‘SFSH25 MIXTAPE’ Recorded live at Cork Opera House

Limited edition Yellow Vinyl LP features Jon Hopkins, The Staves, Amanda Bergman, Sam Amidon, Sean Carey, Leif Vollebekk and Angie McMahon performing with the Cork Opera House Concert Orchestra and SFSH Choir, conducted by Cormac McCarthy.

Produced by SFSH.  Mixed by Ber Quinn. Mastered by Philip Shaw Bova. Original art by David Shillinglaw. Graphic design by Rebecca Roche. Photography by Bríd O'Donovan.

Sounds from a Safe Harbour (SFSH) today announced its first-ever vinyl release ‘SFSH25 MIXTAPE’: a single LP capturing highlights from MIXTAPE, the sold-out orchestral performance staged during the 2025 festival. The record brings together a remarkable line-up of international artists performing newly arranged versions of their work with a full concert orchestra and choir, recorded live at Cork Opera House.

MIXTAPE saw Jon Hopkins, The Staves, Amanda Bergman, Sam Amidon, Sean Carey, Leif Vollebekk and Angie McMahon each reimagine a piece from their catalogue in collaboration with the Cork Opera House Concert Orchestra and the SFSH Choir, under the baton of conductor Cormac McCarthy. Arrangements were created by Bryce Dessner and Áine Delaney, with Delaney also contributing an original composition, "Make it Still," to open the second side.

The result is a genuinely one-off document of Cork's Sounds from a Safe Harbour spirit: intimate songwriting rebuilt at orchestral scale, performed once, in one room, and now pressed to wax for the first time in the festival's history.

Speaking about the record, SFSH Director Mary Hickson said “We document certain festival events for archival purposes, and more often than not they end up on hard drives forever. This record exists because of the initiative of one person, Ber Quinn, who after the festival took it upon himself to check this particular hard drive. He began by mixing Leif's Sunset Boulevard Expedition and sent it to me. It brought me right back into the room - a thing I thought could not be done. It was a beautiful reminder of an incredibly special evening we had all shared, and I want to formally thank Ber for this: for making this incredible artifact for all of us to enjoy, for all of us to be transported through again and again.

I asked him to write a few words about why he went to such an effort, and here's what he said:

It was clear on the night that this show deserved to be captured for posterity. You could sense a shared joy in the performances as each artist reacted in real time to hearing their songs elevated onstage.

Afterwards, I couldn't wait to get back to the studio with the recordings and immerse myself in those arrangements. Gigs are ephemeral, and when something as sophisticated as this is created, it doesn't feel right to have those versions of the songs exist only in the imperfect memory of the audience. It deserves to be played again and again; hearing something you didn't quite catch until the 10th listen, the detail you play for a friend just to watch their reaction. Real appreciation of the hard work of the arrangers and musicians only comes on repeat listens.

So now it's yours to return to. I'm glad it exists.

Ber Quinn