Lyrically poetic and delicately decadent, Duke Special, the enigmatic Belfast performer, will release his new single “Sweet Sweet Kisses” on October 10. A nationwide tour has also been announced for November and December 2008. And the tour will touch down in the Royal Theatre, Castlebar on Sunday November 30. Taken from the eagerly anticipated new album I Never Thought This Day Would Come, releasing on Universal Music Ireland on October 17, “Sweet Sweet Kisses” is produced by Paul Wilkinson, who worked on the Duke’s previous Choice nominated album Songs from The Deep Forest. The perfect taster for the new album release, “Sweet Sweet Kisses” features the RTE National Symphony Orchestra and will be available on CD single and download. Glowing with the Duke’s charisma and unique sound, the track is definitively Duke Special.
The new album, I Never Thought This Day Would Come, features 12 new tracks, including the Bernard Butler produced “Those Proverbs We Made in the Winter” and the soon-to-be-live-favourite “Diggin’ an Early Grave”. The album is an elaborate collection of themes and styles, recorded in several very different locations – Champaign in Illinois, Cullybackey in Antrim and Wapping in London. The album was mixed by Nick Terry, best known for his work with The Libertines and The Klaxons. The album release will be followed by a nationwide tour in November and December taking in Waterford, Carlow, Dundalk, Letterkenny, Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Sligo, Castlebar, Galway, Belfast and Derry. The tour will feature a seven-piece band, comprised of Duke Special comrades, old and new. An accomplished performer, Duke Special has toured with a host of artists including Rufus Wainwright and Van Morrison. A fervent performer who harks back to the pre-rock’n'roll era, Duke Special stands on stage with a white-knuckle grasp on originality. Gloriously vintage and unlike any other artist, he is “trying to put across something that’s more than just a singer-songwriter playing his songs. I want my live performance to be a show that moves people, but also entertains them too.”
