Foggy Notions presents Adrian Crowley live at Tengu Dublin 1. Tickets on sale now.
A year after the release of my tenth album Measure of Joy comes this five track ep of songs mostly recorded in the autumn of 2025 in my Dublin writing room. The opener She Brings Oblivion is actually the oldest recording on the ep – it’s a 2021 out-take from the The Watchful Eye of The Stars sessions with John Parish. The recording features the hypnotic backing vocals of my dear friend and sometime touring partner, Nadine Khouri. The second track Ocean is a cover of The Velvet Underground deep cut. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a longtime VU fan. I first heard the song on a special edition of the album Loaded that featured various out-takes and demos and this song immediately spoke to me. I had been playing Ocean at sound checks and sometimes as part of my live set for a while so one day in Dublin I was sitting at my piano when all was still and quiet and I thought it was the right time to hit ‘record’. It’s a hauntingly mysterious song, I think. Track three is a piano version of the title track to my tenth album, Measure of Joy, I recorded this on my sister’s piano one day when there was no one at home. It’s a sparse and deconstructed alternative to the Bossa Nova album version. Track four is a take on one of my favourite songs of all time The Partisan which was made famous by a certain Mr L Cohen. A couple of years ago I was asked to take part in a Leonard Cohen tribute evening in a small London theatre. I chose to sing and play The Partisan in my own style on electric guitar and had been wanting to make a recording of it ever since. A chilling and constantly relevant anti-war song if ever there was one.
The last track, the only instrumental in the collection, is a piece I wrote for piano and features the cello playing of my old friend Mary Barnecutt. I am a huge fan of cinema and film scores and I think you can tell when hearing this piece. The street sounds, the various clanks and wooden creaks all adding to the ambience. The title was meant to be temporary but then it stuck;The Birdwatchers.
