Conor & The Wild Hunt

When Conor and the Wild Hunt’s new album You’re Not Alone came to my email inbox, I had no idea it would be exactly what I needed to hear. Lead by Conor Brendan’s inspired songwriting and vocals, this inspiring collection is full of emotion and positive messaging that strikes a poignant chord in these trying times. It’s also possible that I am nine months pregnant, extremely hormonal, and susceptible to falling hard for vocally driven folk-pop (The Ghost of Paul Revere, Fleet Foxes), but I fell utterly in love with You’re Not Alone and I have a feeling you will, too.

Funny enough the album’s sound immediately took me back to my indie/emo days and reminded me of the emotive sounds of the little known Daphne Loves Derby, albeit with a much more lush and layered sound. The soaring four-part harmonies are my favorite part of these polished acoustic songs. The album starts with the upbeat harmonica and harmonies of “Eliza,” into the sweet sounds of love song “Garden State.” “Dear Mary” treats you to the female vocals of [Paty Sevener] dueting with Conor, along with more harmonies and loving lyrics singing of promises a lover makes to his family. Many of the songs bring me close to tears — most of which unsurprisingly is “Broken Hearted Lullaby” with lyrics about a woman singing “don’t you worry, little baby, we’ll be alright” to the baby in her belly. The title track “You’re Not Alone” is appropriately the most cinematic of tracks, an emphatic anthem singing “I see you, I hear you, I’m with you, you’re not alone.” The building of impassioned drumming, guitar and vocals builds to triumphant heights that will take your breath away. The rest of the album continues similarly with rousing harmonies, foot-stomping beats and upbeat harmonica to keep you smiling. They even break the unspoken rule to never cover “Wagon Wheel” with enough inspired vocals and respect for the original that it might be my new favorite version of the song.

Conor and the Wild Hunt’s album You’re Not Alone is a feel-good collection of songs from front to back. Their folk/Americana is driven by a vivid emotion not often heard accompanying the traditional acoustic instruments. An album of lullabies and love songs, You’re Not Alone is perfect for a quiet morning or a twilight drive, and I imagine their live performances are just as moving. Listen to the album now on Spotify or on their website. - Appalachian Jamwich

The first album of this folk/Americana/pop band has arrived at a time needed for positive vibes. In the line of the best of Mumford and Sons but with an upbeat direction and a more constant structure on their songs, Conor & The Wild Hunt combines different styles tastefully and with the passion always present. Folk in their nature, the songs take you into many territories: the epic, the feel-good, the uplifting, the sensitive, and the intimate. The band feels solid and very musical with a healthy quote of youthful energy that is infectious with its driving emotion that comes from their probably, unpolluted hearts.

“Dear Mary” struck me hard at first listen when the voice of Paty Sevener appeared out of the blue. Immediately I wanted more of her voice. The lead singer Conor Brendan has a nice quality in its voice: rounded, sweet, polished, and soulful. The combined textures of his voice and a female singer is a winning formula. It reminded me of duets such as The Magic Numbers, Johny Cash & June Carter and, Dolly Parton & Port Wagoner.

The album is filled with light and high energy songs, most of them up-tempo. It’s not until track 11 that the slower “Carry Us Home” arrived with its subtlety and whispery sound. I would prefer it was sooner because some calm helps to perceive music at its best. As our overloaded brains need a rest from time to time, “Carry Us Home” is very welcome. The band sounds effortless and comfortable in slow ballads, they should venture more into them. Especially considering that not only faster songs resonate with the audience, mostly when we are talking about acoustic music. It feels good not hearing a loop, synth, or any type of non-acoustic instrument for a change.”Great Blue Sea” works just fine with no artifices added. A nice fingerpicking acoustic guitar in the style of Jim Croce and a soft and expressive vocal is all that we need here. On the last track comes “I Long To Rewind”, a true sensitive slow-paced ballad in a solo piano that surprises with its beauty, and it’s a good choice to end this rich album. This tune is like balsam to the ears after listening to rhythmic songs, filled with great arrangements but sometimes a little crowded. The banjo and harmonica need to rest for a while. This beautiful ballad shows that sometimes the song itself is enough, regardless of how many lines of arrangements and instruments you put on it.

