Maud in Cahoots

The festival can also work as a stage for acts to re-introduce or unveil a new aspect in their sound. Alternative-pop band Maud In Cahoots were a perfect example of this side to the HWCH experience.

As captivating and uncompromising as ever, the group’s show worked to highlight how they have continued to perfect and sculpt their music over the year. More thematic, theatrical and tinged in indie characteristics Maud In Cahoots gave an intriguing indication of how they have evolved in terms of sound. - The Last Mixed Tape Blog

MAUD IN CAHOOTS

Before the band play a single note of their set you know this is going to be a good one. The titular Maud is clearly in control as her band begins to set up, making sure each instrument is at the right level with a sense of responsibility that has been surprisingly rare so far this festival. All the promise is there as she approaches the microphone, her band having already started up, and boy do they deliver.

The music is an engaging pop sound that makes use of rock and electronic instrumentation, and the highlight of the set must be the driving Greatest Achievement. If you’re in the Grand Social at this point, you’d be less likely to be forced into movement if there was an earthquake than when this songs kicks off. And the thing that makes you realise you’re in safe hands for the rest of the set is when Maud approaches the microphone at the end and says “thank you” with this look on her face as if she know how good the performance was.

That kind of self-awareness is thoroughly refreshing at this stage in the festival. You’re quite certain that nothing could go wrong at this point, and that if it did, that it wouldn’t stay wrong for long. Break out your calendars, gig-goers of Dublin, and mark in the date of the next Maud in Cahoots show in your diary. If you like to dance, if you like music, you’ll scarcely find a better act. - GOLDENPLEC BLOG

Hey, why aren’t we all talking about how great the new single from Maud in Cahoots is? The video for ‘Dance With Me’, Maud and Zoe Reardon’s first, was uploaded over a week ago, yet I only came across it yesterday. I must be doing something wrong because it’s an absolute belter, a full-blown pop song that stuck in my head from the first chorus. It’s irresistible. ‘Dance With Me’ was directed by John McIlduff and features, well, a lot of people dancing. The two sisters are back in Dublin after a trip to London recently to finish off their debut EP, recorded with Max Heyes (Paul Weller, Primal Scream). ‘Dance With Me’ is backed by ‘Make Me Right’ and is out on Monday, May 6. There’s a launch party taking place in a secret location next Thursday. - The Point of Everything Blog

Maud in Cahoots took the stage in Whelan’s of Dublin last night, performing to a captivated audience who stood silently enraptured by a set filled with intensity.

Captured between the iridescent glare of the stage lights and the soft ambience of the candle lit venue, Maud in Cahoots opened the set with a palpable sense of intent. The visceral pounding sound of ‘Breakdown’ rumbled and shook with the group’s powerful eclectic music building the performance both dynamically and tonally.

As the show continued Maud in Cahoots gave the show a feeling of aspect and atmosphere, swirling textures reverberated softly out, enchanting those lucky enough to be in attendance. The obvious talent and musicianship was highlighted through out the set in tracks such as ‘Dance With Me’ and a sublime cover of Robin’s ‘Dancing On My Own’.

However, the high water mark of the night came with a breath-taking rendition of ‘Further I Go’. Beguiling, with unmistakable presence Maud Reardon’s performance was awe-inspiring and hypnotic. The artist’s voice carried across into the night and echoed around Whelan’s before finally receding into the harmonic wash of texture created by the band during the song’s crescendo, as crowd fell silent.

Closing with a suitably bombastic version of the Talking Heads’ ‘Road to Nowhere’, Maud in Cahoots ended the group’s first headline show in Dublin with a set of brilliance and subtlety, as the band’s love and respect for their medium shined through from start to finish. Stunning.
- The Journalist

Maud in Cahoots took the stage in Whelan’s of Dublin last night, performing to a captivated audience who stood silently enraptured by a set filled with intensity.

Captured between the iridescent glare of the stage lights and the soft ambience of the candle lit venue, Maud in Cahoots opened the set with a palpable sense of intent. The visceral pounding sound of ‘Breakdown’ rumbled and shook with the group’s powerful eclectic music building the performance both dynamically and tonally.

As the show continued Maud in Cahoots gave the show a feeling of aspect and atmosphere, swirling textures reverberated softly out, enchanting those lucky enough to be in attendance. The obvious talent and musicianship was highlighted through out the set in tracks such as ‘Dance With Me’ and a sublime cover of Robin’s ‘Dancing On My Own’.

