FOLLOWING THE release of his new album Frúgalisto, Luka Bloom has announced his first Irish tour in years, which sees the Kildare singer-songwriter play the Róisín Dubh on Friday October 7.
The album contains songs about north Clare, where Bloom now lives; the tragedy in Berkeley, California, in which six young Irish people died; facing the future; emigration; compassion; and WWI. The track list is 'Frúgalisto', 'Warrior', 'January Blues', 'No Fear Here', 'Oh Sahara', 'Isabelle', 'Lowlands Brothers', 'Berkeley Lullaby', 'Jiggy Jig Jig', 'Give It A Go', 'Australia', and 'Wave Up To The Shore'.
Speaking about 'January Blues', Bloom said, "December 2012 I made the move to north Clare. Wind and rain howling all around me, it felt apocalyptic and wild, and I loved it. A visitor to Clare since 1973, I never really felt the winter wind before. In three short years I have come to love this time of warm fires and slow tunes. There is no hurry, because it is downtime. Even the Wild Atlantic Way cannot entice big numbers to come. And so we go quiet. We play with and for, each other."
The closing track is a song from Luka's earliest songwriting days. "A song written more than 40 years ago, 'Wave Up To The Shore', is the perfect bookend for Frúgalisto," says writer/singer David Donohue, who was the first to hear the album. "Here, a teenage Luka, fearing the loss of all things earthly, is numbed by the reality of the gravity of decay."
However Bloom wants listeners to draw their own meanings from the songs. "I could talk about all the songs, the north Clare baby boom that inspired 'Jiggy Jig Jig'," he said, "the dream of being a surfer in middle age in 'Give It A Go', but it is best to just hear the songs, and see what they mean for you.”
Frúgalisto is available on CD and vinyl throughwww.lukabloom Tickets are available at www.roisindubh.net, the Ticket Desk at OMG Zhivago, Shop Street, and The Róisín Dubh.
