Eoin French, October 2, 1987-August 11, 2024 Musicians from Ireland and around the world have been paying tribute to Cork musician Eoin French who passed away early last Sunday morning, aged 36, after a short illness. Dermot Kennedy dedicated ‘An Evening I Will Not Forget’ to French during a show in Nashville, saying, in a clip posted on Instagram: “Whatever we do here, whatever music happens, his music is so, so beautiful and he was such a beautiful person and so this is all in honour of him.” The Icelandic musician Olafur Arnolds, who French admired and collaborated with in recent years, said: “Eoin did more for me than I can put words to.
It was an absolute privilege to witness him at the peak of his creativity and I will always be grateful for every single minute of knowing him. He showed us how to live and also how to die.” Recording music under the moniker Talos, he released three albums: Wild Alee (2017), Far Out Dust (2019), and Dear Chaos (2022).
French played venues from Connolly’s of Leap in West Cork, which was like a home to French, to headlining Cork Opera House during the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival in 2018, and venues such as the Olympia in Dublin. He toured extensively and was a regular visitor to the US, and was a mainstay at festivals at home and abroad. His final show as Talos was at Waterford’s All Together Now in 2023.
Born in Kilcully, north of Cork city, his parents Paul and Angela, a network architect in the technology space and a disability nurse, respectively, always had music playing in the house. Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Bob Marley, and Steely Dan were regulars. French took piano lessons as a child before picking up the guitar as a teenager.
He also had a love for surfing and he and younger brother Brian would always be out in the waves on holidays in Caherdaniel, Co Kerry, and later, going on surf holidays to the likes of the Canary Islands. French would also bond with friends watching the sun rise while out surfing at Long Strand near Rosscarbery. “He followed his interests, passions, and curiosities,” says Brian, with whom Eoin started doing jiu jitsu in their twenties at BJJ Cork.
“He found a lot of fun in fitness and pushing himself,” explains Peadar Ó Goill, a videographer, photographer, and TG4 presenter. French was also into running, completing marathons in Cork with his brother annually as well as Barcelona and as recently as August 2023 in Reykjavik. In his teens, French also played rugby, turning out as a winger in school.
He studied architecture at UCC and lectured in the same degree after graduating. It was during his undergrad that he started making music with his friends on the course, James O’Donnell, Richie Fenton on bass and Eoin O’Dwyer. Playing one of their first shows at an architecture class Christmas party in 2008, they started out as a covers band doing songs by the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay, and Kings of Leon.
Focusing on making their own music, they went by Hush War Cry, going on to release the Voices EP in 2012, which they worked on at a rented farmhouse on the outskirts of Carrigaline. O’Donnell says: “For Eoin, this period on the farm was formative not only in the honing of his songcraft but in gaining a new set of influences and perspectives - musically listening to the likes of Talk Talk and Kate Bush, delving into 19th century French poets, exploring darker themes in his writings/drawings.” He says Frenchie, as pals would call him, was full of a boundless energy and a fervent curiosity for life and all its eccentricities - but also enjoyed playing pranks.
The sound of Hush War Cry was akin to the British band Wild Beasts, with high guitar lines and vocals contrasting with low ends. It was during this time that French befriended Colm O’Herlihy and Brendan Canty, two key people in the rest of his life. Canty could see potential in French and when Hush War Cry fizzled out around 2013, he saw potential in some of his solo demos.
“Me and Eoin really had a similar taste,” says Canty. “He was literally making the ultimate music that I love: Real atmospheric music with heart. The more we created together, the more we became friends.
” Canty put him in touch with producer Ian Ring, and they developed the first few Talos singles. Debut single ‘Tethered Bones’ was released in 2014. Online music magazine The Fader said it “begins with beeps akin to a decelerated heart monitor.
The heart slows as it slips into slumber, and eventual death. But just as quickly, it spikes with renewed life, as often happens in lust and love.” Canty explains: “He had the voice, the music was unreal, he's a babe zone! He seemed like the real deal.
