This is How we Fly

"Traditional music shot through with the adrenaline of contemporary influences: a lethal but irresistible cocktail." - The Irish Times

Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh ::: fiddle and hardanger fiddle
Seán Mac Erlaine ::: clarinets and live electronics
Nic Gareiss ::: percussive dance
Petter Berndalen ::: drums and percussion.


Traditional music, wherever you find it, has not stood aloof from the tools of change that characterize life in our modern world. As you listen to This is How we Fly, you might find yourself raising delightful questions as to the place, potency and possibilities of old music in a new environment. Or you might find yourself released from the games your mind likes to play, as you submit to its textured and seductive sound world.

TIHWF brings together four musicians, each of them rooted in different cultures and musical vocabularies, each on the cusp of their most fertile and creative years. Individually, each member has carved out a reputation for not just mastering their chosen fields, but rising above, redefining and renewing the musical world they come from. A sublime Irish fiddler who’s not afraid to step outside convention, a sophisticated Appalachian hard shoe dancer stepping into the rhythmic foreground, A thoughtful Dublin jazzman who has moved beyond the linear constraints of the genre, and a lyrical Swedish percussionist redefining the melodic and sonic place of drums within the contours of traditional song.

Their eponymous album has garnered much praise and is available from the This is How we Fly website.They have performed throughout Ireland, Northern Ireland, Sweden, France & Demark as well as performing concerts at several landmark festivals such as Dublin Fringe Festival, Celtic Connections (Glasgow), Linköping Folkmusic Festival and Umefolk (Sweden).

"A singular, stylish and somewhat startling proposition... the quartet's idiosyncratic amalgam of Irish, Swedish and American influences feels experimental and improvisatory." - Songlines

"Evocative and heartfelt, TIHWF's music is an elegant and haunting celebration of tradition and modernity that extols the possibilities of modern folk music to surprise and delight." - All About Jazz

"Fresh-faced, unboxable music." - The Irish Times

"A white-hot creative crucible uniting four pyrotechnic young talents." - Celtic Connections

"The group's genre-melding music is delivered with a lightness of touch that befits the name, with Gareiss's nimble-footed 'percussive dance' adding a spellbinding visual element to live shows." - Le Cool