London-based Alt-folk alchemist Seamus Fogarty recently released his new album Ships (6th March) on Scottish label Lost Map Records, in partnership with Swedish label Sing A Song Fighter.
Packed with poignant and funny slice-of-life vignettes touching on everything from Geoffrey Chaucer to DIY coffins, and existing in a wonderful new sonic realm where songs and stories coexist peacefully with fragmentary electronics, drones and field recordings, Ships is his most expansive and uplifting collection of music to date. Singles 'I Passed Your House', 'Fire' and 'Ships' picked up wide support across BBC 6Music, from the likes of Cillian Murphy ('one of my favourite artists around at the moment'), Lauren Laverne, Cerys Matthews, Craig Charles, Huw Stephens, New Music Fix Daily, Radcliffe and Maconie, and Riley & Coe, as well as support elsewhere from Uncut (8/10), Analogue Trash, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3, BBC Scotland, BBC Ulster, BBC Wales, Radio X, RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2FM and more... The first single ‘I Passed Your House’ also spent multiple weeks on RTÉ Radio 1’s Recommends list.
Born and raised on the west coast of Ireland but living in London since 2010, Seamus released his debut full-length ‘God Damn You Mountain’ on cult Scottish label Fence Records (King Creosote, Jon Hopkins) in 2012. This was followed by a pair of exceptional albums released via Domino Records – 2017’s The Curious Hand (“magical amplified folk journeys through modern life” 5 STARS – The Guardian) and 2020’s A Bag Of Eyes (“a gloriously trippy journey” – The Sunday Times). His most recent release, the Hee Haw EP, was released on Lost Map Records in 2023 with the lead single ‘They Recognised Him’ receiving high praise from a range of DJs and personalities across the BBC and beyond, including Iggy Pop, and Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy who singled it out for recommendation on his Limited Edition show on 6Music (‘just brilliant’).
He has maintained a busy live schedule through 2025 and 2026, playing his most successful headline tour to date (with stops at London’s MOTH Club + more), opening two sold-out shows for Portishead’s Beth Gibbons in London’s Roundhouse & Luxembourg’s Neumünster Abbey and sharing the stage with Mike Heron in Queen Elizabeth Hall on the Southbank, and at End of the Road festival, as part of an all-star band assembled to celebrate the music of The Incredible String Band. He also completed a sold-out Irish tour to celebrate the vinyl reissue of his debut album in the spring.
He has toured extensively around the UK, Ireland & Europe, both solo and with a range of artists including Lisa O’Neill and This Is The Kit, and has appeared at many notable festivals including the main stage of Green Man, Eurosonic, Latitude, Electric Picnic, Mosely Folk & Haldern Pop. He has also appeared on Other Voices in Ireland and recorded live sessions for Mark Radcliffe on BBC Radio 2 and Cerys Matthews on BBC 6Music.
Recorded at studios in London, St Leonards-on-Sea and Margate and fine-tuned in his own home studio in Walthamstow, Ships boasts an incredible list of collaborators and musicians including string-arranger and multi-instrumentalist Emma Smith (Pulp, Beth Gibbons), drummers Chris Vatalaro (Anohni, Radiohead) and Aram Zarikian (Grasscut), and horn player Joe Auckland (Madness, Oasis). Additional production and engineering comes from Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno, Jon Hopkins) and Mike Lindsay (Tunng, Lump).
“One of my favourite artists around at the moment!”
Cillian Murphy
“Amazing musician!”
Huw Stephens, BBC 6 Music
“…Seamus Fogarty, who I do think is fantastic!”
Guy Garvey, BBC 6 Music
“To mix the electronica of the German avant-garde, with Irish folk inspiration, doing it so seamlessly, is no mean feat. It’s robotic, and it’s got soul!”
Elizabeth Alker, BBC Radio 3
“His latest album is a gently inventive showcase of his plaintive songwriting, leavened with wry humour, propelled by peppy arpeggiated rhythms and finessed with canny production...”
8/10 - Uncut
“Magical journeys through fable and modern life & back again, often in the same song’
5 Stars – The Guardian
“Nestles beautifully at the point where the digital and analogue worlds collide”
5 Stars – The Skinny
“The ghostly emotional wallop of the tunes will take your breath away”
4 Stars – Irish Times
“By turns gritty and poetic… a real original”
4 Stars – The Observer
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