Vinyl Record

Lankum - Between The Earth And Sky

Lankum - Between The Earth And Sky on 2LP vinyl. A 2017 record available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.

2LP · 2017

Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.

Buyer notes: 2017 2LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection vinyl shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel or ship within Ireland for EUR 5.50.

Between The Earth And Sky is the 2017 album where Lankum's transformation from the earlier Lynched name becomes more than a change of sign. The Dublin four-piece keep faith with old songs, street ballads and communal singing, but the record is charged by the feeling that tradition is not a museum room: it is something that can darken, stretch and argue with the present. The Granite Gaze turns housing pressure and urban unease into a contemporary folk lament; What Will We Do When We Have No Money? makes a Traveller song feel both ancient and brutally current; Sergeant William Bailey carries satire through a rough chorus; the long closing title piece lets drone and repetition pull the album toward ritual. Between The Earth And Sky is rooted in Irish folk history, but its force comes from refusing to keep that history polite.

This album matters because it announced Lankum as a major modern folk group rather than a revival act. In 2017 they found a language where uilleann pipes, concertina, fiddle, harmonium and close voices could carry social anger, old balladry and experimental weight at the same time.

For collectors, this is the crucial bridge between the group's earlier folk grounding and the darker, more expansive records that followed. It pairs especially well with The Livelong Day because you can hear the drone language and political pressure beginning to harden into a signature.

Irish folk with droning harmonium, rough-edged harmony, uilleann pipes, concertina, fiddle, old ballads, social bite and slow-building ritual intensity.

Recommended for: Listeners exploring modern Irish folk beyond clean revivalism; Collectors tracing Lankum's move into darker long-form territory; Fans of traditional songs reshaped with political urgency and drone.

What year did Between The Earth And Sky come out? It was released in 2017, during the period when the band had newly taken the Lankum name. Which tracks are key to the album? The Granite Gaze, What Will We Do When We Have No Money?, Sergeant William Bailey and the title track are central to its range. Is Between The Earth And Sky traditional folk? It uses traditional material and folk instrumentation, but the arrangements are darker, heavier and more contemporary than a straightforward revival reading.