Down To The Sea is a cross-genre collaboration evolved over the past couple of months, with Martin Praetorius hanging out in Doolin, Co. Clare, for most of his time and becoming a follower and fan of Blackie O’Connell’s band ‘Dubhlinn’ with Cyril O’Donoghue and Eoghan Neff.
The song itself was written a few years ago, after one of Martin Praetorius many visits to the West Coast of Ireland. Sitting in Hamburg, minding the house of friends, he listened to a program on RTE Radio 1, called: ‘The Clare sound with Luka Bloom.’
Although born landlocked in one of the biggest industrial regions of Europe, the ‘Ruhr Area’ in the West of Germany, Martin was always drawn to the sea and often wondered about that call.
Listening to Luka – who is a blow-in himself – speak about moving to Clare and the sense of home he found there, Martin realised, that with all the restlessness that’s in him, the presence of the sea has a soothing effect and makes him calm.
It looks like he has arrived for good now. The album ‘It’s OK, I’m Still Laughing! ‘ whose release had to be postponed several times, is now scheduled for arrival in the early spring of 2023.
Martin Praetorius – vocals, acoustic guitar
Blackie O’Connell – Uilleann Pipes
Ulrich Rode – electric & acoustic guitars
Marius Goldhammer – bass
Mario Garruccio – drums
Mixed by Martin Praetorius in a house in Keel West, Achill Island, Co. Mayo, and the Aille River Hostel, Doolin, Co. Clare, Ireland
Mastered by Fritz Fey at Double-D Mastering, Oberhausen, Germany
