After two instrumental albums, the new Hilary Woods record ‘Night CRIÚ’ sees her return to songs and singing.
Written and produced by Hilary Woods, ‘Night Criú’ was mixed by Dean Hurley, best known for his work with the late David Lynch and a number of artists on the Italians Do It Better label. It features an international cast too with contributions from The Hangleton brass band and children’s choir from Brighton, violinist Oliver Turvey, Portugese percussionist Gabriel Ferrandini and Slovak flautist Ajo Gonsenica.
As the title suggests, this is an emotive nocturnal work, but while its predecessor ‘Acts of Light’ was drenched in monochrome, ‘Night Criú’ sees bursts of colour emerge from the shadows. While sparse in structure, the 7 songs have a breathy expansive depth of feeling and sonic artistry, the lyrics are themed around what it means to be human in the face of tyranny and oppression. There are also influences from Czech and Italian cinema, the revival of indigenous language and Hilary Woods’ own growing up in Ireland with its history of processions and parades.
The haunting ‘Voce’ combines scratchy cello, solemn drones and funereal beats while the minimal ‘Faults’ is also drone laden with a gentle backbone, Woods sounding fragile yet beautiful with the surprise of a distant brass band punctuating the frozen air.
On the eerie ‘Endgames’, there are hints of sparkles within its foreboding drama. Although initially stripped down to the bone of a deep acoustic guitar, ‘Brightly’ builds its mood as bowed orchestrations tear at the heartstrings, recalling GOLDFRAPP’s ‘Deer Stop’. Circling around a percussive loop of what appears to be pots and pans, ‘Taper’ is the sound of Nancy Sinatra if she had been born in Eastern Europe and when the children’s choir comes in, the moment is simply spine tingling!
A collection of choirs set to a drone, ‘Offerings’ is more an experimental montage acting as an interlude before the closer ‘Shelter’; this is Hilary Woods’ own ‘Mysteries Of Love’ and an exquisite conclusion to ‘Night Criú’.
Hilary Woods said: “Each record is a life buoy, a raft, a snapshot, a marker in the sand, a date that requires me to meet it. Making records is a way of being”. Immersed in artistic integrity, this is a wonderfully grainy filmic record that mourns and reclaims a lost innocence all at the same time. A gentle aural ceremony of light and shade, ‘Night Criú’ is something to savour.
‘Night Criú’ is released by Sacred Bones Records, available in pink vinyl LP, CD and digital formats via https://lnk.to/NightCRIU
Hilary Woods plays London Cafe OTO on 8th January and Dublin Kirkos on 9th + 10th January 2026
https://www.instagram.com/_hilary_woods/
Text by Chi Ming Lai
31st October 2025
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