“You’re Not Alone” seems to be their latest recorded track. You can feel that the concept of the recording and direction of the band moved to a different path, a more polished and mature one. Although I loved the roughness and immediacy of the first tracks, I consider this is a smart move. The band’s sound still keeps the essence of folk but now with added elements of modern epic pop, kind of King of Leon, Snow Patrol, and some hints of Cold Play. As a film composer, I can see “You’re Not Alone” working perfectly in many movies with its epicness and broad sound. I really loved that song and how well was produced. It has all the ingredients that a great song needs to stand out in this crowded industry.

This band promises to have a brighter future if their goals are well defined. They can become a successful independent folk band but I see them soon heading to the road for a wider audience without losing their souls and sacrificing their vision and musicianship in the way. They seem to have the skills of self-judgment and wise criteria to evolve fast in the direction they desire besides their musicianship and talents. The more I hear the album, the more I get hooked to it. It has its colorful world and much to say, something that is lacking in music these days. I’m happy to get across bands like Conor & The Wild Hunt which brings me back the hope that not all is lost. - Music Album Reviews

"C’est doux, c’est mélodieux et le côté collégial apporte une dimension unique au titre. Une orchestration magnifique et une âme scintillante qui se dégage de cet artiste.

Ghost désigne un souvenir, un souhait, un esprit qui n’a pas bouger. Quand on est pris dans la dualité de l’expérience du traitement d’un traumatisme ou d’un désir qui ne peut se défaire, on va vivre des moments difficiles, nous sommes hantés par cette chose qui ne veut pas nous quitter."

[Enlgish Translation]

It's sweet, it's melodious and the collegial side brings a unique dimension to the title. A magnificent orchestration and a scintillating soul emanates from this artist.

Ghosts means a memory, a wish, a spirit that has not moved on. When we are caught in the duality of the experience of dealing with a trauma or a desire that cannot be undone, we are going to have a difficult time, we are haunted by this thing that does not want to leave us. - Direct Actu

Conor & The Wild Hunt is a Folk Pop/Americana trio from Maryland who feature brilliant song writing, a huge instrumental sound and soaring harmonies. Conor, who plays guitar and keys has been on American Idol twice and Lena Traynham who plays guitar and bass was the advertising face of American Idol, making Hollywood two years in a row. Chris Elvidge plays drums and sings like an angel too. This is an original music band that thrills audiences with a powerful show, driving stage presence and precise performances. They released a 14 song full length album this year. - WTMD 89.7 FM

Here is yet another Christmas song, but it’s beautiful and that’s what makes the difference. The story this song tells isn’t necessarily about Christmas, but about when Conor missed the last Bus to Baltimore after a concert in New York.

A little pop folk ballad, this is a good song that you can listen to and that leaves a pleasant feeling, that of wanting to call back your best friends.

The instrumentation is pretty, the execution is neat and this song almost deserves to be in the Christmas episode of a hip sitcom. We appreciated the voice which is not too overbearing and which conveys emotions quite well.

The track is easy to listen to and gives a flashback to all those evenings alone in the cold thinking of people we love who we don’t think are coming back. - Direct Actu

Conor & The Wild Hunt are from Baltimore in the USA and they are back with their special new single called "You’re Not Alone". The group animates soulful original songs with fresh perspectives on Americana, Folk, and pop styles. Their music is stupendously delivered with love letters that make me happy.

Conor Brendan, Chris Elvidge and Lena Traynham are Conor & The Wild Hunt and "You’re Not Alone" is easily one of my favorite songs of 2020. The folk-fused indie treats are sandwiched together to make my stomach smile again.

"You’re Not Alone" is such a peaceful song from Conor & The Wild Hunt that puts my mind at ease. After what has been going on with the world lately, this is exactly what we all need in our ears. This is pure music with such great vocals from both the singers. We aren’t alone if we have the support of those close to us. We just need to express ourselves and ask for help if we need it. - A&R Factory

Put my ashes in an urn of seeds so I’ll grow into a tree./In the [blooming] of the spring you will hear my spirit sing.”

So goes a lyrical lyric in Conor Brendan’s song “I’m Not Afraid,” which was fertilized by his magical serenity after a death-defying encounter with a hopped freight train. It exemplifies how the Maryland native turns his wild adventures into musical myths; it also exemplifies the revisionary vision of his band Conor & the Wild Hunt. The group combines gleaming vocals, percolating instrumentals and radiating grooves that work well in Brendan’s favorite theatrical theaters.

