Frawl
“Limerick is a special place and a tough place. Tough in the sense that, no one is going to help you get there. You have to build whatever it is you’re doing. It’s once the city knows you’re able to last, that’s when she’ll help you. Till then you have to stay strong. From what I know of Detroit? I think it’s much the same” remarks DJ, Producer, Promoter and above all else music lover Cian Frawley otherwise known as Frawl by his nearest and dearest.
A man yet again with a naturally occurring interest in sound from an early age, Cian started out in pirate radio. “I’d be recording broadcasts off the radio on cassette of my favorite songs, and one day there was an equipment expo in the city. I went with my Dad and there was a Dutch man who was selling broadcasting equipment. So I asked if he could build me a broadcast tower and provide me with some equipment. My Dad agreed to let it happen and helped me buy it. We put up the tower on the roof and my pirate radio station began”.
As time went on, radio led to Djing parties across the city in a time where venues were plentiful. As music took center stage Cian left to Manchester to study production whilst growing his record collection. Upon his return he created the infamous “BACKWARDS” nights he’s known for across Ireland. Anywhere from 4 to 9 hour parties where he has a chance to stretch out and take people on a journey.
“You tell a story with a dj set, and in the process you learn the dictionary of rhythms that move people, the circumstances in which certain things do and don’t work. What I didn’t realize is this is an informal education in production”. Making the inaugural body of work for EWA, Frawl had a pretty clear understanding of the mission ahead. “At the heart of it, the first body of work with the exception of one track is an homage to Disco, in particular ‘79 disco. And within it we had a certain sense of freedom to make the songs long, to give them intricacy on a bedrock of simplicity. And this is what it is. It’s a love letter to that era when all the musicians were in a room together, sweating and connecting. When the vocalist was honored by the music and simultaneously honored the music. You play these records and hear how weird they were trying to get and how far they were trying to go within the medium of disco and you see how it literally sets an audience free on a dance floor. So this is our love letter to that time with all the information we’ve picked up in particular from people like Theo, Marcellus, Mancuso, Levan. It’s just it’s from the treaty, not Detroit”.
