Declan O'Rourke dreamt up some bright and beautiful things in the graceful acoustic pop of his divine debut. Born in Dublin, Ireland; he grew up in Australia, where he received an acoustic guitar from a priest while living in the small town of Kyabram, Victoria. He returned to Ireland and began playing on street corners and wherever else he could, eventually connecting with such local figures as Mark Dignam, Gemma Hayes, and Paddy Casey. After playing on Casey's huge sophomore album 'Living', O'Rourke secured a deal with Sharon Shannon's N4 Records.
'Since Kyabram' features Declan O'Rourke on composition, acoustic & electric guitar, mandolin, production, string arrangements, and vocals; with David Angell on violin; Caroline Dale, Christine Hanson, and Anthony LaMarchina on cello; Ed Harcourt on piano and background vocals; Jack Maher on acoustic guitar and background vocals; Brendan O'Regan on bouzouki; David Davidson on string arrangements and violin; Christer Jansson on drums and percussion; Andreas Olsson on engineering, fender rhodes, and electric guitar; Sharon Shannon on accordion; Bobby Shin as string engineer; Martin Terefe on electric bass, piano, and background vocals; Steve Wickham on fiddle and string arrangements; Kristin Wilkinson on viola; and Paddy Casey as creative consultant.
'Since Kyabram' became a massive success in Ireland, making its debut at number five and eventually going double platinum. O'Rourke relates: "It's very realistic as regards to my feelings. There's a lot of hope in most of the songs ... I am inspired by anything that moves me on a daily basis. Anything that makes me feel something: a story, something that happened to somebody I know, everything that I experience. My writing process, hmm, I generally start songs and meddle away with them for a while. It's rare that I finish them weekly. Sometimes I will get up to a certain point and then if it slows down or inspiration stops, I stop pushing it. But if something else reminds me of that song a couple of months later and I remember why I wanted to write that song, I'll go back to it ... I think one of my earliest childhood memories was of music and I was already very passionate about it. I think I always knew what I want to do. Was either going to be music or art because I liked to draw as well when I was a kid, but I ultimately chose music...There was a lot of singing in the family, and you kind of had to have something different to sing at every family gathering and It was obligatory, you know (laughing). There was certain not any kind of stage fright anyways. I think it gave me a head start, because the first time I had to perform on stage I was nervous and a little shaky but I got over it very quickly ... It comes naturally enough. One of the things I enjoy most about performing is getting up there and lashing it out...I produced the first two records myself anyways; so I have no trouble making records in that respect. If a bank gave you a loan, you’d just have to repay the money with interest. You do it with a record label and they own the record, and you only get a small percentage of it. So it’s better to have to complete creative control...[The music industry is] a friendly monster, which is the worst thing about it. But everybody has hard luck stories at the beginning of their career. It’s something you just have to go though – It’s certainly not going to stop me...I’d say my music is kind of rootsey – folk – and in broader sense, poppy, jazzy. I don’t think I fit into any particular box ... The first record really travelled on word of mouth, and I like that. You're kind of an underdog then."
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No Place to Hide 3:23
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Birds of a Feather 3:30
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Galileo (Someone Like You) 3:23
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Your World 3:33
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No Brakes 3:27
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We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea 6:37
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1-Way Minds 3:22
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Love Is the Way 3:31
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMomP7fFD3U
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Sarah (Last Night in a Dream) 4:26
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Everything Is Different 3:59
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Marrying the Sea Til Death Do Us Part 6:59
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