However, the high water mark of the night came with a breath-taking rendition of ‘Further I Go’. Beguiling, with unmistakable presence Maud Reardon’s performance was awe-inspiring and hypnotic. The artist’s voice carried across into the night and echoed around Whelan’s before finally receding into the harmonic wash of texture created by the band during the song’s crescendo, as crowd fell silent.

Closing with a suitably bombastic version of the Talking Heads’ ‘Road to Nowhere’, Maud in Cahoots ended the group’s first headline show in Dublin with a set of brilliance and subtlety, as the band’s love and respect for their medium shined through from start to finish. Stunning.
- The Journalist

WATCH: MAUD IN CAHOOTS - 'BREAKDOWN'
Plus where to catch them this week... The Hot Press Newsdesk, 15 Oct 2013

Black and white and energetic all over, the promo for brand new single 'Breakdown' finds Maud In Cahoots in charging form ahead of this week's Dublin gig - their first ever hometown headline show.
Fresh from Electric Picnic (check them out in the Hot Press Chatroom below), Maud Reardon and cohorts will play Upstairs at Whelan's this Thursday October 17 with tickets a mere €10.

'Breakdown' (one of four tracks recorded with producer Max Heyes in Lynch Mob Studios, London) is available for a free download from the band's Soundcloud page. - HOTPRESS MAGAZINE

WATCH: MAUD IN CAHOOTS - 'BREAKDOWN'
Plus where to catch them this week... The Hot Press Newsdesk, 15 Oct 2013

Black and white and energetic all over, the promo for brand new single 'Breakdown' finds Maud In Cahoots in charging form ahead of this week's Dublin gig - their first ever hometown headline show.
Fresh from Electric Picnic (check them out in the Hot Press Chatroom below), Maud Reardon and cohorts will play Upstairs at Whelan's this Thursday October 17 with tickets a mere €10.

'Breakdown' (one of four tracks recorded with producer Max Heyes in Lynch Mob Studios, London) is available for a free download from the band's Soundcloud page. - HOTPRESS MAGAZINE

Keavy, Edele and Shane. John and Edward. Samantha and Omero. Stephen and Tony. Irish pop music has a decidedly chequered history of sibling synchronicity but, with our pop landscape looking especially barren of late, Dublin sisters Maud and Zoe Reardon are a radiant beacon of hope. Combining luscious chamber-pop arrangements with melancholy melodies worthy of the most lovelorn of Scandinavian chanteuses, Maud in Cahoots occupy a point on the musical spectrum quite apart from the production-line pap pedaled by Louis Walsh. They’re one of Dublin’s best kept musical secrets, but that might have something to do with never having played a headline gig here until now. With support from the eminently talented Leanne Harte, this is shaping up to be the kind of family affair Mary J would want to sing about. / Joey Kavanagh - LE COOL DUBLIN

MAUD IN CAHOOTS RETURNS TO DUBLIN - HOTPRESS

MAUD IN CAHOOTS RETURNS TO DUBLIN - HOTPRESS

MAUD IN CAHOOTS - Le Cool Dublin

MAUD IN CAHOOTS - Le Cool Dublin

Maud In Cahoots join Lindsey Holmes Publicity. - LHP PUBLICITY

Maud In Cahoots join Lindsey Holmes Publicity. - LHP PUBLICITY

"Maud In Cahoots are undisputedly one of the finest unsigned acts in the country. The winners of the Hot Press Our Thursdays Final, the band are fresh from supporting Snow Patrol on Arthur’s Day, a show which saw singer Maud Reardon perform a goosebump-inducing duet with Gary Lightbody on ‘Set The Fire To The Third Bar’. Having performed in Philadelphia, Houston and SXSW in Texas, as well as playing sold out shows in The Academy, The Village and Bewleys, Maud In Cahoots shouldn’t stay unsigned for long."(Hotpress Magazine) - HOTPRESS MAGAZINE

Review: The Well Rested Terrorist
A “live concept album” from alt-pop act Maud in Cahoots uses theatricality to expose a world of surfaces

The Well Rested Terrorist
Peacock Dublin
****
“The well rested terrorist sleeps on a plane,” begins alt-pop musician, Maud Ní Riordáin. “They say his heart’s not in it and he’s doing it for the fame.” So begins a musical meditation on performance, where an electropop gig framed as a theatre piece summons up relationships and realities in break down. It’s an ambitious undertaking, directed by Zoe Ní Riordáin, which replaces the spontaneity of a concert with genre switches, choreographed set pieces and stark, stylised motion.
This could easily tip into a halting cabaret, but Maud Ní Riordáin is a striking, controlled presence with a pristine voice, and together with actor/singer Rory Fleck-Byrne, they coolly peel back a world of surfaces on songs such as She’s an Actress, Odyssey and Je Suis Contente. A little ironic aloofness goes a long way – videos of abrasive therapy and excerpts from Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia are conceptually arresting, but feel inconsequential – while the stagecraft often takes more risks than the songcraft. Yet it is always absorbing; a painstaking work, given startling execution. - Peter Crawley, Irish Times

Culture /Pop Life
Una Mullally
SOCIETY, LIFE AND CULTURE ON THE EDGE
How to present an album
The Well Rested Terrorist reminds you why albums are things to savour and digest.

