music.wikisort.org - Poet

Jimmy Monaghan (Irish: Seamus Ó Muíneacháin) is an Irish musician from Belmullet, Ireland. He is the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the anti-folk band Music for Dead Birds.[1] He has also released music under different names including The Crytearions[2][3] and Christian Bookshop.[4]

Jimmy Monaghan
Monaghan performing at Hanoi Rock City, Hanoi, 2018
Background information
Birth name	James Monaghan
Born	(1988-02-25) 25 February 1988 (age 34) Danbury, Connecticut, United States
Genres	folk rock ambient lo-fi
Instrument(s)	vocals guitar piano drums
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Ghost Home Recordings, Rusted Rail, Psychonavigation, Dramacore
Website	www.seamusomuineachain.eu

Early life

Monaghan was born in Danbury, Connecticut, and moved to Ireland at the age of six.[5] He is of Irish and Italian descent.[6] As a teenager he was an amateur boxer, winning four Irish national titles.[7] He won a silver medal at the 2004 Four Nations tournament boxing for Ireland and received the Western People Sports Star of the year award the same year.[8] During his time representing Ireland internationally he fought against the German amateur boxer Gottlieb Weiss.[9]

Music

His early musical influences were Irish traditional music and nu-metal.[10] In 2007, Monaghan formed Music for Dead Birds with drummer Dónal Walsh in Galway city. One of the band's first gigs was a live performance on Anocht FM from the Roisin Dubh in August 2007.[11] Their debut album, And then it rained for seven days, was released in 2009 by the Irish record label Rusted Rail.[12] This was followed in 2011 by the independently released The Pope's Sister, a concept album about the influence of the Catholic church in Ireland.[13] In July 2012, Psychonavigation Records released his debut solo album Seamus O'Muineachain.[14][15] The Irish Times reviewed the album positively, calling it "a tremulous if tranquil success."[16] To promote the album he performed at The Electric Picnic festival and Whelan's, Dublin.[17][18] The song Shadowboxing from the album was put into rotation on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation[19] and the song I Am Always in Your Power was used in the Emmy Award nominated series Beat Girl.[20][21] Throughout 2012 he released songs under the name Christian Bookshop, and played drums for the Galway based folk band Yawning Chasm.[22][23] In 2017 he produced and released his second solo album Cloves. The track Forest Frost was released to radio and broadcast by An Taobh Tuathail.[24] Shortly after its release, the album was The Irish Times New Release of The Week[25] and was later featured on Star's End 2017 end of year list.[26] In 2019 he released the album City of Lakes while living in Hanoi, Vietnam.[27][28][29] In March 2020, KEXP and KDHX premiered tracks from his fourth solo album Blue Moon Set.[30][31] The album received a positive review in Rockerilla magazine [32] and was featured on BBC Radio 6 Music.[33] Several music videos were created for the album, including a video for 'Slow Closing Day' by Irish experimental film-maker Maximilian Le Cain.[34] His fifth album Different Time Zones was released in January 2022.

Dramatic work

In 2011 his radio drama Thumb was shortlisted for the RTÉ PJ O'Connor Award.[35] In 2015 he appeared in a Maltese stage production of Butterflies Are Free which ran at Saint James Cavalier in Valletta.[36][37]

Personal life

In 2016 an image of him cycling on the Aran Islands was used on an Irish post stamp promoting the Wild Atlantic Way.[38]

Discography

As Seamus O'Muineachain

Albums

• Seamus O'Muineachain, 2012
• Cloves, 2017
• City of Lakes, 2019
• Blue Moon Set, 2020
• Different Time Zones, 2022

EPs

• Stamford, CT. Circa 1941, 2014
• Blood Apple, 2015
• Unnamed Cafe, Hoang Hoa Tham, 2018
• Sycamore EP, 2021

With Music for Dead Birds

Albums

• And then it rained for seven days, 2009, Rusted Rail
• The Pope's Sister, 2011
• Vitamins, 2014
• Pagan Blessings, 2018

EPs

• Black Tides Falling, 2010[39]
• Your Brand New Life, 2015 [40]
• Nail & Tooth EP, 2017[41]

Singles

• "English Weed/What A Waste", 2015.[42]
• "Summer in Suburbia/Untied", 2020.[43]

As The Crytearions

Albums

• The Crytearions, 2013, Dramacore[44]
• I See What It Is And I Am Scared, 2013[45]
• These Songs Hate You, 2015

Compilations

• The Crytearions: Selected Recordings from the Album Trilogy, 2016[46][47]

Other

• Christian Bookshop, Owl & Hat Records, 2012
• Spain, 2016
• Korea, 2019 [48]

References

---