Marcas Mac an Tuairneir – Nochd

Song info/credits
Marcas Mac an Tuairneir – Nochd 2024

Marcas Mac an Tuairneir returns with his brand-new GaelPop music video, bringing the track from his critically-acclaimed album, Speactram, fully into the post-Covid world.

New Life for a Great Song

“I guess it was a rush of blood to the head,” says Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, when talking about the decision to rework his single Nochd for fresh eyes, with a brand-new music video. Nochd 2024 is the first in a series of new visuals from the Edinburgh-based Gaelic singer-songwriter and poet, and originator of GaelPop in Scotland, that will see him return to 2022’s critically-acclaimed album Speactram, which saw him shortlisted for the Gaelic Singer of the Year Award at the Scots Trad Music Awards.

“You know, that wasn’t bad for someone who decided to reinvent themselves as a singer-songwriter in their late-thirties,” muses Marcas, but the 80s and 90s references which course through the album have gone on to have great appeal with the mid-twenties to mid-forties demographic, who remember them from the first time round. “I think the preconception is that if you see Gaelic you think trad and folk, and if you see Pop you think it’s over before you turn thirty, but with Speactram, we just turned round and said ‘f*ck that, we’re doing it anyway.” The album, which was executive produced by Mary Ann Kennedy and Nick Turner, was largely recorded at Watercolour Music, on the Ardgour Peninsula.

Originally released as Marcas’ third single, Nochd was produced by Spitfire Scholarship-winner Gary Keane, over in Kilkenny, Co. Kerry. Their partnership was suggested when Marcas reached out to London-based pop music purveyors, Electric Pineapple, having enjoyed their 2020 collaboration with Sugababes’ Mutya Buena. “I had worked with Nick Turner at Watercolour Music on my first single, and then with Rod Thomas (Bright Light Bright Light) on the second, and was really feeling out what my sound was going to be. When Electric Pineapple saw ‘Gaelic’ they thought of Gary and a creative relationship was established between Scotland and Ireland”, explains Marcas. Keane went on to produce two more tracks for the album – Èirigh and Calman – which served as lead singles for the release, with videos devised and directed by Alex Nichol of now-Edinburgh-based Chaos Dragon Media. A subsequent single, Silhouette, was produced by Adam Holmes.

Pop Justice

The original video for Nochd appeared in May 2021, just three months after Scotland had emerged from the second lockdown. “Trying to release music during that time was hellish,” reflects Marcas. “Touring musicians had no gigs, I had won a place to represent Scotland at Liet International” – minoritised languages’ equivalent of Eurovision, which was due to be held in Denmark in 2020 – “but the whole thing was called off. There was no way I was going to be able to work with a director and film a music video under those conditions, so I just had to improvise.” The original clip was filmed on Marcas’ mobile phone, in his own front room. “I had the dry ice machine going at one and end, and the extractor fan at full tilt in the kitchen, at the other”. Marcas edited the original version of the video himself, at home, using the original single mix.

But Marcas always felt Keane’s stellar production of the song had been cheated of an opportunity to shine. “Getting to revisit the song and present it as it should have been is definitely a pop justice moment. It also shows how so many musicians survived through Covid on their own ingenuity, and came out the other end.” Now fans of Marcas can see Nochd just as he intended, complete with the album mix, mixed and mastered by Turner at Watercolour Music.

Nochd 2024

Shot at Alex Nichol’s Chaos Dragon Media studio, in Edinburgh’s Sciennes, Nochd 2024 takes Marcas’ original concept and elevates it for new and returning audiences. Leading with the neon imagery and colour palette which made the Speactram campaign so distinctive, the video presents a duskier, darker side to the oeuvre – reflecting on the song’s themes of struggling with body image and search for body positivity – themes which led to the song and an interview with Marcas being featured on BBC Alba’s Eòrpa, and a special episode shedding light on that very subject.