So we were excited. And 'Tethered Bones' really came out and made a splash so we had real high hopes for it.” Barry O’Donoghue met French around 2013, introduced by Canty, and would manage him for the rest of his career.
He says: “Eoin was then as he was always: kind, curious, meticulous, generous, serious, funny, dedicated. So, yes, I believed in him because, if you spent time with him, it was impossible not to.” After a couple of singles, debut album Wild Alee was released in 2017, going on to be nominated for the Choice Music Prize for Irish album of the year.
He took music seriously and his songs were deep. O’Donoghue explains: “We used to joke his songs - both lyrics and production - were carved out of stone: slowly, carefully. That’s why they are great.
” Sam McNicholl, who runs Connolly’s of Leap and played with Talos in 2015-2020, having also been introduced to him by Canty, remembers hearing ‘Your Love is an Island’ for the first time. “It just blew me away,” he says. In those early years and first steps, unsure if Talos was a solo thing, a three-piece, or something else, French hated playing live - it felt like everything always seemed to go wrong.
In an interview in 2017, he remembers how close he came to calling it a day after a particularly bad show in Dublin, saying “No, good luck, see you later, I’ll be an architect or a painter, I don’t give a shit, I’m never doing that again”. Connolly’s was where Talos developed. McNicholl introduced him to local musicians and brothers Alex, Josh, and Sonny Samson.
“That's what started the love affair between Eoin and Connolly's. Talos was born out of Connolly's. This was his home,” says McNicholl.
Talos, by 2016, had swelled to a six-piece live and though the focus was on French’s soaring vocals, aided by vocal and acting coach Irene O’Mara, they were a bombasic force on stage, songs building to an epic sweep. They toured the world; McNicholl remembers he and French seeking out barbecue and bagel spots in Portland and Texas, and Japanese restaurants in San Francisco. French also became enamoured with Iceland around this time.
O’Herlihy had moved there in the mid-2010s, going on to form the management company INNI Music with fellow Corkman Jonathan Pearson. “Eoin really loved Reykjavik. He has so many close friends there, and leaves almost as big a vacuum there as he does in Ireland,” says Pearson.
“In recent years, he developed a very close collaborative relationship with two of Iceland's most respected composers, Atli Orvarsson and Olafur Arnalds.” Collaboration became ever more important to French. Mary Hickson, curator of the Sounds From a Safe Harbour festival in Cork, was also introduced to French by Canty and became a close friend, using French’s graphics as part of the festival artwork from 2017.
“He has been an integral part of our story since then. As with everything he worked on he gave this absolutely everything,” she says. Hickson is also a director of the 37d03d music projects, two of which took place in the US in 2019.
“He had a gentle introduction in New York and was thrown into the deep end in a project we called HIVER...
This was a big moment for him, I think. Working with Jon Hopkins, Brian Joseph, Justin Vernon and so many more. He really thrived in this situation, went in deep, and gave absolutely everything.
I think it was a big deal for him to sing on stage with Justin as part of a Prince project with Metropolis Ensemble. His smile told it all.” At Sounds from a Safe Harbour 2023, French collaborated with Arnolds, Niamh Regan, and Ye Vagabonds on a song developed during a residency that week at the River Lee Hotel.
In a video shot by Ó Goill and posted at the time on Talos’ Instagram page, and which was sung at his funeral in Connolly’s of West Cork on Monday, French is seen swaying with his arms around Regan and Brían Mac Gloinn, as they recite: “We didn’t know we were ready.” Ó Goill says: “At the time we felt it and now we know why, because it will be forever entangled in Frenchie's passing.” French planned his own funeral, which saw Ye Vagabonds, Loah, Arnolds, and many more musicians perform.
He wanted a fun celebratory sendoff. McNicholl says: “You can't help but feel that Eoin's entire life has been an art piece and that it's like he's been self-mythologising in a way. It's so tragically beautiful, the stories and the artwork that he's leaving behind.
” In a message his Instagram page, his team said: “As was his wish, there will be new music from Talos to share with you all in the future.” Eoin French is survived by his wife Steph, daughter Lila, his parents Paul and Angela, and brother Brian..
