling lights".
Release date: March 13, 2026.
Production: Nemesia Records.
Reference: n.r.
© Culture et Celtie
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