Joshua Burnside lights up at the mention of his record label, Quiet Arch. He stands poised with his guitar on the iconic Empire Music Hall stage, surveying his surroundings, breathing in the atmosphere. Soundcheck is going well. Two huge disco balls hang from the ceiling, one of them spins. Like Burnside, they are at once still and perpetually in motion, both in the moment and moving forward. Tonight, he will play to a packed house alongside former label mates Ciaran Lavery and Malojian, Laytha and Ryan Vail & Elma Orkestra, as music lovers from across the country gather to pay tribute to arguably the greatest Belfast record label since Good Vibrations.
Later that night, he stares down the dark and claims, “I don’t want to do much talking tonight…so here’s some songs from Ephrata”.
Burnside’s debut album was born in Columbia and raised in Quiet Arch’s Belfast HQ, streamed in extraordinary numbers across the world. With an unprecedented three NI Music Prize wins, it’s easy to see why Quiet Arch has left such an impression on people’s lives. The label’s founder Lyndon Stephens planned to rest the label to focus on his management company and his health, but tragically, it was announced that Lyndon had died on the morning of the gig planned to celebrate their success. Quiet Arch release a statement of grief and defiance, the show will go ahead as planned.
There is a queue out the doors by 7pm, the mood understandably a little tense. As the crowd begins to shuffle in, we are greeted by Francesca, Aine, and Ben, the Quiet Arch team. At the merch desk, a collection of vinyl, CDs and apparel spanning the label’s six gloriously diverse years.
New signings Laytha have the tough task of opening proceedings. They smash it, harmonious pop balladry bringing the room to a standstill, a delicate cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’ providing the first of many singalong moments. They recognise the importance of their performance; they know what this means.
Stuart Bailie is on hosting duties tonight and has the Empire hanging off every word. Memories of Lyndon are interrupted by reminders of the Quiet Arch legacy, including the huge mural of Malojian (AKA Stephen Scullion) outside the Oh Yeah Centre in Cathedral Quarter. Bathed in the camera’s glow, Scullion looks ethereal on the Belfast wall - tonight he sounds it, too. ‘Some New Bones’ washes right to the back of the venue, the crowd enthralled. The room is packed, punters perched right on the edge of the balcony to get a clear view of the Lurgan-born songwriter, who powers through a string of emotional bangers and leaves the stage to a rapturous reception.
Ciaran Lavery enters the stage without his guitar, flanked by a backing band. “We’re here to have a good time tonight, are you with us?” If that’s a rhetorical question, the Empire answers regardless, captured by several rhythmic and intricate tunes from his forthcoming album. It’s a new direction for Lavery, striking and immediate. Penultimate track ‘Okkervil River’s majestic horn section and funky breakdown gets the audience moving and that jubilance is cemented when Joshua Burnside joins them on stage for a gloriously frenetic finale of Joy Division’s ‘Isolation’.
Back in August 2016, when Quiet Arch’s reputation was really gathering pace, the number of wide eyed dreamers knocking on Lyndon Stephens door seemed to increase by the day. Joshua Burnside was fresh from a writing trip to South America and the result, Ephrata is astounding. He dropped the record in to the label, and after a night of repeated listens, the decision was made to get down to his nearest gig and sign him.
Back in the present, Stuart Bailie introduces Burnside onto the stage with a typical Quiet Arch tale, of how Lyndon Stephens was so impressed by I that he had two sets of stickers printed before the night of the NI Music Prize awards ceremony. One reading, ‘NI Music Prize Nominated Album’, the other ‘NI Music Prize Winning Album’. Such confidence proved a deft move.
Tonight, Joshua Burnside punctuates his set with tracks from the album, and another milestone Quiet Arch release, Live From The Elmwood Hall. After opening with a stripped back acoustic version of ‘I’m A Man You Don’t Meet Everyday’ by The Pogues, he goes straight into the stunning ‘The Only Thing I Fear’, which is nothing short of reverential. His band join him, accompanied by brother Connor Burnside on drums. ‘Northern Winds’, ‘Holllllogram’ and ‘Blood Drive’ all hit home, while ‘Tunnels, Pt 2’ builds to a cathartic conclusion. He looks physically exhausted by the end of the night. Job done.
The NI Music Prize 2019 was the first to have the winner decided on the night, by an eleven strong panel. Apparently, it didn’t take them long to decide that Ryan Vail & Elma Orkestra’s Borders was the unanimous winner. A bold concept requiring a bold record label, Stuart Bailie spoke passionately of this during his last address of the night.
‘Borders tells you so much about where we’re at right now. How we must banish the hateful people, how we need to stop being mistrustful. That’s the zeitgeist, that’s the legacy. Borders travels around the world. It’s been to Mexico, it’s been to Berlin, it’s created conversations in the middle East…but it’s from here. It wouldn’t exist without Lyndon and it wouldn’t exist without Quiet Arch. We go forward”.
The images projected on the Empire walls during Ryan Vail & Elma Orkestra’s set are as mesmeric as the music. The sampled spoken words of BBC Radio Ulster DJ Stephen McCauley beckon you into a world of thought, and deep bass slips you into another world. It’s an epic ending, waves thrashing the Donegal coast as Vail’s synths crash into the crowd.
As the house lights go up and the crowd embrace, you feel you may have just been a part of something seismic. There is strength in this simple act of togetherness.
The following day, I catch up briefly with Ben Magee of Quiet Arch and Champion Sound Music. He was a vital part of making this happen. I ask if he’d had any time to reflect on what we’d just witnessed. “All the artists did an amazing thing. A Herculean act and they should all be very proud. They did Lyndon proud”.
I can’t disagree.