Thu, Sep 11, 2014, 11:55


No. Not more U2. Sorry.
I went to see The Well Rested Terrorist in the Peacock last night as part of the Fringe, a live concept album performed by Rory Fleck Byrne, Maud Ni Riordain, George Mercer and Stephen Markham, and directed by Maud’s bandmate and sister Zoe, who was selected as a director on the Rough Magic Seeds Programme this year. The Well Rested Terrorist is neither a musical nor a concert nor a play. But it is a unique way to present a collection of songs that you could essentially call an album.
I don’t know whether Maud In Cahoots intended to comment on how music should or could be presented, but that’s one of the overriding things I got from The Well Rested Terrorist. Presenting music in a theatre with little dialogue is always going to be an abstract task, but there’s something captivating about an album unfolding on stage. Albums don’t occupy even a fraction of the space they used to in terms of how we consume music. I love albums, or collections of songs fully realised as a cycle – not in a nostalgic way, or out of a conservative belief that music needs to be served up as it has been historically, but out of an appreciation for the form. But leaving aside the few really good albums I love this year that fully realise themselves (James Vincent McMorrow, Clipping, Jungle, Hozier, Angel Olsen, Warpaint, The War On Drugs, St Vincent, Schoolboy Q, Sky Ferreira), it’s been a while since I’ve felt an album truly come to life. [as an aside, it is worth noting that no matter how many times commentators and the industry scream THE ALBUM IS DEAD it's still how most musicians seem to want to present their work.]
This show probably wouldn’t work without its decent staging and the contemplative themes that surface, all rooted in the context of a relationship with another and with the self; the division of attention in a partnership, ego, meanness, and ignoring, processing and trying to resolve issues. It is partly post-dramatic, but without the hackneyed tropes that are often reached for too quickly. Then there are the songs; the darkness of the title track, the bitterness of ‘In The First Place’, the fame-hungry commentary on ‘She’s An Actress’, the sarcastic disco of ‘Je Suis Contente’, and the resolve of ‘We’re Fine’. I walked out of the theatre not just thinking that the production was a good one, but also that it’s an album I would listen to with a totally different perspective than just clicking something on Spotify.
The Well Rested Terrorist runs in the Peacock until Saturday (13th). Maud In Cahoots are also in concert at Smock Alley on Friday 19th. - Una Mullally, Irish Times

Maud In Cahoots
Having won a battle of the bands to perform at The Guinness Storehouse with Snow Patrol and Westlife on Arthur’s Day in 2010, it looked like Maud In Cahoots were set to be the next big thing. Single Push Me Under got plenty of radio airplay and their set at the Storehouse was well received. Fast-forward five years and for one reason or another it never did quite happen for Maud Ní Ríordán and co. However, that may have been for the best. The Maud In Cahoots we see tonight is entirely different. They’re bigger, bolder, and ultimately better.
She’s An Actress opens the set and the tone is set from the off. Ní Ríordán strikes a commanding figure as she sways in time with the music. Not only is her voice transfixing, but her powerful stage presence make it impossible to avert your eyes. Greatest Achievement is an aptly titled song as it’s undoubtedly the best thing the band has done so far, and the live version takes it to another level as Ní Ríordán’s vocals drive it home.
Maud’s on-stage persona certainly adds to the show but there are moments in which it’s a bit much, particularly as she introduces the band’s next single Cure For The Crazy. “You can buy it… soon. So do,” she commands in a manner which comes across as more seductive than suggestive, drawing some nervous laughter from the crowd. Alas, the song didn’t need any recommendations – it sells itself as it explodes into a dream-like, synth-laden outro before Ní Ríordán ensures the lasting memory of tonight’s show is her vocals as she croons “validation will be my cure.” Based on tonight’s performance, Maud In Cahoots’ decision to rip up the playbook and start again has been totally validated. NS - Goldenplec Music Blog