Pink Rabbits – the project of songwriter Paul Walsh – has announced the release of his debut album ‘To Be Loved’ this evening, October 17th. Pink Rabbits will play Upstairs at Whelans this evening to celebrate the album launch.
Containing 12 tracks, the album will be released on vinyl and will also be available to stream online.
Walsh has been steadily building towards this release and working on the album since his debut single in 2021 and played a headline show upstairs in Whelans earlier this summer to mark the release of his most recent single ‘Let It Go’.
Speaking about the album, Walsh said: “It’s been something I’ve been working on for a few years now and I’m feeling both relieved and delighted to be able to finally present it to the world to listen to! I feel it deals with themes that everyone can relate to – love, loss, joy, sadness and I think there’s a song for everyone on this record”.
The album opens with ‘To Get To You‘, a song Walsh says is one of his favourites on the record: “I love the drums, how it builds and the message of the song. It’s also one of our favourite songs to perform live. The song is up there with ‘To Be Loved’ as my own personal favourite. It’s the soul of the album and probably the track that makes all the other songs make sense”.
He welcomes the varying set of emotions you’ll experience when listening to the album:
“All of my favourite albums had the same characteristic – that ability for some songs to reel you in and for others to do the opposite. The likes of Home, Fallen, See You Again, It’s Over, Stay With Me and Spark are, you could say, the equivalent of a hug. They’re all very reflective. Then there are others like Sunday Morning, This Is What We Came For, Let It Go and Jenny Lee where there is a more rambunctious feel”.
The Galway native – who works as a TV Sports presenter/reporter with RTE – says finding time to work on and complete the album was tricky, as he moved from a full time basis with Virgin Media to his current freelance role with RTE:
“The album was recorded at Ciaran Parnell’s studio and involved me fitting in studio time either before or after work. It’s a little bonkers now that I think about it! But weekends weren’t an option so we made it work midweek instead. Thankfully we had most of the hard graft done by the time I felt I needed a change of scenery professionally. Ciaran was brilliant to work with and made the recording process seamless”. The album was mastered by Masterlabs.
Walsh believes the album reflects perfectly the emotions and situations he has experienced of late:
“It’s something you don’t see or take notice of when in the process of writing/recording. It’s only when the work is done and you step back when you realise that each song has its own little story about what I was experiencing at that time, which is a little scary as I’m pretty private on those matters. So as an album, I’m delighted with how it sounds and how it has turned out. It’s a smorgasbord of emotions – a bit like my moody self!”
Playing the album live is something Walsh enjoys and he’ll launch the album in Whelans tonight (October 17th) with a performance of the album. He will be joined on stage by Niall Crichton on drums, Alvaro Martinez on keys, Shane Fitzgerald on bass, Dunny Mac Aogáin on rhythm guitar/backing vocals and Luke Fujii on lead guitar.
The album will be available to purchase at the gig, on the Pink Rabbits Bandcamp and at selected independent record stores.
Order on Bandcamp
https://pinkrabbits.bandcamp.com/album/to-be-loved
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