Damien Dempsey
Soulsun
Album · Singer/Songwriter · 2017
With a sharp sense of Ireland’s history, Damien Dempsey’s fusions of folk, rock and reggae have often cast him as a compelling voice of the people. While Soulsun’s evocative storytelling stretches from colonialist brutality in 19th-century Ireland (“Sam Jenkins”) to alcoholism in New South Wales (a cover of singer/songwriter L.J. Hill’s “Pretty Bird Tree”), this is also an absorbingly personal record. The anthemic “Soulsun” searches for light from within, while “Beside the Sea” reworks one of Dempsey’s oldest love songs into a gorgeous duet with Dido.