Laurie's new album was inspired by Ballina
Laurie Shaw's new album is inspired by a week-long stay in Ballina last July.
Alternative indie pop musician Laurie Shaw has released a new album uniquely about Ballina.
Coinciding with his performance at the eclectic October Nights music festival in Ballina Arts Centre on the October bank holiday weekend, Laurie has released an eight-song album entitled ‘Neck of the Woods’. The album was written during a week-long stay in the town during Salmon festival week.
About the album Shaw says: “On the album I approached it very much as an outsider and tried to make sense of the place through its locals and its history. I really liked the idea of the past, present and future of Ballina and juxtaposing its modern history with its folklore”.
Shaw immersed himself in the history of the town during his summer residency, resulting in an album littered with local and historical references. Shaw talked through the album track-by-track:
“The track ‘Neck Of The Woods’ references the story of the famine girls and The Lanes of Ballina. ‘Horseman’ is a song about ‘worrying the Ballina locals were going to Wicker Man me. It also touches on the nature of outsiders entering small communities and how that relates to the faceless horseman (Richard Bingham) you see in The Battle Of Ardnaree mural’.
“‘Castle Gore Ablaze’ references Castle Gore, located in Crossmolina, which was burnt down in 1922 by the IRA. ‘Year Of The French’ interweaves three different time periods; the actual events of 1798 in which General Humbert arrived from France to assist the Irish people in their rebellion against the British, the hypothetical notion that Leonard Rossiter would have portrayed Humbert in Stanley Kubrick’s scrapped Napoleon film and the actual filming of the 1982 TV movie The Year Of The French.”
“‘Sequoyah’ references the “medicine man” who passed through Ballina in 1891 with his travelling, circus-like medicine show. ‘Belleek Manor Ghost’ is a song about an ex-“peephole-ist” at Belleek Castle returning as a ghost.
“‘The Big Rebrand of The Salmon Weir’ is a fictional retelling of my interview with Terry Reilly at Ballina Manor Hotel where I end up making tea for a committee of local people wanting to rebrand the Salmon Weir.“
The album is partly funded by the Ballina 2023 Community Events Fund and a number of local fans.
‘Neck of the Woods’ is now available on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms.
