The tribute was an emotional coda to French’s life, bringing together collaborators, admirers, and friends to perform the music he left behind. The performance centred around a rendition of ‘We Didn’t Know We Were Ready,’ a song co-written by French alongside an ensemble that included Ólafur Arnalds, Ye Vagabonds, and Niamh Regan.

Arnalds, an Icelandic composer and longtime collaborator, described the night as “an honour.” Writing on social media, he reflected, “This song is an expression of community and creativity that has now taken on meanings we could never have imagined back when we wrote it.”

Artists like Dermot Kennedy, The Staves, Jófríður Ákadóttir (JFDR), and Christof van der Ven took to the stage, their voices intertwining in honour of a friend. French’s wife, Steph French, lent her own vocals to the occasion. The cello of Kate Ellis provided a mournful undercurrent, while the haunting harmonies of Sandrayati Fay and Laoise Leahy filled the room. 

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A post shared by Ólafur Arnalds (@olafurarnalds)

Eoin French began his career modestly with the Cork band Hush War Cry before stepping out on his own under the name Talos, inspired by the mythical Greek automaton who guarded Crete. His music, like the myth, blended grandeur with fragility, crafting deeply human yet otherworldly soundscapes.

Talos’s 2017 debut album, ‘Wild Alee‘, introduced his ethereal style, with swirling synths and delicate falsetto creating cinematic tracks like ‘Odyssey’ and ‘Your Love Is an Island.’ Critics hailed it as “a spectacularly assured debut,” earning it a Choice Music Prize nomination. His follow-up, ‘Far Out Dust‘ (2019), deepened his exploration of texture and emotion with tracks like ‘The Light Upon Us,’ solidifying his reputation for blending intimacy with universality.

Often compared to Bon Iver and James Blake, French’s music bore a distinctly Irish sensibility, evoking his homeland’s landscapes and poetic traditions while imbuing his songs with quiet spirituality. His final album, ‘Dear Chaos‘ (2022), embraced uncertainty, a fitting coda to his exploration of human complexity.

In December 2024, the posthumous EP ‘Sun Divider,’ created with Icelandic composer Alti Örvarsson, further cemented Talos’s legacy as a transcendent artist whose music defied genre, geography, and time. The EP came to life through a year-long collaboration between Örvarsson and French, with recording sessions split between Iceland and French’s homes in West Cork and London. True to French’s wish that his unfinished work be shared, ‘Sun Divider’ is the first of three projects set for release.

The tribute on Friday (3 January) was more than an event of entertainment; it was a communal act of remembrance. French, who balanced a career in music with his training as an architect, had always viewed his art as a space for reflection. His music, critics often noted, felt like structures built for the soul—delicate but enduring.

Introducing our National Album Day 2022 Ambassadors!@SamRyderMusic @KSI @thestaves @Franz_Ferdinand @TheMysterines

Discover more about this year’s #NationalAlbumDay on our site: https://t.co/1lcrg78uvU pic.twitter.com/MZ6vG4T9Yj

— National Album Day (@AlbumDayUK) August 16, 2022

The annual event is held in celebration of the album format and the configuration’s over  70 years of history and critical influence across the music industry. This year the event will mark National Album Day’s fifth year and will be held on 15th October 2022, each year is allocated a theme. In previous years National Album Day has taken on the theme of Women in Music and the 80s, this year the annual celebration will hold the theme of Debuts. By adopting this theme, the event aims to honour a wide range of initial album releases from many variants of genres and eras.

This year im going to be an @AlbumDayUK ambassador, which means i’ll be looking at and discussing one of my favourite debut albums from an artist I love. What’s your favourite debut album? https://t.co/DHkP7Jd6VD — ksi (@KSI) August 16, 2022

Speaking on the event, Chief Executive BPI Geoff Taylor and Chief Executive ER Kim Bayley have issued a joint statement, “Artists love telling their stories through the artform of the album and fans love to listen, but in a world where there is more streaming of individual songs, we take the appeal of the album format for granted. National Album Day is about celebrating the continuing vitality and cultural relevance of the long player, in particular with the next generation of fans, and we invite everyone who loves the format to join in and enjoy this year’s National Album Day.“

Since its inception in 2018, National Album Day has put on and participated in a wide range of events. The long list of activities include The Record Club, Tim’s Twitter Listening Party, two exhibitions held with Network Rail and Classic Album Sundays. The annually held celebration of the beloved format is co-arranged with BPI, otherwise known as British Phonographic Industry, BPI is the trade association for British recorded music and is known for putting on the BRIT awards. National Album Day is also organised by ERA, The Digital Entertainment and Retail Association, ERA is a UK trade organisation known for its involvement in record store day.

