DUBLIN-BASED poet and musician Christian Wethered has just released a track and live video, Into the Garden. The song calls into question our concept of ‘home’, and what it means to belong.
It draws on, rather interestingly, the story of Adam and Eve, using this age-old story to address our changing perceptions of home.
Wethered told The Irish Post: “This lonely song charts the tragic but necessary shattering of one’s ideas of perfection, innocence, and home. Once they have left, the lovers cannot return to the Garden of Eden – similarly, each new experience, while beautiful, also has an element of sacrifice. I grew up in Sussex and have spent the last 20 years in and out of Ireland. The increasing number of homeless refugees on the streets of Dublin, the catastrophic conflict in Russia and the Ukraine, and the ongoing genocide in Gaza only serve to problematise our concept of home beyond our wildest conceptions."
The video was filmed by Nestor Romero Clemente – a recent collaborator with Lisa O’Neill and Inni-K. The location, Christ Church, Rathgar in Dublin, which Wethered says is a darkly ironic subversion of our attachment to fixed norms, i.e. religion or dogma.
Following the success of his debut album Mon Petit Jardin, a Hot Press top folk album of 2021 which gained widespread airplay both in Ireland and abroad, this further material has been eagerly anticipated.
The style, as you might expect from a poet who moonlights as a songwriting and poetry lecturer at University College Dublin, features deft lyrics. These are set against bare, acoustic guitar picking.
The combination works grippingly well
Wethered is perhaps a cross between Adrien Crowley, David Keenan, Fionn Regan and Joshua Burnside. His ubiquitous Dublin pandemic video for Mr Medicine Man premiered on Hot Press and featured on RTÉ1, RTÉ Culture, and TodayFM. His live performances have included appearances at The Ruby Sessions, Electric Picnic, and most recently the Main Stage at Beyond the Pale Festival.
