Aiken Promotions present
SIR WAS
The Workman’s Club, Dublin
4th May 2018
Swedish artist sir Was brings his live show to The Workmans Club, Dublin this May.
In The Midst (Official Video) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoXnOq6_zQw
“It took me 15 years to feel brave enough to do this!” Joel Wästberg, the man behind the eccentric sir Was alias, confesses. “To reach the point where I could let myself do this was a long struggle. But once I felt less scared, it was kind of easy. It just came out, like: ‘This is the sound!’”
If you’re looking for the story behind sir Was’ debut album, you don’t need to go far. The secret was there in the opening lines of his magical first single, ‘A Minor Life’. “Stayed behind these walls too long,” a vulnerable falsetto advises us. “Kept my life on hold too long/ Dreaming of all I was not…” It’s a confession typical of typical of an artist who demonstrates an unusual but gratifying honesty, and its musical accompaniment – distinguished by the unconventional sound of bagpipes and recorders – is similarly appealing. These opening lines are, you see, a statement of intent, and what follows is what happens when sir Was’ walls come tumbling down. If you’re surprised, though – and you will be, rest assured – don’t fret: it turns out you’re not the only one.
Wästberg’s revelation is far from the only surprise on DIGGING A TUNNEL, an album that constantly bucks trends and confounds expectations. Boasting a continually evolving sound that remains nonetheless unified, it comes as close as any record can to defying description. Still, let’s try: It’s as though D’Angelo and Prince threw David Crosby into the studio with Tame Impala and Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis. If you don’t like that, come up with your own: there’s as much joy in trying to pin this down as there is in hearing it. But bear this in mind: however you characterise it, DIGGING A TUNNELrelentlessly provokes reactions, ones that require regular reassessment, often within the same song.
Tickets priced €13 go on sale this Wednesday 7th March at 10am through www.ticketmaster.ie & usual outlets nationwide.