One of those atmospheric venues is the Mauch Chunk Opera House, which on Oct. 18 will host Brendan and his Wild Hunt comrades, the singing drummer Chris Elvidge and the singing bassist Lena Traynham, They’ll sample their first joint record “You’re Not Alone” (CD Baby), which includes the wave-washing, star-dusting “I’m Not Afraid” and a smiling, cleansing version of “Wagon Wheel,” a hitch-hiking singalong hit completed by Ketch Secor, leader of Old Crow Medicine Show, from a chorus and melody that Bob Dylan wrote while recording the soundtrack to “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.”

In the email conversation below Brendan, who lives on a permaculture farm in Ellicott City, Md., discusses being inspired by everyone from Jonsi to The Tallest Man on Earth; climbing physical and emotional mountains around the globe, and the nirvana of losing time, space and self.



Q: Can you remember the first song you couldn’t forget, the one that knocked you out stone cold?

A: When I was younger, while I was familiar with a wide array of music, I was saturated in hip-hop, rock, and niche metal genres. Then at 12 years old I saw the movie “Once,” created by the Irish band the Frames, starring [Frames leader] Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. The most powerful song was “Say It to Me Now,” but the song that stuck with me at the time was “Falling Slowly.” The music in the film inspired me so deeply that I began writing folk music and had an album of material written and recorded by age 13 (unreleased).



Q: What was the first song that convinced you that making music absolutely, positively had to be your calling?

A: I grew up in a musically saturated environment, homeschooled by a mom who was a professional singer/musician/bandleader in her pre-parental life, and a dad who was/is, among other things, a professional recording engineer. At 11 years old my mom was recording Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” with my dad in the studio, and I asked if I could give it a shot. I had a knack for it and my parents took me seriously, giving me freedom to pursue that path from a young age. Before that day I was set on being a filmmaker, and now that day feels like a marker for when I decided music was my calling.



Q: Who was/is your main musical mentor, and what’s the best lesson he or she imparted to you?

A: I’ve had various mentors, but my dad imbued some of the main songwriting concepts that have stuck with me, such as writing about interesting people, telling stories. and making emotionally genuine music that people can believe. I’ve had a wild life so far with vast emotional mountainscapes, and those songwriting elements have helped me process much of it.



Q: Why did you add “The Wild Hunt” to the name of the band? Were any other names seriously in the running?

A: The first band I ever formed in 2011 was named The Wild Hunt, inspired by the beautiful song by The Tallest Man on Earth. I went through various musical names through the years, but The Wild Hunt revolved back around and deeply resonated with me. It’s also a mythology with roots in cultures around the world: all involving a spectral leader, a following train of spirits, the howling of hounds, flashes of lightning, and a mystery born from ties to folk magic and paganism, plus reported sightings. This combination of myth and truth is somewhat parallel to our music, in how I take inspiration from my life and turn it into mythology.



Q: You’ve said that “I’m Not Afraid” was triggered by a close call while hopping freight trains with a friend. What year did you have your revelation outside Philadelphia? Why were you train hopping? What other old-fashioned, hobo-esque, picaresque adventures have you enjoyed? And have any of them blossomed into songs?

A: It was 2015, in the days following Halloween. We hopped trains mostly for the adventure. I’ve also hitch-hiked 800 miles down the Midwest in three days (out of necessity), traveled around the U.S. living in a car with a blown head gasket and a cat I accidentally adopted at a laundromat in Northern California, backpacked around Greek islands, and swam across the Aegean Sea to a distant island on a whim. I remember some of the places like they were lucid dreams, like the sky of more stars than dark in the Mora mountains in N.M., the twilight in the Montana mountains, hearing hundreds of people wail “We love youuu!” In unison from the other side of the mountain, and falling asleep on a hidden beach in Greece, feeling my body sway with the waves even though I wasn’t in the water. Some of these have made it into songs, including a few songs on the debut record we just released.



Q: How has making music with Chris and Lena changed you as a musician and, maybe just maybe, as a person?

A: I’ve been playing with Chris for about two years, and Lena for one. The amount of effort and care these two put into this endeavor is humbling. When I’m in the audience and see people on stage engulfed in the music and communicating with dedication to a shared vision, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy, and I’m blessed to be entwined in such relationships.



Q: Have you discovered something recently—as a guitarist, a singer, a songwriter, a public performer—that has made making music easier and more rewarding, something that qualifies as a long, hard-earned epiphany?

A: I recently had an epiphany, something I’d already known but only recently fully clicked. The sound of a singer’s voice is mostly breath control and the vowel shapes one creates with the mouth: the position of the tongue, the vertical space between the tongue and the soft palate. I’ve always had a knack for doing impressions, and it recently hit me that I can embrace whatever characteristics I want. I’m sure I’ll always be working to hone my voice. It’s truly freeing.



