Clannad will release a new studio album, Nádúr (‘Nature’), on 20 September on the ARC Music label.

The album sees the family band – siblings Moya, Ciarán and Pól Brennan and their twin uncles Noel and Padraig Duggan – back together on record as the full original line-up for the first time since the 1989 album Past Present. Following Pól Brennan’s departure after that album, the band released four albums – the last being the Grammy-winning album Landmarks in 1998.

In 2011, Clannad were invited to perform a series of concerts at Dublin’s Christ Church Cathedral, in which Pól was invited to be involved. The concerts were filmed and recorded for a DVD and CD that were released following broadcasts on PBS in America.

This event provided the catalyst for the five to start considering a new album, but before going into the studio they embarked on a tour across North America and Europe. The time together on the road helped shape the ideas they had for Nádúr.

‘The fact that we’d toured quite extensively in the months leading up to recording really had an effect on the album,’ says Moya Brennan. ‘Playing live across various countries gave us a really good indication of not just what we wanted from a new album but also what the audience out there wanted to hear. We feel this record touches on every aspect of our forty year career. Every track is different yet every track is pure Clannad.’

Nádúr contains 13 new tracks, including ‘Vellum’, ‘Rhapsody na gCrann’, ‘TransAtlantic’ (co-written with Colum McCann), ‘Brave Enough’ (with Duke Special), ‘The Fishing Blues’, ‘Lámh ar Lámh’, ‘The Song in your Heart’, ‘Setanta’, and the traditional ‘Cití na gCumann’.

Watch the Nádúr video sampler below.

clannad.ie