who plays on our debut album, "FLOATINGHOME - le grand discours"

our debut album: "le grand discours" by Floatinghome
released: march, 2012
hear me: https://floatinghome.bandcamp.com/album/le-grand-discours

today, our debut album, "le grand discours" turns ten... i thought i would repost this blog from a couple of years ago...

as you're listening, you'll probably have noticed that there's a whole bunch of musicians and artists on it, who are they all? i hear the chorus ask... well:

aidan - vox / guitar / rhodes / clarinet+whistles / cello bass (04,06,09) / bass (10) / percussion (02,04,06) / vocoder+fx
that's me - floatinghome is one of the projects with my songwriting at its heart...

and as for everyone else... besides the time we spent recording together on this here album, i have and have had wonderful friend and professional relationships with each and everyone...

Alyanya Massey - bv (07)
one of my last projects before leaving ireland was playing percussion in alyanya's band to see the launch of her SPIRIT album. we also played music together in a musical collective in dublin that was the centre of my life for about 3 years.

Antoine Wielemans - bass (03)
one of the singers and songwriters of belgian band "girls in hawaii". i worked with antoine and lio on some of the songs that made up their third album, "EVEREST" and worked also with him in the shop of luthier and friend francois massau.

Anna Jacob - sax (03)
we played together in various bands and projects in dublin and she played with us in the live band in dublin and belgium - featuring also on the "live and sans souci" album.

Aoife O Sullivan - bv (06)
we played together in various projects in dublin and germany. aoife is a photographer who photographed "lord altmont" and other projects that i was involved in. we toured together with wallis bird for years and, most recently, i played clarinet on her album, CHAPTERS (band: timely on bandcamp).

Augustin Dethier - drums (01,03,05,09,10) / bv (05)
we worked together regularly on projects including a couple of video soundtracks and the floatinghome project during its belgian years.

Ben Kritikos - guitar (01,05,11) / percussion (02,03) / noise (03) / bv (01,02,11)
my musical brother - we have been working together on tons of projects since we met in 2004, including his HERONS! project, my lord altmont and floatinghome projects. most recently, i helped record his second album, SOME THINGS RUN WILD. ben was also part of that dublin collective. he features on all of the floatinghome recordings so far!

Brian Roache - bv (01)
my path crossed in the bewleys theatre in dublin with many musicians and artists - i had the pleasure of working with brian on the biatch collective nights, among others.

Christine Docq - bv (01,07)
we lived together in a house in belgium that organised weekly open-mic nights - she is a fabulous interpreter and songwriter. i played clarinet with her band bedoq for a time.

Christophe Capewell - violin (01,07)
we played together on so many stages and in so many sessions during my time in ireland and since, our paths continue to almost cross - one of these days soon!

Cian Murphy - bass (02)
cian played bass with the floatinghome project during its dublin days and features also on the live at bewleys album. we lived together for a time in dublin and he was part of that dublin collective.

David mcGuinness - bv (01)
i adore this man's voice! singer/songwriter in his own right and also frontman of dublin band lir, i played percussion and clarinet with him at a nick drake tribute in dublin, as well as some other shows where we found ourselves performing together.

Fabrice Bihain - flute (02,05,07,10) / bv (05)
we met at an open-mic night in bruxelles in 2002, fabrice was sat in the corner playing flute all night, so i took him with me! the west cork song came from a musical idea we had together in a forest near namur. we have been involved in loads of projects over the years, and fabrice played guitar during floatinghome's belgian years.

Francois Massau - bv (03)
francois is a wonderful luthier... he made my electric guitar. i worked with him at his shop, de musica, for most of the time i lived in belgium. we had and continue to have many musical adventures.

James Guilmartin - percussion (02)
i play clarinet on james' debut album, INTRO INTO EXILE. he played percussion with the floatinghome project during its dublin years and was part of that dublin collective.

Jenny Lindfors - bv (02,11)
i played in jenny's live band and she played in mine during the dublin years. we drove many kilometers, jenny, ben, alyanya and i, in aly's black bmw or my mum's dark red volvo playing shows. we lived together in her family home, a fabulous house near the ocean in dublin for bursts of time too - we played alot of music as part of that dublin musical collective.

Jenny Woods - bv (01)
jenny was another person that i met in the bewleys theatre in dublin - she also sang with the biatch collective nights.

Remy Lehembre - bass (01) / double bass (05,07) / bv (05)
remy played bass with floatinghome during the belgian years. we have known each other much longer than that, stemming from wild musical nights in belgium in 2002.

Shelley Buckspan - bv (01)
i also met shelley in the bewleys theatre in dublin - she sang with many bands including the biatch collective nights... it was shelley who organised the singers on to this album and subsequently onto stage at a couple of my shows.

Simon Beriaux - bv (03,05)
simon played keys with floatinghome during the belgian years. we had been playing together since 2001 - i have a photo of us on stage around that time, me with a broken arm in a sling, lifted over my head, screaming a note and he, battering the guitar beside me! we have also worked together on his HIBOU project.

Valerie Balligand - cello (07)
we worked together in francois massau's shop. valerie is a truly wonderful musician who has played with many greats. im still waiting for the call to record on her debut album!

Wallis Bird - bv (06,07)
my musical sister, i spend more days of each year with wallis than anyone else in the world - her wonderful music has brought me all over the world and continues to do so - im honoured to work with her not only for the journey, but for the tunes that never tire when they're stuck in the head and the craic! i have played on all of wallis' albums, most recently, her wonderful new album due in autumn 2019. [... and another in spring 2022!]

Artwork by Nico Beleyew (tchiktchak.be).
i love nico's work - he has been working on the graphic identity of floatinghome since after bewleys (that one was me and not nearly as pretty!)... he sees something in there that i love! i think this website is now defunkt, but he's all over the internet.

Photo by Jens Oellermann
i first met jens when he was photographing wallis in a building-site across the road from our berlin venue. since, we have worked together on tons of projects, including his photo of me on the inlay of this album.

Mixed and Mastered by Marcus Wüst at Kleine Audiowelt studios.
i met marcus through wallis and loved his work instantly, we have been working together since the sans souci album. our paths also cross regularly on tour.

then there's Karakter...
without all the help and advice from peter, liz and the whole karakter team, id be in a ditch with 4 strings on my guitar trying to hit the high notes in simon and garfunkel songs.