Since his 2007 Mercury Prize nominated debut “The End of History”, Irish singer-songwriter Fionn Regan has toured extensively throughout America, before returning home to complete his new abum The Shadow of an Empire. Now, Riverbank Arts Centre are delighted to welcome the heartbreaking troubadour Fionn Regan to play an intimate show in at the arts centre in Newbridge on Sunday March 14th.
Well-known on all sides of the water, Fionn Regan’s single "Be Good or Be Gone" has been used in the television dramas Grey's Anatomy, Nearly Famous, and Skins. With musical influences ranging from Leadbelly, Howling Wolf and Bob Dylan to The Beatles, Neil Young, and The Pixies, the talents of this singer-songwriter know no bounds.
The new album was self-produced (as was the case with the 2007 Mercury Prize nominated The End of History) and recorded in a small, disused factory space in Fionn’s hometown in Co. Wicklow,
“There were no airs or graces about it, we cut live in the room, live vocals… the piano had come off a cruise ship and we wheeled it down the road…the guy who sold it to us threw a couple of cheap Silvertone guitars and a circus drum into the bargain. As far a production goes…I’m very much into keeping mistakes, a crack in the voice, the natural ebb and flow of live drums, so that there’s a sort of evidence of the process… I think it’s that atmosphere which makes me want to revisit my favourite albums again and again”
If The End of History was the sound of the countryside and woodland lanes, this record is the sound of towns and dimly lit streets; heartfelt and with a ragged edge. He has ploughed himself a new furrow.
The Shadow of an Empire manifests itself in a collection of songs that are peopled with characters and conversational dialogue, while the often witty vignettes are used to facilitate more complex soul-searching.
On the subject of influence, Fionn describes it as “hard to quantify, I wrote these songs from the page up, on an Olympia portable, the idea being that the words would stand up on their own. I think the percussive nature of typing informed the phrasing. I was reading a lot of Welsh, French and American poets, I started to explore Brecht, Mahagonny in particular, I have always loved Kerouac…, then I admire visual artists like Joseph Beuys, Basquiat and Francis Bacon equally. All these people switch the light bulb on and make me connect back to my work”
An opportunity not to be missed, see Fionn Regan at Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co. Kildare on Sunday 14th March. Tickets €15, contact box office 045 448327 or book online www.riverbank.ie