“Ireland’s darkest jewel”
JMI - The Journal of Music in Ireland
Paul G. Smyth (b.1976) is a musician, artist and designer, based in Dublin. A member of The Jimmy Cake (described by the Irish Times as “the most powerful musical force in Ireland”) and Boys Of Summer (“the sound of John Carpenter being buried alive” – Le Cool Magazine), Smyth is also Ireland’s foremost free-improvising pianist. After studying fine-art painting in the National College of Art + Design, Smyth toured with New York free-jazz veteran Charles Gayle, and since then has played with such luminaries as Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Keiji Haino, Barry Guy, John Russell, Chris Corsano and Damo Suzuki, been a featured composer in the National Concert Hall, written music for theatre, and performed in 17 countries. Most recently, Smyth was invited by Russell to perform at Fête Quaqua in London, where he worked with John Butcher, Lol Coxhill, Max Eastley, Roger Turner, Hannah Marshall, Chris Burn, Bill Hsu, Dylan Bates, Jean Bordé and Ute Wassermann, as well as Russell himself. This has led to a duo with English cellist Hannah Marshall, and the formation of a new trio with Marshall and percussionist Mark Sanders.
Smyth was a co-founding member of the artist-run collective The Whispering Gallery, which was set up for the promotion of new music from both Ireland and abroad.
Other activity has included a Postgraduate Diploma in Music & Media Technologies from Trinity College, Dublin, an exhibition of works on paper in Roundstone, Connemara, and the premiere of electroacoustic work, ‘The Dry Land’, at the Sligo New Music Festival. He has also just released ‘Spectre & Crown’, the new album by The Jimmy Cake, to critical acclaim. Smyth makes electronic music under the name Most Haunted, and is a creative director of Neon Palms design house.