Pilgrims progress from deeplying Juniper roots

It has been thirtysomething years since Paul Noonan and Brian Crosby began making music together. At that time, the pair were secondary school classmates in Celbridge, Co Kildare when they formed a band, spearheaded by another nascent songwriter in the year, Damien Rice.

It evolved into what-if cult nineties outfit Juniper, and after Rice’s departure, the longstanding indie-rock group Bell X1.

On March 1, Noonan and Crosby play Galway’s Róisín Dubh, now going under the moniker Pilgrims, for a two-hander collaboration of paired back, piano-based ballads. The duo’s debut album for the project, Wintering, arrived at the end of January.

“Brian put out a solo record a couple of years ago and I found myself singing along on top of a lot of the pieces,” Noonan says. “I recorded one and sent it to him as an acknowledgement of this great record, and it wasn’t necessarily meant to go anywhere.”

The record is divided in two. Some of the songs are direct vocal responses from Noonan to Crosby’s fully formed instrumentals. The others emanate from Noonan’s own sketches on vocals and guitar, with Crosby’s piano weaved in.

They performed a small series of gigs in April of last year, but this run is more polished and extensive. Galway is the last of 15 dates around the country.

“A lot of this is driving around the country, having the chats and going out for a nice dinner occasionally,” Noonan says. “A big part of this project is spending time together. There’s something very profound about making music with somebody.

“It’s very exposed. It’s sparse and quite intense, especially in the seated theatres. You can hear a pin drop and that has an intensity that’s to be managed. It can get out of hand. You need a few lighter moments in that journey, especially if you’re going to be there for an hour and a half.”

Noonan and Crosby didn’t develop much of a relationship until sixth year of school, when Damien Rice was putting together a folk group to play a graduation ceremony. “We were really doing it to get out of Irish class to be honest,” Crosby says. “So, as you can imagine, we rehearsed five days a week.”

Pictured: Pilgrims....Paul Noonan and Brian Crosby, playing in Galway next month.