Gavin Glass
One of Ireland's brightest talents and best kept secrets, Gavin Glass, is hard at work preparing his fourth album “Sunday Songs” for release this later summer and in June he'll be playing several intimate shows around Ireland with his new band, the Tourettes, to preview the songs.

To some Glass may be familiar from the Meteor phone ad of 2007 in which he revitalized “Ooh La La”, originally by the Faces, into the jingle that had the whole country singing along but with the release of “Sunday Songs” this summer Glass may finally receive the accolades that his tight-knit group of fans have been showering on him for quite a while.
A full time member of Lisa Hannigan's band and one of the busiest session men on the Irish scene, Glass has lent his talents to the late Clarence Clemons (of the E Street Band), Cathy Davey and Mundy among others. He is also a much sought after producer/arranger and the owner/operator of Orphan Recording studio in Dublin.

A few years ago Glass traveled to Nashville to record with members of the Black Crowes and Wilco for what would become his 2010 release “Myna Birds”. Evidence of that trip to the capital of country music is all over the brand new recordings that comprise “Sunday Songs” but while the critically acclaimed “Myna Birds” was a rollicking blend of barroom brashness and revival meeting swagger, Glass has taken what he learned in the deep South and refined that knowledge. “Sunday Songs” rewards the patient listener as the songs pour out gradually rather than hitting them between the eyes. As the tracks slowly gather momentum, take root and eventually wrap themselves around you like bindweed one is left with the notion that this collection is destined to make many “Best Of” lists for 2012. These are songs that get under your skin leaving you with a lasting impression and the need to begin listening again from the beginning. It's safe to say that Glass has polished a quiet gem here with “Sunday Songs”.
This collection of new songs, written over much of the past year while on the road with Hannigan, offer Glass's unabashed self-confession and deliberately darkened take of life on life's terms. Never one to shy away from wearing his emotions or influences on his sleeve, Glass proudly displays them for all to feel and hear on these new tracks. A song like “Rise and Fall“ sits comfortably next to Jackson Browne's “These Days”, while “Sunday Songs“ might have easily been an out-take from Dylan's Nashville Skyline. Meanwhile “Silhouette”, co-written with Cathy Davey, would not be out of place on any Roy Orbison record.

For these upcoming June shows Glass has put together a new band, The Tourettes, which include lapslide guitar virtuoso Clive Barnes and the rhythm section of Shane Fitzsimons and Tom Osander, veterans of both Hannigan and Damien Rice's bands. Glass himself ably bounces between guitar and piano while acting as a sort of snake oil salesman extraordinaire. But take note, Glass is no charlatan. His delivery comes with the world weary experience of a man who sounds like he's not only delivered but shouldered a blow or two in his time. In concert Glass and his band soulfully deliver these tunes with a sense of retrained urgency yet at the same time a graceful warmth as if channeled from somewhere between the late hours of a Memphis juke joint and the call to a Sunday prayer meeting.