Cuar — Roscanna

Roscanna is the first album by Cuar, a progressive traditional three-piece headed by Neil Ó Loclainn. They take the familiar rhythmic, harmonic and timbral materials of Irish music, but develop them in novel ways, resulting in an original, beautiful and spacious sound.

In attempting to make a visual analogue, I began by thinking about Irish visual culture, and what materials could be taken and developed. It occurred to me that, more than in most countries, the graphic realisation of language is central to Ireland’s visual culture. From there I began experimenting with calligraphic forms, and ultimately decided to use one brush stroke in isolation — a motif as legible on a CD sleeve as when reduced to a thumbnail on Bandcamp.

Uncoated digifile sleeve.