ANNOUNCING: BlackGate by Caimin Gilmore
Praise for Caimin Gilmore
“Fabulous playing by Caimin Gilmore” — Journal of Music
“Caimin Gilmore’s upright bass-playing was reminiscent of Danny Thompson’s work, fluid and sunlit.” — The Spectator
On Thursday, June 5, 2025, Irish composer and double bassist Caimin Gilmore announces his debut record BlackGate, via New Amsterdam Records in collaboration with Dublin based Ten Spot Records (out on August 1, 2025). BlackGate features renowned cellist Kate Ellis, harpist Lavinia Meijer, and Caimin Gilmore on double bass & DX7.
Well-known as one of Ireland's leading young double bassists, BlackGate marks Gilmore's emergence as a major new compositional voice, in a style reflective of his expansive collaborations as a performer. BlackGate is an instrumental composition and genre-fluid journey through myriad evocative sonic spaces, with exquisite writing not just for his own double bass, but for the harp and cello, accompanied by subtle Yamaha DX7 synthesizer passages that provide further sonic depth and color. The record encapsulates Gilmore’s idiosyncratic playing style, which has formed the bedrock to his work with artists across a diffuse spectrum of musical styles—from contemporary music to pop, classical and folk—in turn, becoming a manifestation of them all.
Gilmore is a member of Ireland’s ground breaking new music group Crash Ensemble. An interdisciplinary and versatile modern musician, he has shared the stage with internationally renowned artists like Lisa Hannigan, Dermot Kennedy, Aaron Dessner, Jessy Buckley, Dirty Projectors, Sam Amidon, Greg Saunier, to name a few, and is currently touring with Irish bands Ye Vagabonds & John Francis Flynn (Rough Trade/River Lea). He features on over 40 recordings, including releases from Damon Albarn, Boygenius, and on Leonard Cohen’s posthumous album ‘Thanks for the Dance’ with European ensemble s t a r g a z e, among many others.
Kate Ellis is Artistic Director of Crash Ensemble, cellist with Martin Hayes’ Common Ground Ensemble and has toured with Bono as part of his Stories of Surrender show 2022-2023. Lavinia Meijer is a Sony Classical recording artist and the only classical musician to have reached the top 10 in the Dutch album charts for 3 consecutive solo albums. Her recording of Philip Glass’ ‘Metamorphosis’ went platinum in the Netherlands.
Out now: MVE III
Alongside the announcement, Gilmore releases lead single MVE III; out of its weightless opening gestures a hushed landscape comes into view circling around intricately woven patterns in the harp, which are beautifully colored by Yamaha DX7, as Gilmore and Ellis’ shifting strings bloom in and out of focus in near fury, and at other times on the verge of unravelling. MVE III integrates disparate sound worlds, yet the music remains clear; the ensemble becomes one gesture, evolving and modulating organically to the next.
Gilmore further elaborates on his relationship with the 1980’s workhorse synthesizer and its relationship to Gilmore's compositional color palette: “The DX7 has unlimited variations in ways to express yourself, and I think that was my attraction to it. I noticed how similar manipulating the sound on the synth was to playing an acoustic instrument—manipulating the sound of the oscillators felt very similar to what I do with my bowing hand to change sound.”
About BlackGate
BlackGate sits at the cutting edge of a long history of artists working within a wide range of musical styles dating back as far as Velvet Underground’s John Cale, and continuing through artists like Deerhoof, Bryce Dessner, Sufjan Stevens, and Ryan Lott (Son Lux). “There has been a long lineage of non classical artists working primarily in ‘commercial’ music who dig from the contemporary classical music well & also write it,” says Gilmore. “For me, the first time the idea that this cross pollination was rigorously happening was listening to NewAm Artistic Director William Brittelle at Sounds from a Safe Harbour Festival (Cork) in 2019, chatting about ‘genre fluidity’ in music on a panel discussion with curator Mary Hickson. I ended up doing an impromptu gig alongside William and the musicians he had brought over to the festival to perform his music. That interaction cemented, and made sense of, how ‘classical’ composers and musicians were also working in genre-fluid ways internationally and this gave assurance to the idea that my musical ideas, amassed performing across genres, had credibility as a notated work also.”
On creating the work, Gilmore explains: ”I was interested in writing a piece that lived somewhere—harmonically and structurally—between indie and minimalist music; using extended string techniques to create a spectral sound world. At the time I was playing and jumping across a broad range of styles—contemporary music, folk/Irish traditional music, playing in indie groups, and symphonic repertoire with orchestras. I felt that the playing techniques I was using across these genres were transferable, and the diffuse sonic worlds were conducive with each other–they could live together if it was a reflection of how I approached them, or maybe how I understood them. It felt most natural to me to write something with this cross pollination of genres in mind. BlackGate as such became a natural reflection of the different types of music and people I was performing and collaborating with at the time of writing it.”
BlackGate was commissioned by The BlackGate Cultural Centre (Galway) using funds from the Arts Council of Ireland. The commissioners intention was for Gilmore to create a genre-fluid amalgam and reflection of his multifaceted career. The work was written, notated, and recorded over the course of a year-long residency for Dublin City Council. It had its world premiere at Kilkenny Arts Festival (IRL) in 2024 and a further performance as part of New Music Dublin Festival in the National Concert Hall of Ireland, March 2025. It will receive its US premiere on July 21st at the PS21 Centre for Contemporary Performance (Chatham), from Lavinia Meijer and celebrated American cellist Clarice Jensen.
