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New Single from Jack O’Rourke ‘Runway Train’

July 13, 2022

Following the success of singles ‘Opera on the Top Floor’, ‘Patsy Cline’ and the Choice Prize Song of the Year nominated ‘Sea Swimming’, songwriter Jack O’Rourke delivers a beautifully-crafted summer serenade in ‘Runaway Train’.

Jack’s most recent album, Wild Place, explored links between literature and nature while returning to piano and his folk, blues and ballad roots. Tracks on Wild Place kept the story at the centre of the song; with tales of inspiration, the wildness of love and healing from grief.

Described as “a slice of romanticism” (John Meagher – Irish Independent), ‘Runaway Train’ tells the story of an impending reunion following a long period of absence. “The journey from Kent Station in Cork to Dublin has always seemed like a movie reel when looking out the window,” says Jack.

“There’s folk and piano ballad elements to the song, but I was inspired by The National and particularly, Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen’s song ‘Like I Used To’, so there’s a bit of an 80’s rock banger element in the melody of the chorus. I recorded it on an old piano on the Triskel like the rest of Wild Place and it features Hugh Dillon on dreamy Daniel Lanois-inspired guitars and Aisling Fitzpatrick on cello.”

Jack is soon set to depart these shores to take up a writing residency Centre Culturel Irlandaise in Paris, where he will be working on a concept album about Roger Casement and LGBT figures from Irish literature who lived in Paris. The Cork songwriter also has a number of upcoming shows, along with a new video that will accompany ‘Runaway Train’, as well as recently recording a tribute to Paul McCartney with the RTE Concert Orchestra.

Upcoming Shows: 

July 12th – Centre Culturel Irlandaise, Paris

September 10th – Liberty Hall, Dublin

October 9th – Sea Church, Ballycotton, Co Cork

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