Declan O’Rourke brings it all back home for Town Hall gig

Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

He’s been to the forefront of an illustrious group of singer-songwriters that Irish music has produced over the last 20 years – but now, with his destiny back in his own hands, Declan O’Rourke cannot wait for the next chapter in a critically acclaimed career.

Having recently regained the rights to his acclaimed debut album, Since Kyabram, Declan will play Galway’s Town Hall Theatre on Tuesday, December 11.

The respect and admiration for his music is evident in the praise from his peers –he’s  lauded by artists like Glen Hansard and John Prine, not to mention Paul Weller who famously described Galileo (Declan’s debut single) as ‘possibly the greatest song in the last 30 years’.

Given that much of Declan’s success has come on the back of that first album, the journey to reacquiring the rights to Since Kyabram was, at times, arduous and frustrating – although the process of re-releasing the album seems to have been anything but.

Declan describes reconnecting with his earlier work as though he’s talking about childhood friends.

“Some [songs] more than others feel like they’re still a part of me, a part of the same person,” he admits.

“Some of them I sing all the time – probably half of the record. Then there’s a few that I’d probably only play if I had a band and I was trying to rock out a little bit. They feel like they’re from a younger person alright. I enjoy them, I really like them as songs and as pieces of music when I’m performing them but I don’t feel hugely connected to them at times – that’s only a few of them though.”

The newly available Since Kyabram CD includes a beautifully designed 20-page booklet detailing the stories attached to each song.  There’s a sense of nostalgia about the memories but also an extreme clarity – the detail with which Declan recounts that period of his life is indicative of his careful approach to songwriting and instrumentation.

“It began with the process of having to remaster it for vinyl, therefore listening in to what was there and what was going to happen,” he notes.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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