Caimin Gilmore - BlackGate - Limited Edition 10” Vinyl
BlackGate is being released on bespoke 10” vinyl, cassette & digital. Each record is housed in a custom made, lithographically printed, deluxe 10” Tip-On gatefold jacket produced and hand packed by Ten Spot Records with layout by M&E Studio Sweden. Formed in Dublin and focusing on artists based in Ireland, Ten Spot Records produces small, beautiful batches of limited edition 10" albums made to the highest audiophile standards.
The album was recorded and edited by Adrian Hart with additional recording from Ber Quinn in Sonic Studios, Dublin and Sam Jones at Studio Joneski, Utrecht. Mixed and mastered by Francesco Fabris at Greenhouse Studios, Reykjavik. Vinyl cut at Air Mastering Studios, London by Barry Grint at Half-Speed. Pressed on 100g 10” vinyl at Optimal Media, Germany. Everything has been designed and mixed to be listened to on record with vinyl production and management by Dek Hynes at Ten Spot Records.
A limited edition set of notated pocket scores of BlackGate will be available to purchase alongside the vinyl, exclusively at Rough Trade stores throughout the UK.
Hand numbered and limited to 500 copies available online at: www.tenspotrecords.com (Ireland/EU), www.newamrecords.org (USA), www.roughtrade.co.uk (UK) and any other music retailer.
Tracklist:
Side A: 01. MVE I | 02. Seque I | 03. MVE II
Side B: 04. Seque II | 05. MVE III | 06. Seque III | 07. MVE IV
Credits:
BlackGate composed by Caimin Gilmore.
Performed by:
Kate Ellis – Cello & Piano
Caimin Gilmore – Double Bass & DX-7
Lavinia Meijer – Concert Harp
Tape parts improvised by Kate Ellis & Caimin Gilmore.
Strings recorded in Sonic Studios, Dublin, by Adrian Hart & Ber Quinn.
Harp recorded in Studio Joneski, Utrecht, by Sam Jones.
Edited by Adrian Hart.
Mixed & Mastered by Francesco Fabris, Greenhouse Studios, Reykjavik.
Tape Transfer by Sean Coleman & Phil Kinrade.
Half Speed Mastering by Barry “Bazza” Grint at Air Studios London.
Liner notes by Neva Elliott.
Editing by Dhammika Wijetunge.
Photography by David Six.
Artwork Omphalos, 1993, oil on canvas (Diptych) by John Noel Smith.
Design layout by M&E Studio.
Vinyl Production & Project Management by Dek Hynes, Ten Spot Records.
Thanks to Peadar King, Kate Ellis, Lavinia Meijer, Adrian Hart, Bernard Quinn, Francesco Fabris, Sam Jones, André de Ridder, Oisín Walsh-Peelo, Méabh McKenna, John Noel Smith, Gemma Doherty, Ben Sloan, David Six, Olga Barry, Marjie Kaley, Emma Hannon, Dhammika Wijetunge, Ror Conaty, Matty Bolger, Emelie Lidström, John Harris & Jonathan Pearson. Special thanks to Ten Spot Records & New Amsterdam for releasing this record.
Commissioned by the BlackGate Cultural Centre Galway using funds from The Arts Council of Ireland / An Chomhairle Ealaíon.
Mixed & digitally mastered by Francesco Fabris (Greenhouse Studios Reykjavik). Half Speed 10” vinyl mastering with Barry ‘Bazza’ Grint (Air Studios London).
About Caimin Gilmore
Caimin Gilmore is a member of Irish new music group Crash Ensemble. He has recorded or shared the stage with:
Zach Condon, Squarepusher, Bernard Butler, Shahzad Ismaily, The Staves, Justin Vernon, Aaron and Bryce Dessner, Thomas Bartlett, Anais Mitchell, Phoebe Bridgers, Dirty Projectors, Kate Stables, Tom Fleming, Alabaster de Plume, Sam Amidon, Greg Saunier, Dionne Warwick, s t a r g a z e & Irish acts Gavin James, Dermot Kennedy, Colm Mac Iomaire, Lisa Hannigan, Damien Dempsey, Kodaline, Loah, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, Lisa O’Neill, Ye Vagabonds, John Francis Flynn, Jessy Buckley, Cormac Begley, John Sheahan, Tolü Makay, Niamh Regan, David Kitt, Anna Mieke, Rachel Lavelle, Saint Sister, Ships, Stephen James Smith, Participant, Lemoncello, Niamh Bury & Hard Rain Ensemble. He performs regularly with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland & celebrated Irish Dance Company Teac Damsa.
About New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam is a Brooklyn-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit artist’s service organization dedicated to supporting new music by composers and performers whose work transcends traditional and outdated genre distinctions. The label's artists have won numerous awards and accolades, including two Grammy Awards, seventeen Grammy nominations, and a Pulitzer Prize. New Amsterdam has also curated and presented more than 500 live concerts of groundbreaking new music. In recent years, the label embarked on a partnership with Nonesuch Records, seeing the release of approximately three albums per year to support contemporary American composers in realizing ambitious creative projects.
