At Home and Abroad

From his debut album, Since Kyabram (2004), the County Galway-based artist has been praised by songwriting and media figures such as John Prine (“a great songwriter”), Edith Bowman (“Since Kyabram is an album I will listen to for the rest of my life”) and Paul Weller (“he writes the sort of classic songs that people don’t write anymore, songs that sound like they’ve been around forever”). His work, meanwhile, has been covered by an array of world-class artists, including Christy Moore, Camille O’Sullivan, Eddi Reader, and Josh Groban.

O’Rourke has been crafting songs from his mid-teens, his attention snagged from the age of 13 when he was given a guitar by a priest whilst visiting Kyabram, north-central Victoria, Australia. By the time he was 24, he had returned to Ireland, landing in the middle of – and settling comfortably into – a fiercely creative music scene in Dublin that was the fertile breeding ground for the likes of Glen Hansard/The Frames, Paddy Casey, Gemma Hayes, Damien Rice, Lisa Hannigan, and many more.

A turning point, however, was with the release of Since Kyabram, the success of which secured him a record contract with the major UK label, V2. His follow-up album, Big Bad Beautiful World (2007), effortlessly confirmed his appeal in Ireland as well as with an increasing list of well-connected advocates.

Arrivals is the new album from Declan O'Rourke. Released in April 2021, Arrivals is yet another departure. Produced by no less a figure than Paul Weller, O’Rourke remarks that the music icon “was there every moment, before, during and long after, discussing ideas about this and that, even down to the artwork. It was hugely impressive.”

In several important ways, O’Rourke’s new, emotionally potent songs hark back to when he started out during the glory days (and nights) of Dublin’s singer-songwriter scene. The truth is he doesn’t like walking the same path over and over again. A deeper truth is that while artists need to secure themselves to their own identity, they also have to explore outside it.

“If you had a palette of different colours as a painter,” says O’Rourke, “why would you limit yourself to red and white?”