Eoin Glackin

Dublin-based musician Eoin Glackin has announced the release of his latest single, 'The Way You Looked at Me', which is set to drop on April 13th, before he embarks on an Irish tour. Offering a preview of his forthcoming album, 'The Cost of Living', which is slated for release in September.

The new single sees an interesting shift in Glackin’s sound. The elements of folk and blues, while always present in his previous work, are pushed straight to the foreground. Glackin’s fingerpicking on guitar and his new favourite toy, the 6-string banjo, does much of the heavy lifting musically, inspired by the playing of blues legends like Mississippi John Hurt and Lightnin’ Hopkins

Glackin released his first album, Not Lost, back in the heady days of 2011. The album, released by Sony Music, brimming with biting social commentary and driving guitars was the first step into the life of music that Glackin inhabits today. The journey he embarked on with Not Lost has been one of non-stop touring, writing, recording and ever-seeking the next idea. In those years since, Glackin has shared stages and toured with legends like Joan Armatrading, Midge Ure, The Darkness, John Spillane, Charlie Parr and Aslan, among many others:

“All of a sudden, I feel like I have a perspective on the whole thing, that I didn’t at the time. I left school, started chasing gigs, then I blinked and suddenly I’ve released three albums, with a fourth on the way. It was a mad blur to be honest. The last few years, with lockdowns, getting married, becoming a father, I’ve been able to pause and take stock and look back over the last decade or so and I feel blessed with it all. I’m more in love with playing music now than ever, it means more to me than ever,” said Glackin.

The album, in fact, started life as a completely solo record: “After my album in 2018, which was a big band sounding record, I found myself mostly touring solo. It made me look closer at what I was doing and want to sound as full as possible, with just myself on stage. The songs started to take shape with that solo idea in mind. I had an album recorded just before lockdown that was entirely solo, but I scrapped it. When I went back to record a few months ago with a fresh bunch of songs, I felt a rhythm section of bass and drums would give them more lift, while still staying true to the stripped-down feel I was after. Colin Derham, Louise Holden and Mark O'Mahony from the acapella group, The Larkfield Four gave that gorgeous 1950's feel on backing vocals and added that last bit of character I wanted," said Glackin.

So, a new sound naturally evolved for Glackin and The Way You Looked at Me is the perfect showcase of that sound. Melodic folk and blues inspired fingerpicking carry a classic song about love and lust with Glackin’s poetic lyricism in full flight:

“My thoughts are crumbling like flowers wilt
My feet are stumbling as if they’re up on stilts
I see sparks in the dark where they usen’t to be
It must be the way you looked at me”

The new single and album saw Glackin reunite with acclaimed Irish producer and bassist Karl Odlum (Hamsandwich, Mic Christopher, The Frames). The pair worked together on 2018’s Fire’s of Innocence album. It also saw another reunion between Glackin and Ian Grimble (Manic Street Preachers, Aslan, Bears Den), who produced his 2011 debut album and its 2013 follow up, Rain Finally Came.

“My old pal Ian Grimble mixed this new album. Being back with him in the same room in London that I made my first record in, was a trip. I was only a puppy when we first sat down together at a mixing desk. I still don’t know what most of the buttons do,” said Glackin.

Glackin heads out on a tour of Ireland in May with his friend, Dick Valentine, frontman of Detroit rock legends, Electric Six. You can catch them at the following dates:

1st May DUBLIN The Grand Social
3rd May BELFAST Katy’s Bar
4th May DERRY Sandino’s
5th May OMAGH Bogan’s
6th May CASTLEDERG The Townhouse
8th May CLONAKILTY DeBarra’s
9th May CORK Winthrop Avenue
10th May LIMERICK Dolan’s
11th May GALWAY Monroe’s
4th June DUBLIN The Workman’s Club w/ Rory & The Island