Dowry

Dowry is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist and composer Éna Brennan. Since moving to Dublin from Brussels nearly 10 years ago she has obtained an MPhil in Composition from Trinity College Dublin and collaborated with a vast array of artists, be it as a composer, arranger or violinist, weaving in between many of the layers of the Irish music scene. She already has a long list of notable gigs to her name including performances at Other Voices, 12 Points Festival and Sounds From A Safe Harbour. She runs an ensemble called Dowry Strings. Recent projects include sold-out tours with Bell X1 around Ireland and performing her debut headline show with band, strings, Dulciana Vocal Ensemble and Rachael Lavelle in the Pepper Canister Church.

In É

19.02.18 Listen on your preferred streaming site
ISRC # GBLFP1805026

This single was recorded in one take with Stephen Dunne in Lamplight Studios. It is representative of the way I would begin Dowry sets when I was first starting out; with an improvised violin piece. Over the course of the last year, the more I have repeated this opening improvisation, laying down certain rules and structure with each performance, the more the improvisation has become an actual piece. It begins with a drone on the note E, and builds from there, dipping into the major and minor, and growing into a cacophony of sound. The song drifts between sound worlds, most notably that of Irish traditional music and minimalist contemporary classical music.

Numb

03.10.19 Listen on your preferred streaming site
ISRC # IERJW1900001

Numb is the first release of a handful of new Dowry material Éna has been working on in studio this past year with producer and friend Stephen Tiernan (Participant); This release follows on from Éna’s one-take experimental and purely instrumental debut single In É. Strings remain at the forefront of Dowry’s sound, but with Numb we now find the addition of the voice, guitar, keys and percussion; instruments which have since crept into Éna’s live setup.