Brian Finnegan with The Hunger of the Skin Band

Brian Finnegan with The Hunger of the Skin Band

2020 RTÉ RADIO 1 FOLK AWARDS NOMINEE
‘BEST ORIGINAL TRACK’ FOR ‘FLOW, IN THE YEAR OF WU WEI’ 2021 RTÉ RADIO 1 FOLK AWARDS NOMINEE
‘INSTRUMENTAL MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR’

Brian is a celebrated composer, collaborator and producer and has toured and recorded with artistes as diverse as KAN, Cara Dillon, Boris Grebenshikov, Anoushka Shankar, Bebel Gilberto and most recently with Ed Sheeran on his Divide album. In March/April 2020, he created his most expansive and ambitious collection of work to date.

Featuring a genre crossing cast of 24 musicians, and recorded remotely in home studios around the world; ‘Flow, In The Year Of Wu Wei’ is the first single from ‘Hunger Of The Skin’, it was released in June 2020 and was nominated for the RTE Radio 1 Folk Awards 2020, ‘Best Original Track’.
The ‘Hunger of the Skin Band’ is his storm-force new quintet, featuring;

Brian Finnegan on whistle/flute
Seán Óg Graham on guitar,
Liam Bradley on drums,
Danny Bert on percussion and drums, Conor McCreanor on bass

A past pupil of the fabled institution, The Armagh Piper’s Club, Brian’s music is forged from the tradition he grew up in, and his fearlessly inventive approach to composition and arrangement. Frontman with the dazzling group Flook for more than 25 years and collecting awards and a huge fan base wherever they toured, Flook charged back to the top table in 2019 after a 4 year hiatus with the release of their 4th studio album ‘Ancora’.

REVIEWS FOR HUNGER OF THE SKIN

‘Irish Traditional Music like we’ve never heard it before, just astonishing.A musician of global importance.’ ~BBC Radio Foyle

‘A quite stunning album.’ ~ The Irish News

‘ It sweeps in like the wind off the desert... a marvellous example of what music can do. Definitely a candidate for Album Of The Year’ ***** ~ Rock and Reel Magazine

‘Nine confinement-denying instrumentals, charged with a driving thirst and fierce hunger for connection and communication, lifted by a crack cabal of musicians playing with improvisatory energy and an impeccable sense of ensemble....scintillating!’ **** Top Of The World Album ~ Songlines Magazine

‘It’s not just that this album is exquisitely arranged and full of outstanding musicianship. Throughout there is an urgency to it, sometimes at the forefront, sometimes below the surface, but always present. Five of the tracks interpolate recitations of poems, and it’s the voices and words that truly animate the album and reinforce it’s imploration for us to remember our humanity, in death as well as life. A thing of beauty.’ ~ Boston Irish

‘Brian Finnegan absolutely triumphs with Hunger of the Skin. Inspiring Irish Trad innovation, jazz, rock and spoken word, brilliantly collide. Quite amazing.’ ~ Folk Wales

‘Hunger Of The Skin’ is a soulful, spirit-raising journey – which particularly shines in its moments of astonishing intensity and explosive energy.’ ~ Hot Press Magazine

‘A triumphant illustration of the power of music not merely to entertain but to raise spirits and lighten the soul....a musical jewel’ ~ Folkradio.uk

A tour de force of an album, awe inspiringly clever, beautiful and intoxicating....simply mind blowing.’ ~ Folking.com

‘A magical celebration.... from the opener ‘Dust’, almost an accelerated version of Pink Floyd's Money arranged as a whistle duet, to the open-hearted words and simple notes of ‘Dare’ which make my scalp tingle, this is a remarkable album and a rare work of art.’ ~ Folking.com

‘Hunger of the Skin is an astonishing piece of work from beginning to end, humane and complicated, replete with the wisdom you get after 50 years on planet Earth’ ~ Se

‘How the hunger roars in this music... these tracks latch themselves onto your skin, hot and alive...a living, thick foliage of sound, with Finnegan’s quicksilver flute soaring and diving and ascending above it all, lighting it up.’ ~Celtbritfolkmusic.net

‘Dreamy, gut-wrenching, bewitching. Magnificent!’ ~Alex Monaghan
‘An Odyssey’ ~BBC Radio Ulster ;
‘An extraordinary piece of music, from an extraordinary musician.’ ~ RTE Lyric FM

www.brianfinneganmusic.com