from star-studded compilation album inspired by 19th century Irish history
From The Tombs’ is a rich and evocative pop song by the Irish singer-songwriter Mike Smalle (cane141, Augustus & John, B-Movie Lightning) and British vocalist and drummer June Miles-Kingston (Mo-dettes, Everything But The Girl, Fun Boy Three, The Communards).
It features a sterling cast of musicians that include Bernard Butler (Suede, McAlmont & Butler, The Tears, Butler, Blake and Grant), Terry Edwards (The Higsons, The Near Jazz Experience), Marcus Holdaway (High Llamas), Ian Catt (Saint Etienne) and Fergal Lawler (The Cranberries).
‘From The Tombs' is released under the umbrella of Bring Your Own Hammer (BYOH) in association with Dimple Discs and is part of an ongoing series for which musicians have been tasked with creating music rooted in the work of 19th century Irish writers or with events from that time period.
MIKE SMALLE & JUNE MILES-KINGSTON | From The Tombs YouTube audio
The song is rooted in the story of an Irish servant in New York in October 1881, the New York Tribune reporting that she was committed to the Tombs, charged with infanticide. Convicted of manslaughter the following month, she was sentenced and sent to Blackwell's Island. Her sentence was then commuted and she was released in July 1883, disappearing from the historical record thereafter.
‘From The Tombs’ is a sequel to and is also largely based on the same sources as ‘Old Oak Road’ by Mike Smalle with Cathal Coughlan and Jah Wobble, which was issued as a single ahead of an acclaimed compilation album entitled ‘My Grief On The Sea’ released by BYOH/Dimple Discs in June 2025. Fittingly, it is the first single and title track from a follow-up due for release later in 2026.
A star-studded 2xLP set featuring 21 songs, ’From The Tombs’ will take listeners on a journey through the history of crime, law and order in Ireland and its diaspora in the 19th century. Participants include Sean O’Hagan (Microdisney, High Llamas), Luke Haines (The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof, Black Box Recorder), Damian O'Neill (The Undertones), Michael J. Sheehy, Kelsey Michael, Brigid Mae Power, SJ McArdle, Miriam Ingram, Lavinia Blackwall (Trembling Bells), Anne Gilpin (Morton Valence), Hugh Bunker (Fatima Mansions) Neil Farrell (Toasted Heretic), Audrey Riley, Adrian Crowley, Lisa Lambe, Tony Higgins, Michael Walsh, Linda Buckley, Cian Nugent, Inni-K, NQL and individual contributions from most of the musicians on the ‘From The Tombs’ single.