“There is certainly more skin in this video than in previous ones,” muses Marcas, considering how much of the audiovisuals around Speactram sought to establish a queer aesthetic within a Scottish Gaelic cultural context. “I think as LGBTQ people we find ourselves twice – once as we reach adulthood and again as we come out. It’s a bit of a reset and a re-emergence. It has taken me a long time to embrace my own body, after a lifetime of being confronted with a constant media barrage, which tells us what the male body should look like, if it’s to be desirable”. In this, the video takes a direct swipe at the physical ideals of Instagram culture and the pink press. “I think within LGBTQ milieu we are now leading the conversation on body positivity. There has to be room for real people – whatever your build, height or cultural background. Doing all this through the medium of Gaelic shows how this is unashamedly intersectional – the best work comes out of those conjunctions and tensions.”

The video is was already previewed for Marcas’ Patreon subscribers, and has gone down well with his following, there, which includes Gaelic-speakers in Scotland and North America, as well as fans from his birthplace, York, and hometown, Edinburgh. The video is also available via pay-to-view on the brand-new Lounges.tv platform – recently launched with the backing of stakeholder Simon Cowell. Marcas is the first ever Gaelic-speaking artist to feature, there and is excited to bring Gaelic-language music to new audiences using the streaming service, which seeks to give a fairer deal to musicians.

Success for Speactram
As well as the nod at the Trads, Marcas was also the recipient of a National Gaelic Award in 2023, recognising his lifelong commitment to Gaelic Arts and Culture. The nomination focused squarely on Speactram and his ground-breaking poetry collection Polaris, which was also shortlisted for the Saltire Society’s Scottish Poetry Book of the Year Award, the Derick Thomson Prize and a Saboteur Award. The album has been played extensively on BBC Radio nan Gàidheal and Irish-language stations, such as RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Raidió Rí-Rá and Raidio na Life. Shows on Scotland’s community radio stations have championed the music too, namely Robert John MacInnes’ Friday Night Trad on Radio Skye, Kate Reid, who chose Speactram as album of the week on Celtic Music Radio and colleagues Dr Robert and Jamie MacKay who present Ceòl is Craic. Speactram was also well received in Gaelic Canada, with tracks featured heavily by Andrew MacFayden’s Celtic Fire show on CFU Radio. Back home, album was heralded with an interview of BBC radio Scotland’s Afternoon Show with tracks also featured by Cerys’ Matthews on BBC Radio 6, demonstrating that GaelPop definitely has a place within the mainstream.

The real surprise, however, has been the outpouring of support on streaming platform Spotify. Calman, also produced by Keane, has garnered almost 240,000 plays alone, with Èirigh, another Keane cut, approaching 190,000. “It’s not bad for a minortised language, when detractors within our own borders claim there is no interest and no future for it,” smiles Marcas. On the contrary, outwith the UK, Marcas’ regular listeners routinely fans in USA, Brazil, France, Spain, Australia, Netherlands, Portugal, Turkey – locations where multilingualism is normal, and language isn’t a barrier to enjoying great music.

The new video catalyses a process of revitalisation for Marcas, when it comes to Speactram – an unorthodox approach, almost two years after its release. “I think Covid skewed the timeline and forced us all to change the way we see things – there is no ‘done thing’ in 2024.” For Marcas, putting the album campaign on pause gave him chance to re-evaluate and re-engage with a renewed energy. “Fundamentally, it isn’t over until I feel it’s over, and there’s a lot of mileage in this music yet.” Fans can look forward to a new single from Speactram, later this summer, which will also be accompanied by a new video, and more besides.

Speactram is out now on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and where you find great music.

Notes For Editors

Writer: Marcas Mac an Tuairneir

Production: Gary Keane

Exec Production: Nick Turner, Mary Ann Kennedy (Watercolour Music)

Director of Photography: Alex Nichol (Chaos Dragon Film)

Filming: Alex Nichol (Chaos Dragon Film)

Video Concept: Marcas Mac an Tuairneir

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