Fiach Moriarty has released his new album Liberties and announced an Irish tour. We asked him the BIG questions . . .
Liberties is a concept album, which features the recent single I'm for Gallipoli with Damien Dempsey, about Fiach’s great-granduncle Jack Kavanagh from Francis Street in Dublin’s Liberties.
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"Like many men from the Liberties area of Dublin, Jack joined the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and fought in World War I," says Fiach.
"While there are specifics about Jack in the album, I see him as a Liberties everyman, representing the men of that area at that time that followed the same path to fight in an Imperial War during a time of great economic hardship."
"During Covid, I signed up to Ancestry.com and discovered all about Jack through his army records. I pieced this together with stories my grandmother had told me about him.
"I wrote the album chronologically as I wanted to try to accurately track his life from the Liberties to Gallipoli. I included as much information about Dublin at that time to paint a picture of what it was like for a young man in Dublin in those turbulent times."
Fiach released his debut album, So I, in 2010 and was a host and musician for Jingle Jangle, a six-part Virgin Media musical travel show which broadcast in 2017.
He plays: 3 November, Pavilion, Dun Laoghaire (supporting Lisa Lambe). 23 November, British Library, London. 20 and 21 December, Set Theatre (supporting The Stunning). 23 January 2025, Sunflower Folk Club, Belfast. 7 Feb Áras Chrónáin, Dublin.
Tell us three things about yourself . . .
Brendan Gleeson taught me how to play football. My heart stopped when I was two and was clinically dead for about a minute. I spent weeks in Crumlin hospital and they never got to the bottom of it. I live in Carlow.
How would you describe your music?
Melodic alternative folk with an emphasis on Irish history.
Who are your musical inspirations?
I have so many but songwriting-wise, I always come back to Lennon and McCartney, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Kurt Cobain, Don McLean…any artist with brilliant melodies and a sincerity to their work.
What was the first gig you ever went to?
Therapy? In the Point Depot in 1995. It was brilliant mayhem. I was hooked forever after that.
What was the first record you ever bought?
Nevermind by Nirvana.
What’s your favourite song right now?
My favourite song on radio at the moment is Birds of a Feather by Billie Eilish.
Favourite lyric of all time?
"Waits at the window, wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door. Who is it for?" – Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles.
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Maybe Year of the Cat by Al Stewart. It’s such over the top 70s production and there’s so much going on I think I could spend a while dissecting it.
Where can people find your music/more information?
On my website and I’m on all the typical socials too.
Alan Corr
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