Myself and my husband, Seamus Devenny had the pleasure of opening for Ciaran Lavery for the launch of his Kosher EP at The Black Box, Belfast as part of the Open House Festival. A truely incredible night of music by Ciaran and his band and also the wonderful sound of Silences – I highly recommend checking out all of their music. A nice bonus afterwards too with some lovely reviews from Scott Edgar at Folk & Tumble and Cara Gibney at Creative Voices NI .

“Beautiful moments in there with Kate mastering guitar and ukulele accompanied by Devenny who’s undoubtedly a hugely talented string player” – Folk & Tumble

“Kate O’Callaghan with strong support from husband Seamus Devenny then took to the stage. Some feedback kicked in on the mikes as they were setting up to which Seamus announced “A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…” and a slight otherworldly feel was brought to the fore.

‘Don’t Think So’ started their set with up-tempo ukulele and good scratchy fiddle playing that kept up a pace as well as a melody.‘Painted Lady’ was a tale about the butterfly of that name that flies across from North Africa. Words aside, the fiddle playing was seriously like flaky wings and the touch of Moroccan/Algerian rhythm spoke volumes.

Another beauty was ‘My Dear’ which must have been written by Kate for Seamus; and if it wasn’t Seamy I would be asking who it is about jus sayin..  ‘Stone By Stone’ was a brand new song and it was the stand out for me. Because the audience were listening so well Kate and Seamus were able to open it by simply rubbing their palms together into their microphones; and then silk voices wrapped their hands, followed by warm guitar and violin. Kate’s voice was strong and the song was simply gorgeous. And so the set progressed. By the time Kate O’Callaghan had finished there was a healthy buzz in the candle-lit room full of people.” – Creative Voices NI