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Oh Pioneer is the new album from Lisburn-born, Belfast-resident
Duke Special. The LP comes jam-packed with the singer
and songwriter’s idiosyncratic worldviews and some
of the most inherently melodic pop music you’ll
hear this or any other year. Following the release and
a number of sold out Irish shows earlier in the year,
the Duke headed off to support BellX1 on their US tour
and returns to Ireland for a run of December dates,
along with a very special intimate Christmas show in
Dublin’s Pepper Canister Church on Monday December
10th. Duke and his band will perform songs from the
new album as well as a selection of hits, rarities and
sing-along tunes in his own inimitable style.
You’ll know Duke Special, of course, from catchy,
radio-friendly songs such as Freewheel and Last Night
I Nearly Died. (For the record, Freewheel was recently
nominated the second best Northern Irish song of all
time at Radio Ulster’s Great Northern Songbook).
You’ll know him also, from his Choice Music Prize
nominations (2005’s Adventures in Gramophone, 2006’s
Songs From The Deep Forest) and his three Meteor Music
Award nominations. What you may not be aware of, however,
is the vast array of other work he has been up to since
his 2008 album, I Never Thought This Day Would Come.
“Some people have been asking me where have I been
and what have I been doing,” says Duke Special,
“but I’ve actually been very busy.”
He’s right about that. In the past three years,
the Duke has put his singular artistic imprint on five
(yes, five…) albums: Little Revolutions Volume
1 & 2, The Stage, A Book & The Silver Screen
(comprising songs from the London stage show, Mother
Courage And Her Children, The Silent World Of Hector
Mann, and the EP, Huckleberry Finn), and Under The Dark
Cloth (a record inspired by the works of pioneering
American photographers Paul Strand, Edward Steichen
and Alfred Stieglitz). It is clear that Duke Special
is someone who finds creative nourishment in all aspects
of the art and literary world.
“It’s been a rich journey, for certain, and
I wouldn’t have done it any other way. In terms
of where I am with this record, it is in a crude sense
the next studio album. In a linear sense, however, it’s
just the next thing I wanted to do.”
Without any compromises, Oh Pioneer charts its own
steady course. Duke Special wouldn’t want it any
other way. “I would much rather keep on doing what
I’m doing like this - and be skint - until the
day I die,” he states. “Absolutely, and without
hesitation - I’ve no genuine interest in chasing
commercial success. I’d love what I do to be successful
on its own merit, of course, but I’m in it for
the long haul. If there are no hit singles on the album,
then so be it.”
www.dukespecial.com
www.dukespecial.com
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