March 2008

how ye. Coming soon: Live video of the some songs from the Roundy gig. One is completed already and you can view it below:

LIVE AT THE ROUNDY VIDEOS
1. If you're who I think you are

Upcoming gigs:

March 27th McCarthys Invisible bar, Youghal

January 2008

Hot Press Readers Poll - vote now!!
The hot press readers poll is happening now...so you can visit here and please consider voting for my good self. (There are loads of categories to choose from... like "Start a Spark - Cormac O Caoimh" - best debut album, album sleeve. Or just Cormac O Caoimh for songwriter, male, most promising act...or even "Lazy-Gazing - Cormac O Caoim" as best single). Or just vote for U2 and the Frames.

Hello there. Happy new year everyone. 2007 was a super year and 2008 will be even better. In 2007 I got to travel to Toronto as part of the Canadian Music Festival, and recorded and released my debut cd "Start a spark" as well embarking on a tour that took me Amsterdam, dates in London and around Ireland. The album was released in August and received some nice reviews (see below) and plans are afoot to release a second single early 2008. In the meantime I have been busy writing a whole lot of new quiet songs that may see the light of day before this new year is out.

Start a spark reviews:
Luminous front man Cormac O Caoimh releases his first solo album. More than your typical singer-songwriter, O Caoimh mixes pop sensibility with finely tuned song writing wrapping it all up in his soft melodic confidence and sharp lyrical commentary
Hot Press 09/08/2007

“Corkman O Caoimh manages to avoid several of the pitfalls one would normally assocate with Irish singer-songwriters on his debut solo record. For much of the album, he sounds more like an indie-pop artist than an acoustic troubadour. ‘Deep Sea Diving has a light dreamy melody reminiscent of The Sundays, while the sweet boy-girl interplay of ‘Ghosts’ calls to mind Yo La Tengo and The Delgados.”
Hot Press 26/07/2007

an assortment of delicious summer-kissed pop songs with instantly catchy, agreeable melodies infused with Cormac’s poetic sensibility
Partyinkingston.com, Canada

  'The Citadels'  were a terrific band from Cork(Ireland) ; sadly they are no more.
Luckily, we have this new solo album from the Citadels front man. Admirers of Prefab Sprout , Roddy Frame, or Damien Rice will likely devour this record. Cormac's lyrics are whip-smart,and his easy-going vocal style grabs the attention. From the punchy title track,all the way to the wonderful closing duet ('If You Feel') this record is a cut above,and deserves to be widely heard.
The Big TakeOver Magazine, New York

“Start a Spark,” from Cormac o Caoimh, is an album from the ex-singer/songwriter of The Citadels. This solo performer brings a bevy of musical talent to the table with his varied vocal timbres and rhythms; listeners will be dazzled by this album from start to finish
CelebrityCafe

Start A Spark is the fruit of his labor and quite an impressive work as well. The music has feet in both the pop territory as well as the roots side of things. There is no reason why Cormac shouldn't be the next big export from Ireland.
Music Emmissions

“Lazy Gazing has ‘Summer radio hit’ written all over it. ‘View of the World” brings to mind Elvis Costello when he was still young and angry, and ‘Miles of Sky” sounds a lot like Tom Robinson. The album closes with “If you Feel” - a melodic pop-jazz duet with a very catchy progression. Lyrically it’s a charming sentimental love song in the mode of Bill Withers “Lean on Me”. This album grows on you like a virulent rash and is going from the review stack to my personal collection.”
Musican.ie

“the entire collection of songs on Start a Spark is uplifting and danceable with poetic lyrics that are just marvelously outstanding.”
Indie Music Stop

“Singer-Songwriter Cormac O Caoimh has crafted a superb collection of acoustic melodies on his debut album "Start a spark .”
Evening Echo

Wusik Magazine: see pdf of full review here

August 12 2007

Thanks a million to Charles for makng the below video for if you feel.

If you feel - Photographs and Video by Charles Slane

August 9 2007

How ye. Start a spark has been getting some nice reviews and airplay and its currently singer-songwriter magazines album pick of the week. Visit the press section for info on reviews as they appear. And.....the cd is available to purchase (hard copy cd) directly from ths website NOW!! Also available from a loads of download sites from August 17th on.

