Declan O’Rourke is back! After a long but eventful absence of three years, Declan returns with his third studio album Mag Pai Zai, available on Friday 8th April.
Mag Pai Zai is the first album to be released on Declan’s own record label, Rimecoat Records. Recorded primarily at The Factory and Windmill Lane in Dublin, and mixed at world-famous Platinum Sound Recording Studios, NYC, the album sees the return of some old collaborators: Steve Wickham, who played the dreamy strings for ‘Galileo (Someone Like You),’ features on the folk ballad ‘Time Machine’; and some new ones: veteran arranger Fiachra Trench, whose catalogue includes The Pogues’ perennial classic ‘Fairytale of New York,’ Sinead O’Connor’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U,’ and Van Morrison’s ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, created the lush arrangement for the poignant track ‘The Hardest Fight’ which closes the album.
That Declan O’Rourke is in a new, different and more elevated place as a songwriter is proven by the sheer quality of the material on Mag Pai Zai. From the deceptively simple opening song, ‘Slieve Bloom’ and the heart-wrenching tale found within ‘Langley’s Requiem’ to the life affirming ‘Be Brave And Believe,’ he has fortified his talent with a firm mixture of intuitive lyrics and pure melodies.
1) Slieve Bloom
2) Time Machine
3) A little Something
4) Be Brave and Believe
5) Lightning Bird Wind River Man
6) Langley’s Requiem
7) Dancing Song
8) Caterpillar DNA
9) Orphan Wind Song
10) The Hardest Fight
