Padraig Lalor's debut album marks Titanic centenary

Ammanford singer-songwriter Padraig Lalor's debut album has been timed to coincide with the centenary of the Titanic disaster.
Called Ismay's Dream, the album focusses on different characters in Lalor's home city of Belfast.
Lalor takes a keen interest in the history of  Belfast.
He provides vocals on all but one track and is accompanied by various combinations of acoustic and bass guitar, piano, drums, percussion, violins, viola, whistles and accordion.
The songs on the album focus on different characters who were associated with the Titanic in various ways - those who built her, those who sailed on her, and those left behind.
The songs are all original, but they have a quintessentially Irish feel to them.
Padraig was born in Belfast. He lived his formative years in the 1970s against the backdrop of the troubles in Northern Ireland.
He worked as a freelance journalist in the 1980s; becoming Northern Irish correspondent for the Irish Post, before gaining a Scholarship to Ruskin College Oxford.
It was in Oxford he formed the Traditional Irish band Henry Marten's Ghost and started writing songs in the late 1990s.　
A fascination with his country's musical history and a love of the stories that permeate its culture, bring an engaging authenticity to his songs.
Capturing the passion and contradiction of the people and places of Belfast has seen Padraig earn the reputation of a modern day Seanachaí.
Not surprising perhaps, that he lists both the great Irish Tenor Josef Locke, and Belfast's Kathleen Largey among his key musical influences.
Padraig's music has featured on TV and radio across the world.
He has opened shows for Finbar Furey, the Dubliners, Craobh Rua and has taken his individual brand of Irish music to audiences in France,Norway, Netherlands, Belgium and the Channel Islands, where he is a perennial visitor.
His debut solo album Ismay’s Dream is an evocative journey through Ireland's Titanic history that will appeal to anyone who loves great stories and great songs.
What the critics had to say about the album -
"almost like a musical version of James Joyce's Dubliners, this is an album of well-written songs which is bound to appeal to those with an interest in the Titanic". Shelley Rainey Bright Young Folk
"In Ismay's Dream he has created a world peopled by complex Irish characters and I look forward to seeing the live show". Aidan O’Hara Irish Music Magazine.
"Padraig Lalor is set to become one of the foremost folk singer/songwriters of his generation". Alison O' Riordan Irish Post
"All the songs reveal Lalor’s gift as a storyteller, with intriguing lyrics woven around instantly appealing melodies that stick in the mind after just one hearing". Pat Kehoe Irish Music Forever
"All are amazing stories put into song by Padraig Lalor and his band. I found this album and its content very moving". Peter Massey Green Man Review
"Lalor's band combines the foundation of rock with the tradition of folk music and his songs are literate but direct: sometimes dramatic - "Molly Brown" for example - and sometimes melancholy as with "Close your eyes" on which Lowri Evans takes the lead". R2

Website -
http://www.padraiglalor.com/

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