As Declan O’Rourke released ‘Arrivals’ in the early part of 2021 the talk was all about how this would finally be his moment. After two decades of being the songwriter’s songwriter, this well-kept secret would finally start to enjoy the recognition he so richly deserved. Ah, predictions very rarely pan out in such a straightforward fashion, in fact as we enter 2022 the side to Declan’s creative output that is enjoying newfound time in the spotlight is his prose writing. He had spent a prolonged period of the lockdown completing his first ever novel, a fact-based fiction called ‘The Pawn Brokers Record.’ Set in a six-month period during the 1845-1848 Irish Famine, O’Rourke had disciplined himself to writing at his desk for six-hour sessions, seven days a week. And in terms of success and exposure, the end product saw his book appear at number four in the best sellers lists on the first week of publication.

Those bold predictions of success and recognition for the album were largely based on the name of the producer, Paul Weller. It always did look a bit fanciful to suggest that fact alone would see the waves of appreciation arrive at Declan’s door. If there is one thing Weller has always done consistently throughout his career, it is respecting the soul of any music with which he is involved. He is not going to muscle in with his own voice and sound trying to make this sound like a Weller record, he has too much class for that kind of stunt. But he did do a fantastic job on production; if the producer’s role is to tap into the essence of an artist and facilitate the realization of that performers sound on vinyl, then he did exactly what was required. Yes, Weller is there on the back cover, regularly cropping up in the song credits on either guitar, piano and harmonium and he also brings in a collaborator of his own in Hannah Peel on gorgeous string arrangements. But the stars of this show are O’Rourke, his weather battered Irish voice, his dexterous guitar playing and those wonderful character driven songs.

Weller’s own connection with O’Rourke began way back with his appreciation of the man’s earlier work, especially the song ‘Galileo’ which the senior Mod went on record describing as the only song he wished he had written in the last thirty years. The story goes that the producer wanted to hear the songs before committing to proceed but you have to say, it would be a shock if he had declined on compositions like these. ‘Arrivals’ is a collection of songs that sees Declan often looking inward, examining his relationship with his craft and his place in a creative industry. He appears to be explicitly addressing this on opener ‘In Painter’s Light’ and yet, as often happens on this LP, the song expands into a broader meditation on the purity of dreams, how the things you hold close to your heart can be so easily crushed when life does not always line up with your inner plans.

Wider topics are written about with equal aplomb, take ‘Convict Ways’ and it’s definite depiction of transport ships moving convicts over to Australia. The song does not merely settle on dry description, it states that progress has not moved far enough away from the days of “being slaves without the name of slaves.” And ‘Have You Not Heard The War Is Over’ may just be one of the finest anti-war folk songs ever written. Not simply because of the way Declan precisely deconstructs the many shady positions that justified past conflicts in the first place, nor for the undeniable way he puts humanitarianism at the forefront of his position. No, it is also because this song has a damn fine folk chorus that can be sung along with instantly and stays in the musical part of your brain long after the album is over.

‘Andy Sells Coke’ begins as a critical, advisory take down of a delusional character dealing to fund his own drug habit. Again though, the song turns inward to focus on the singer himself passed out in a chair when he should have long since grown out of that kind of behavior. “I’m too old in the tooth to be round this shit” the number concludes. O’Rourke often arrives at the core of a song in the moment when his lyric writing turns in on himself. ‘The Harbour’ might seem like a straight-ahead tale of an old gardener and an introspective tiler and the life lessons they have acquired along the way. Still once more, the writer looms into view, recognizing in himself a hunger and desperation to uncork the inner heart and soul of all he encounters to feed into his own creativity. Imagining himself in turbulent waters, where “every wind has a tail,” the singer longs for the relative sanctuary of the harbour. Well, with ‘Arrivals,’ every song really does have a tale and they are all performed by an honest craftsman taking his work seriously and investing with all the passion and feeling it demands. This is a fine piece of folk, singer-songwriter work that could not have been better executed and easily one of the finest we heard in this form during 2021.

Find a vinyl copy of ‘Arrivals’ here: https://www.discogs.com/release/18204775-Declan-ORourke-Arrivals