Alex Kapranos, Franz Ferdinand frontman has also given a statement concerning the band’s ambassador status, “What a glorious medium the album is, On the most basic level it’s a bunch of songs that sound good together, but what I love is that it is a moment in time for the artist and the listener, a way to define a period of a lifetime. It’s the long form: a novel rather than a short story, a film rather than a trailer. Sure, you can get a panel of writers to construct a song to meet the criteria of the algorithm, and that’s a distinct skill, but it will never have the complexity or richness and deep reward of a good album.”

This year’s National Album Day will be conducted in association with Bowers and Wilkins, the event’s official audio partner. National Album Day is also presented alongside its official broadcast partner BBC Sounds. This year’s celebration will also include special broadcasts and exclusive releases, further details concerning these forthcoming events will be confirmed in due course.

Work on the album and now released single had a rocky start. It came at a trying time in their lives ( ‘Trying’ also being the name of a recent single soon to be on the new album). In a BBC interview, the three sisters talk about their grief-struck journey with loss, grief, and relationships ending “Their lives were turned upside down in summer 2018, when they suddenly and unexpectedly lost their mother“. This unexpected death forced the sisters to take a break from music.

After taking time to heal, the sisters were ready to get back and start recording again. But rather than self produce their album as usual they called Grammy-winning producer John Congleton to help them get past the block. With Congleton’s help, The Staves were now ready to announce the new album to their fans on social media with too much excitement and eagerness across all their platforms.

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Good Woman. Our new album. Coming 2021.

A post shared by The Staves (@thestaves) on Oct 19, 2020 at 4:42pm PDT

For the making of the single ‘Good Woman’ the sisters wanted to embody a cathartic approach to recording and meaning to the song. Not only were they battling with grief but one of the sisters, Camilla, was coming out of a bad break up with a long-term partner. Congleton helped the sister use their emotions and experiences to enhance the song “There was a lot that needed to come out – and when you can’t shout that bile in that person’s face, a microphone is the next best thing.” This lead to the sisters screaming in a barn as a relinquish to their pain.  

How @thestaves found their way back to music after grief, doubt and bereavement.https://t.co/GLmQ71JD0w — BBC News Entertainment (@BBCNewsEnts) October 20, 2020

With over a million monthly steams, a new album has fans in great anticipation for more to come. Two singles already out ‘Good Woman’ chill, atmospheric sound is a familiar welcome for long time listeners with the return of the sister’s lush harmonies shaping and capturing the listener. As the song builds up and comes to end you can hear the sisters screaming “I’m a Good Woman” which is them screaming in the barn as mentioned in the BBC article.

The new single has gotten everyone excited for more with a return from the soft Indie-Pop sister trio. The Staves, after working through their grief and devastation, with help from John Congleton, are now ready to continue their musical career remembering their mother with love has gotten them through the worst, and ready to record more songs/ideas and release a big new album.

This EP is set to be The Staves’ first release since in a year, since their successful album ‘If I Was’ which was released 23rd March 2015.

In the past year The Staves have enjoyed a great deal of media coverage and commercial attention; this is in part due to their continued collaboration with Bon Iver, and Justin Vernon in particular. Vernon also produced ‘If I Was’ for The Staves, as well as having them tour with Bon Iver and Vernon also occasionally performs with The Staves, see below:

So it comes as no surprise that ‘Sleeping in a Car’ was recorded at Vernon’s own studio in his beloved Wisconsin.

The three sisters had this to say when discussing their upcoming EP:

“These songs reflect the transient nature of travelling. Fleeting moments, like a slide show—reflections in car windows, streetlights passing in rhythm, stolen phone calls, late nights. Feelings of displacement and a disconnect—living in some sort of alternate state of reality. But underneath it all is the feeling of adventure and making your own rules and how dizzying and freeing that can be.”