Niall brings new spark to world of Indie-Folk

Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell- tribunegroove@live.ie

The combination of one man and his guitar is a musical path that has been well-worn, but when you write songs with the warmth and charm of New York-based Niall Connolly, it’s a path that remains worth walking. The Cork native returns to  the city’s Róisín Dubh this Saturday, September 10, when he will be performing material from his seventh studio album, All We Have Become, an album which charts his life on both sides of the Atlantic.

This was released last year, with one of its standout tracks being Four-Faced Liar, a song with roots in Niall’s home-town.

“The Four-Faced Liar is the nickname for Shandon Tower in Cork,” explains the indie folk-rock singer. “I was thinking about my teenage and early-twenties years in Cork. It’s a growing-up song. Shandon Tower is famous for having four different clocks to tell four different times. That was true from the 1700s up until the week I released Four-Faced Liar as a single. Then Cork City Council fixed the clocks. Sabotage!”

About halfway through the song, a melodic riff kicks in – it’s a moment that catches the ear. This came about courtesy of guitarist Warren Malone, who plays in Niall’s band and is also a songwriter himself.

“Warren’s a great character,” Niall says. “He’s from Bolton, just outside of Manchester, but has been in the States for about 25 years. He builds and repairs guitars. He’s married to a woman called Jana Levin, one of the world’s leading astrophysicists. She’s just released a book about black holes. Anyway, that’s a side story about that riff!”

Ian Whitty will be opening for Niall as the Galway gig, renewing a friendship that goes back to the early 2000s.

“When we both lived in Cork, Ian and I did a lot of gigs together,” Niall says. “I’ve very fond memories of doing a couple of mystery tours, where we’d have eight or nine acts. People would buy a bus ticket, then we’d meet outside Cork City library. We didn’t even tell the bands where we were going! We’d set up a stage in a remote part of Cork – they were great fun.”

Niall now lives in Brooklyn with his wife, and has etched a niche for himself in New York’s bustling music scene.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.