Compass Records is particularly proud of our long association with Irish musician, John McSherry, founding member of the seminal Irish band Lunasa, and one of the foremost composers and performers on low whistle and uilleann pipes. John is widely regarded as a premier contemporary torch-bearer of the uilleann pipes, a venerable instrument with a storied history comparable to the blues in America, but even more mysterious and mythological in character. John’s new album THE SEVEN SUNS follows the recent release of a comprehensive, 610 page examination of the art form that he co-authored with music writer, Colin Harper, The Wheels of the World: 300 Years of Irish Uilleann Pipers, described as “an epic tale of triumph and survival, where the soulful heart of a nation has been kept alive across ages by a slender thread of guardians.”

While John is well known on whistles, in particular the low whistle—familiar to mainstream ears by its omnipresence on soundtracks such as Rob Roy, Braveheart and Titanic—he is also both a guardian of the piping tradition and its most profound boundary pusher. This album doesn’t disappoint on either score—in the words of Donal Lunny, legendary founder of The Bothy Band, John “embraces the ancient strangeness of music passed on to us from centuries before while also possessing the harmonic and rhythmic sensibilities of the best of rock and contemporary music.”

In McSherry’s words: “I’ve been fascinated by the ancient megalithic monuments of Ireland since I was a boy. Shrouded in mystery, these magical monuments have inspired so many artists over the centuries and continue to spur the imagination today. They are the remnants of an ancient civilisation that stretched all along Europe’s Atlantic coast and into the Meditteranean, from The ‘Ring of Brodgar’ in The Orkneys to the Menhirs of Mzora in Morocco. The Irish monuments, in particular those of Brú na Boinne (Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth), Loughcrew and Carrowmore, are truly awe inspiring and invoke a deep sense of the spiritual. The music on this album has been inspired by these marvelous sites and the stories that go with them. Hope you enjoy!”