PREMIERE | Gilda House, "Anam Cara"
The house of Meg Gildehaus (from left), Nick Miles and Tony Morales of Gilda House; photographed by Kiara Mount.
Soulmates are rare beings and creatures that materialize in the stories of our lives. No one knows the time nor place or how they will emerge into the real life timelines of our worlds. While astrology and the annals of religious materialism are rife with arbitrary and archaic prophecies that allude to opaque and ambiguous life events of extreme import with little to scarce details: the happenstance of finding your soul friend is one that exists outside of the algorithms, be they ancient or contemporaneous via metadata on dating apps and the like. Sparking a meaningful connection with that special someone is world transforming, where suddenly nothing before or after is the same and a bright new symbiotic journey begins.
This is the subject of the Gilda House’s new single “Anam Cara”, inspired by the Celtic construct of soul connective spirits of the same name. Following the releases AB Side A and Be Edise; Billings, MT’s own Meg Gildehaus with Tony Morales and Nick Miles curate splashy synth bops that emulate the intrinsic interconnectedness of kismet connections. With emphatic keys that bounce to the beat and pulse like two kindred hearts, “Anam Cara” brings the subterranean cold of a clandestine nightclub with the lyrical warmth of discovering somebody special amid the swathes of synthesizer saturations.
“Anam Cara” edifies the unexpected and uncanny connections we make with one another. With layers of sequenced keys and neon blinking rhythm progressions, Meg and the gang take the listener to the unassuming underground avenues of intrigue, mirth and mystique. Gilda House exhibits the dance that takes place between two cosmically connected bodies and spirits. “Anam Cara” ascends from the concrete of the dance floor and to the upper echelon rafters of enlightenment. Meg extolls all the things that both the best of friends and lovers share in common according to their own unique bonds. The group embarks upon flights of fancy, the fierce allure of finding that person, the ways in which connection strikes, what it can be, how it evolves and the inherent magic of making a match when you least expect to along life’s peculiar paths.
Meg Gildahaus shared some exclusive insights on the revelations that informed “Anam Cara”:
Sometimes songs come together all at once and others slowly reveal themselves, like “Anam Cara”. Writing this song was like following a trail of breadcrumbs that zigzagged, doubled back, and took us to some great places along the way.
Sean Lynch who manages Gilda House and joins us in the studio shared an upbeat synth lick with the band, wanting to get people dancing. We all liked the idea and continued to toss it around between the four of us, sonically building it and attempting to channel dance vibes from Michael Jackson and ABBA along the way. As we flesh out songs, I’ll often write gibberish melodies and lyrics to get that part started. You would be surprised at how much the gibberish draft on this one actually translated to the vowels and sounds of the lyrics in the song. It surprised me and I don’t know how, but this song quickly embraced being about an “Anam Cara” experience and we rolled with it.
Emerging from the silhouettes, Gilda House; photographed by Kiara Mount.
The lyrical inspiration became a deep learning opportunity. I am fascinated by seemingly mundane moments where the spiritual touches everyday life across cultures and time. “Anam Cara”, this old Celtic acknowledgement of soul friends is so potent and beautiful to me. I wish I could tell you where I first encountered the concept, but I do not remember. What I can tell you is, the first draft of lyrics spewed out quickly and I wanted to check myself, make sure I was accurately speaking to what “Anam Cara” is, so I retroactively purchased an audio book of John O’Donohue’s Anam Cara to take the deep dive.
I highly recommend this book. It is so comforting and Anam Cara is so huge and more beautiful than I knew it could be. It’s so huge, there is no way it could all be represented in the song, which was my initial intention. Knowing I couldn’t possibly cover the whole concept in the song, I chose to zoom in on the the spark of an Anam Cara experience, which is the first recognition of each other.
Gilda House’s single “Anam Cara” arrives everywhere April 5.