Duke Special releases new album ‘Hallow’ and announces Irish Tour.
HALLOW
The new album from DUKE SPECIAL to be released on 6 October
in conjunction with his October IRISH TOUR kicking off on 11 October.
Commissioned by Strollers Touring Network
new dates just added in Belfast London and Dublin February 2018
The eminent Belfast poet Michael Longley was once described by his friend Seamus Heaney as ‘a keeper of the artistic estate, a custodian of griefs and wonders’. Duke Special’s new studio album Hallow is entirely based on the poetry of Longley, full of gentleness, honesty, mischief and love, and peppered with a cast of artists, animals, flowers, friends and long forgotten soldiers. As ever, Duke Special is mining a new seam of inspiration, always trying to get to the bottom of what it means to be human.
By nature Duke Special is a curious person. He is curious about theatre, books, music, poetry, art, love, life, redemption, death, 78RPM records and most recently, gardening! All of this is evidenced by his releases which are a map of his passions. These days recording a new album is a tricky enough endeavour and many artists are reliant on their fans to collaborate with them in order to make a new recording happen. Duke has been writing for the past year and has just recently started recording Hallow, but is now asking his fans to pre-order Hallow in order to fund the last bit of the process.
Duke has set up a website called Advocate (www.advocateduke.com) where fans can pre-order the album in their preferred format: CD, vinyl or digital download. There will be a limited run of exclusive signed and numbered CD and vinyl releases which are only available on pre-order.
Every pre-order on all formats will include a special ADVOCATE PASS which will give you access to exclusive content online through the Advocate website. This will range from behind-the-scenes videos of the recording process and video messages from Duke on how the album is progressing, to snippets of demos and exclusive previews of Hallow.
The website will be live and taking pre-orders from FRIDAY JULY 14th. Fans can then see the album performed live on Duke Special’s October tour. (Dates and venues below. Check venue websites for ticket details.)
Duke says, ‘I genuinely hope that these songs will speak to you, inspire, comfort, challenge, provoke, make you cry, make you smile, make you wonder and all the things that good art should do.’
Irish Tour Dates; Commissioned by Strollers Touring Network
Weds 11th October Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar.
Thurs 12th October Visual, Carlow.
Fri 13th October The Source Arts Centre, Nenagh.
Sat 14th October Draíocht Arts Centre, Blanchardstown.
Sun 15th October Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo.
Weds 25th October Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick.
Thurs 26th October Solstice Arts Centre, Navan.
Fri 27th October Riverbank Arts Centre, Kildare.
Sat 28th October The Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny.
Sun 29th October Siamsa Tíre, Tralee.
February 2018;
Thurs 22nd February Bush Hall, London
Fri 23rd February Empire Music Hall, Belfast
Sat 24th February Unitarian Church, Dublin