Ballybofey singer/songwriter Karl McHugh is to release his debut CD next Friday night.
‘I Am A Grandfather Clock’ is the debut album from this talented singer/songwriter. A first listen of the album leaves you in no doubt that the Twin Towns has a serious performer to look forward to and marks Karl McHugh down as one of the most exciti
ng young singer/songwriters around.
The music has shades of artists as diverse as Josh Rouse, Damien Rice, Bob Dylan and Counting Crows but frequently – notably on Necklace With A Moon Attached – it is Josh Rouse that he most closely resembles. One of Karl’s best qualities as a singer/songwriter is that he sings proudly in his native Donegal accent. Singing in one’s own native tongue is a feature of the music of some of Ireland’s best artists such as Damien Dempsey, John Spillane and Sean Keane and this marks him out as a wise young man who knows the way to go with his music.
The son of Cathal and Mary McHugh, Main Street, Ballybofey, Karl has a musical background in his family in that his mother Mary McHugh is well known to be a good singer. Looking back, Karl McHugh recalls: “I mind I always wanted to play guitar but I was not let to do it till the age of 12 because my mother thought if I started at that age I would stick to it, which is probably true.
“I was in a few good bands. I was in one called ‘Under Siege’ and then ‘Cityscapes’ from Raphoe. My first gig was on a gig–rig at a Castlederg festival. That wasn’t as part of a band, it was a cross–border project. I was really young, early teens. It wasn’t too bad! That first gig was very good experience. I was still in my early teens when I did my second gig in some competition at the Balor. But my big musical learning experience was with the band Cityscapes. That was a full–on rock band and there I properly got into it. I was at a time where I was not listening to much music anymore and they introduced me to Death Cab For Cutie who are one of my influences. That experience changed everything for me, it blew my mind. I also got stuck on Lisa Hannigan. Then there was Six: 30 which was the year past. That was more a bit of fun and we had a lot of it.”
The next turning point in Karl’s music career was starting to actually write songs. Many of the songs on I Am A Grandfather Clock are sculpted out of the singer’s experience as a student in University College Galway. The song Six Floors I wrote in my first year of college. A couple of my friends had wrote songs. I thought then that I had to get a song together. I thought about what had happened that year and Six Floors came. My friends thought it was brilliant. I was in my room and it was full of magazines and the apartment was six floors us so these experiences influenced the song.”
The intriguing title of the CD I Am A Grandfather Clock refers to his experience of the challenge of songwriting: “When I write a song, there seems to be a two to three month barrier to the next one.
