The London-based Irish musician will release his new album A Bag of Eyes on November 6, and has shared the music video for lead single ‘Johnny K’.
A Bag of Eyes will be Fogarty’s third album after 2017’s The Curious Hand. The new self-produced album will focus less on the guitar and lean more heavily on synths and drum machines.
Fogarty says,
“It was about creating and exploring new sound worlds. Experimenting with new ways of incorporating electronics into the songwriting process, and in some cases dispensing with conventional songwriting processes altogether.”
Alongside the announcement, Fogarty has shared the first single from the album, ‘Johnny K’, which nods to the sometimes uneasy state of an Irishman living in London as heard in the lyrics, “His brother died in England building tunnels for the liars and the Cavaliers.”
Watch the music video on YouTube below.
Director Jack Barraclough details the concept,
“The idea for Johnny K was inspired by a picture of David Cameron relaxing in his £25,000 garden shed. Seamus was looking to steer away from a video set in an Irish pub, and how much further from an Irish folk singer can you get than an English aristocrat? So Johnny K became Jonathan Kingsley and the rest is history! At first, what you see in the video isn’t really matching up with the lyrics, but as Jonathan Kingsley’s world gets turned upside down, the themes of the song and lyrics start to make a lot more sense with the visuals.”
Recorded across London, Kent and East Sussex, the album features Fogarty’s partner Emma Smith, Meilyr Jones, long-time collaborators Leo Abrahams, Aram Zarikian and John Fogarty, as well as an audience member recorded live at one of the artist’s gigs in Dublin.
Songwriter Billy Steingberg, the mastermind behind classic hits such as Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin’ and The Bangles’ ‘Eternal Flame’, is responsible for the album artwork. The art is taken from an illustration of his original lyrics to the Divinyls’ hit ‘I Touch Myself’.
Tracklist
- Shapes
- Old Suit
- Jimmy Stewart
- Wake Up Felix
- Bus Shelter Blues
- Nuns
- Ghosts
- Horse
- Interlude
- Johnny K
- San Francisco
- My Boy Willie
A Bag Of Eyes is available to pre-order on Dom-Mart/indie exclusive coloured vinyl, standard vinyl, CD and digitally. Pre-order here: Dom Mart | Digital