Photo Credit: Oisin Queally
Ger Eaton (pronounced Jair, short for Gerard) is an Irish multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and hair stylist, most recently known as keyboardist/guitarist for Dublin alt-rock heroes The Pale.
However, he has long been a revered mainstay of the Irish music scene as a member of Premonition (EMI), Las Vegas Basement (Columbia), Les Marionettes, Pugwash, The Carnival Brothers and via numerous solo and collaborative efforts. He has recorded and toured extensively with the likes of Mundy, Duke Special, Jack L and Fionn Regan, played everywhere from Glastonbury Festival to Later With Jools Holland, and been lauded by the likes of Mike Scott (The Waterboys) and the late Cathal Coughlan.
Having issued a series of singles during the 2020s, Eaton’s stunning debut album ‘Season Changes’ has finally arrived via the Dimple Discs label. Housing thirteen songs that include several interludes plus all six singles – highlights include the sumptuous ‘The Time It Takes To Fall’ VIDEO and the psych-folk title track VIDEO – the album carries echoes of both the melodic heyday of the late ’60s (Jimmy Webb, Scott Walker, Brian Wilson) and early ‘70s work of Colin Blunstone and Nick Drake, yet it is also shot through with a contemporary slant and edge.
Eaton describes his sound as ‘Renaissance Pop’, with the album being “an old fashioned break-up record. Each song deals with the complexities, both emotional and physical, that come with the ending of a very long and significant relationship. Mirroring the seasons, it charts the often inevitable decay of a relationship, from the glowing bloom of its springtime right through to its wintry conclusion.”
Expanding on this concept, Eaton adds: “The songs were written and recorded towards the end of my marriage. I decided from the off that the lyrics would be raw and honest; I felt I owed that much to myself. Musically, I wanted the arrangements and instrumentation to bring a lushness and drama that would wrap the words in an appropriate musical cloak. For me, music has always been a place where I can both lose and find myself; a solace and my phoenix.”
Season Changes – Tracklisting
A1 1 Introduction
A2 2 I Thought I’d A Friend
A3 3 Home Again
A4 4 Interlude: Taking Leaf
A5 5 Heaven Knows
A6 6 Phoenix (Reborn)
A7 7 Interlude: Estival Air
B1 8 Interlude: Overture To Autumn
B2 9 Hollow
B3 10 The Time It Takes To Fall
B4 11 Interlude: Wintertide
B5 12 To The Ones
B6 13 Season Changes
All songs written by Ger Eaton
Produced, Recorded and Mixed by: Ger Eaton, Duncan Maitland & Sean Coleman
Recorded at: Old County Studios, The House of Horns, Clane HQ and at home
Mastered by: Anthony Chapman
Cover Illustration and Design: Josh Fogarty