Q: How would you like to improve as a musician?

A: I ‘m always working to improve my techniques. I’m currently working on belting with a growl, fluid soloing, and composing more intricate orchestral arrangements.



Q: What song do you return to, again and again and again, for an instant dose of inspiration?

A: There’s this state of mind called flow state. It’s when one is so fully immersed in an activity that you lose sense of time and space, and even self. Some ambient music really puts me in that zone. Once I was free climbing a cliff while listening to a collection of beautiful ambient compositions, and every move upwards was clear, till there was a long silence in a track. For minutes I couldn’t figure out where to grasp to ascend, and I couldn’t climb down without falling a far distance. All of a sudden the music returned and every hand and foot placement upwards was obvious.

Ambient music can move me to that flow state of mind, which is profoundly beneficial for songwriting. “Ævin Endar” by Jonsi is one song I can count on for that. The [Jonsi & Alex] album “Riceboy Sleeps” is emotionally powerful and also puts me in that space.

Q: What are your favorite venues, and why?

A: I’m somewhat obsessed with stage aesthetic, specifically stage drapes and balconies. Regarding venues we play: our favorite one in Baltimore is the 8×10 (balconies and supportive culture), in NYC Rockwood Music Hall (stage drapes, balconies, and very supportive), and I presume Mauch Chunk Opera House will remain on our favorites list. It seems to have all three of those elements, and we certainly hope to return after this concert.



Q: Is there a talisman, a notion and/or a potion that keeps you happier and saner on the road?

A: I have a piece of jade that my partner gave me seven years ago, a moon that represents me and her. It’s also tattooed on my arm, but I hold it often on the road.



Q: So, Conor, what tops your Bucket List? Musicians have told me everything from touring the world to world peace.

A: A couple main things are performing at Red Rocks and a ship tour around the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. And Medicare for all would be nice.



Q: And what tops your Fuckit List? Musicians have told me everything from ending oppressive religions to assassinating all snakes.

A: Ending imprisonment for low-level nonviolent crimes. And no more ticks. - Mauch Chunk Opera House

"New processes and projects were born out of new life in the pandemic for Conor Brendan, who plays guitar, piano and banjo, and lends lead vocals to the folk and acoustic pop band Conor & The Wild Hunt. Brendan and his bandmates Chris Elvidge (drums, harmonies) and Lena Traynham (guitar, bass and vocals), have turned the time and energy they usually put into touring into recording. In his dad’s home studio, Brendan has recorded an impressive near 27 new and unreleased songs.

“Chancey June, Jay Keating and I have begun pre-production on a series of short films set to songs and tied together by a ghost narrative,” Brendan says of other projects he’s hard at work on with other fellow creatives. “Jay is a board member at Songwriters Association of Washington and has provided us funding and insight from his experience in the film industry. Chancey is a brilliant cinematographer with a poetic eye and is sure to bring poignant life to the story on screen.”

Along with Elvidge and Traynham, Brendan also just released a new version of their song “You’re Not Alone,” a song Brendan wrote about an experience traveling the States and living out of his car.

“The song’s story is born from busking in the streets of Philly and feeling invisible, and a simultaneous sense of wonder and loneliness in the Colorado mountains. It’s also a good example of a practice of mine, to dive into an emotion and find salvation and a sense of joy and peace in its release.”

While also exploring new recordings, reworks and songs for short films, Brendan says the trio is taking the time to perfect their individual skills in ways they may simply not have had the time for in their pre-pandemic life.

“We always do, but in these quarantimes, there’s more time than ever to practice,” he says. “I’ve been working on expanding my mix range and belting. I’ve also been spending a lot more time with banjo, mandolin and bass in the process of recording. Lena has been working persistently on vocal technique and finding new tones. Chris is always working on mesmerizing rhythm and stick patterns, such as odd ways to displace beats inside a time signature.”

With so many positive changes and additions to their catalogue, it’s no surprise that Brendan says he’s stoked to put everything out into the world for Conor & The Wild Hunt fans to have and enjoy.

“And when it’s safe to perform in venues again, we’ll be ecstatic to get back into the flow with audiences and fellow artists,” he continues. “In the meantime, if you follow us on Spotify, Instagram and Facebook, you’ll be the first to see and hear new content we’re beginning to release with more regularity. And in this day and age, Spotify and social media followers are the most important kind of support.” - District Fray Magazine