"Luminous front man Cormac O Caoimh releases his first solo album. More than your typical singer-songwriter, O Caoimh mixes pop sensibility with finely tuned song writing wrapping it all up in his soft melodic confidence and sharp lyrical commentary" - Hot Press 09/08/2007

Lazy Gazing single !! out now. Text: music 464 to 57501 (if you are in Ireland)

You can purchase it at http://www.downloadmusic.ie or

1. Text “music 464” to this number : 57501
   NB..dont include the quotes (“”) ..so you will be texting:
   music 464
   To this number
   57501
2. It cost 99 cent but more on that later (see step 8)
3. After that you will be given a password which you can use to download the single from this site http://www.downloadmusic.ie
   
   
4. Now..the thing is it doesn’t register with the charts unless the song is actually downloaded. So doing me a favour and buying it..but not downloading…wont help. So could you either download the song yourself or if you want…..
5. Forward the text you receive to me at 0879628589
6. I will download it so it registers
7. You can download it yourself then again later
8. AND…keep the text on your phone. Show the text at the Cork pr Dublin launch listed below…and get 2 euro off the admission fee ….so….you actually end up making 101 cent!! (brilliant!)

Start a spark album launch and tour!

Start a spark will be distributed worldwide. The download release date is August 17th and the cd will be available to purchase on 220 worldwide iTunes sites and 100 commercial sites including Wippit, HMV, Virgin, Sony PSP, MSN Mobile, Orange, Tesco and countless others. The cd will be available in record shops this September. Hard copies can also be purchase directly on http://www.cormaco.net (soon) On August the 18th I will begin my “Start a spark” tour which will take me around Ireland In August, the UK and Amsterdam in September.

Dates confirmed so far are:

.August 18th : Triskel Arts Centre (support: Lynda Cullen)
August 25th: McCarthys - The Invisible Bar, Youghal
August 28th: Wexford Song Club
August 31st: Bewleys Theatre (support: Jimi Cullen)
September 5th: 12 BAr CLub, London
September 6th: Electroacoustic club at The Slaughtered Lamb - London
September 26th Studio K - Amsterdam
Oct 2nd: Brazil’s Cafe Bar, Clonmel
Oct 25th: De Burgos, Galway

You can visit myspace to hear some of the cd

June 17 2007
Hi all I will be supporting Julie Feeney at the Spiegeltent on June 30th. Its an early gig. Doors 6.30. And the music will be starting very soon after that. I supported Julie in the Half moon last year and she was brilliant. Come along! It will be a great evening!

I will also be playing Brazil's Cafe bar n Clonmel July 4th and the Roundy July 5th ( a Cork Music Collective gig) and the Wexford Song club July 10th. And Im in the middle of booking the "Start a spark" launch tour which will take me around Ireland in August and the UK and Amsterdam in September. And there could a single released very very soon.

June 1 2007
Well...the big news at the moment is that the new album "Start a spark" is nearly ready. I finally decided on a title and its ready for printing and duplicating as we speak. It's sounding great and I'm delighted with it and thanks to everyone involved in the making of it from Jason O Driscoll (who produced, engineered and played on it), Donal Whelan (Hafod studios) who mastered it Ciaran Cronin who did the artwork for the cd cover (and painted the art featured in the cover), James Cronin who did all the photography and Aoife Regan who was on backing vocal duties for a number of tracks. That's the other news of course. Here is the new website. More info on the launch date of the cd and gigs will appear here soon.

May 2007
I just got the new cd back from the mastering studio. Donal Whelan (Hafod Mastering) did a super job. Im not sure of the title yet...Im humming and hawing between "miles of sky" , "the line the crow flies", "start a spark" and "running from the raincloud. Don't know the title but I do know the order and tracklisting....which is 1. Start a spark. 2. Lazy Gazing. 3. Deep Sea Diving 4. Ghosts 5. Running from the raincloud 6. Things will get 7. Rochelle 8. This heart 9. View of the world. 10. Miles of sky 11. If you feel

March 2007
Well..back from my first trip to Toronto. Great place. The weather was bizarre: snowy and sunny at same time! and the gig at the Canadian Music Festival was really enjoyable. Met some great acts and had a ball. The gig was reviewed by Chart Attack (which I think is Canada's equivalent of Hot Press but Im not sure). I will add the full thing and the url to the press section later but this is what it said:

" O’Caoimh launched into a sharp and acerbic performance interrupted by witty and self-deprecating banter. He gave his songs even more depth and personality through careful and impressive volume control with his voice and guitar. One moment he’d be strumming wildly and barking out a chorus, only to drop to a whisper, with his fingers barely grazing the strings. He’s a very expressive and engaging performer, not to mention pretty damn funny. At one point he attempted to sing three choruses at once, switching back and forth between two mics. He was later joined on stage by ex-Citadels member Aoife Regan, who provided a beautiful female vocal complement for the remainder of the set.Cormac O’Caomih has been playing for years and he knows his shit. He’s a great songwriter and a seasoned performer. I hope he makes it back over from Ireland again soon."

2006
2006 was a great year. Among other things I started and nearly finished a new cd, played three showcase gigs as part of the London Calling Festival, played the Hard Working Class Heroes Festival and toured around Ireland. I also had the pleasure of opening for some great acts including Julie Feeney and Emm Gryner.