Family and nature make for berry good musical territory

Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

Multi-instrumentalist Peter Broderick has covered a lot of ground – collaborating with Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess and German musician-cum-producer Nils Frahm and as a member of Danish indie rock powerhouse Efterlang, the American doesn’t discriminate when it comes to styles and genres.

His latest project, Blackberry – an eight-track LP released on streaming services last weekend – is rooted in themes of family and nature. His first vocal album in five years, the record also sees Peter return to an intimate, folk style that lends itself to lyrics.

Written in Ireland but recorded in a London bedroom, it comes at an introspective time in his life. Now married and adjusting to family life and relocating to Galway, Peter’s outlook has shifted.

“I have collaborated with loads of different people over the years but I’ve always kind of experimented with little things on my own,” he admits.

“Even my first solo releases… The first one came out in 2007. For a lot of those ones I would lock myself away and try to do everything by myself. In fairness, it had been a while since I had done that so it was kind of an interesting challenge to go back to it.

“It’s my first proper album since getting married and having a family. That’s something that has changed my life in such a huge way – it has to trickle down into the creative side of my life as well. When you’re a teenager, I think you experience this thing of wanting to get away from your parents and define yourself on your own.

“Growing up as a kid you might think the things your parents are doing aren’t very cool but as I’ve gotten older, I look at my parents now and I think ‘Wow – they’re amazing people and great artists’. I’ve just come to realise that for me, there’s nothing more important than family.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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