FACT SHEET

● For fans of John Martyn, Joni Mitchell, Michael Chapman, Paul Brady.

● O’Rourke’s debut Since Kyabram is titled in reference to the Australian town his family moved to when he was 10. He returned to Dublin to build a music career.

● History plays a huge part in O’Rourke’s lyrics, particularly on his last album, 2017’s self-explanatory Chronicles Of The Great Irish Famine.

The singer only reads non-fiction: “Why make up stories when there’s so much to learn from what’s already happened?”

● The epic Arrivals track Convict Ways was written for a festival in Australia celebrating the 150th anniversary of the final convict ship to the former penal colony. In it he draws parallels with the current Australian government’s policy on refugee internment. “You’d think a nation with Australia’s white origins might be more open to the plight of displaced people.”

KEY TRACKS

● In Painters’ Light

● The Harbour

● This Thing That We Share