A special performance closed out the Tommy Tiernan chat show on RTÉ on 3 January as a constellation of artists assembled onstage to pay tribute to Eoin French—known to the music world as Talos. French, who died in August 2024 at just 36, left behind a legacy of hauntingly beautiful music that resonated far beyond his native Ireland.
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.
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.
