David Hope, one the most-distinctive talents on the Irish music scene, is launching his new album ‘Scarecrow’, and he will be stopping off for an intimate gig upstairs in The West Bar & Restaurant, Bridge Street, Westport, this Friday, February 8, as part of his nationwide launch tour.
‘Scarecrow’ is the second full studio album released by the Clare singer/songwriter after his critically acclaimed ‘A Picture’ (2007) and two interim EPs ‘Daybreak Someplace’ (2009) and ‘Hell or High Water’ (2011).
A folk/blues-influenced album, ‘Scarecrow’ has already been released in Germany and Switzerland and is getting considerable airplay there. Hope has toured in both countries with considerable success in recent years. The singer has also become a fixture on the Irish music circuit over the past decade, appearing at a host of venues and festivals.
His latest album was in part recorded and produced by renowned musician and producer Declan Sinnott in 2012 at his studio in West Cork. Sinnott has been responsible for some of the finest acoustic/folk recordings over the last number of decades, guiding the likes of Christy Moore, Mary Black, Sinéad Lohan and John Spillane in the studio.
The second part of ‘Scarecrow’ was recorded in Limerick at The Bishop’s Palace. This studio has garnered a reputation in recent years for producing rock and indie-rock recordings with Noel Hogan (The Cranberries), Windings, Seneca and many others. This contrasting mix of recording spaces is very well represented on the new album. It showcases some of Hope’s harder-edged and grittier sounds, mixed with some of his most heartfelt and thought-provoking acoustic recordings to date.
Hope’s Westport appearance is being held in association with Electric Cave Productions, which is run by Uri Kohen, the man behind the Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival. It will be the first gig of its kind upstairs in The West, where there will a tapas menu, as well as a wine and spirit bar, with full bar facilities available downstairs.
‘Scarecrow’ is for sale in local music shops, including Sound House in Westport and Downtown Records in Westport and Castlebar.
David Hope will perform upstairs in The West Bar & Restaurant, Bridge Street, Westport, at 9.30pm on Friday, February 8. Admission €5.
