Spreading The Word
“I’m still learning; I still see myself as a student – and I’m ready for things now. Some of these songs I’ve written I wouldn’t have ten years ago."
Within all the social commentary – between the discussions on politics, pain and social injustice – what you'll find is a beautiful record in Almighty Love, the sixth album from singer-songwriter Damien Dempsey. From the rising introductory vocal strains to the meandering final crescendo, the LP encapsulates the fight of the human spirit through all strengths and flaws.
It's no surprise then that the response has “been brilliant”, as Dempsey gushes. The record charted as high as number three in his native Ireland, hanging around the top for roughly two months, and has also led to an increase in radio play, “more than any other album”, generating interest that according to the Irishman wasn't once there.
“The DJs know that I'm here for the long haul; they know I'm not going away, y'know. And sometimes it takes a lot of listens for someone to get my music; sometimes it can take people a long time to come around, but they say one day it just clicks. Some DJs will tell me, 'I didn't like you, I didn't like you for years, and then one day I heard one of your songs and it just clicked and I've just loved you since then'. So it's weird, it's strange.”
It was over four years between the release of Dempsey's fifth record The Rocky Road [2008] and 2012's Almighty Love, the longest gap in his catalogue, amplifying internal feelings of pride even further within the Irishman.
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“When you're away that long you can be forgotten about,” he reflects. “But what happens is people that love it, they pass it to other people, they drag people along to a gig or say, 'You have to listen to this'. People become like messengers, y'know, and [my music] spreads slowly but surely – it's not a flash in the pan thing. It seems to have a lot of longevity which is great.”
Between the two records, Dempsey took considered breaks from his music. He won critical praise for his portrayal of Dublin crime boss Paul Chambers in Between The Canals, an Irish drama that marked the 37-year-old's first role in a feature film. He also ventured out and threw himself at the world, spending large chunks of time, as both a traveller and a resident, in the UK, Australia, Thailand and the Philippines, acquiring a new worldliness that shines through on Almighty Love.
“People have said about the album, that the themes are a bit more universal. It's not as introspective and insular, it's not just about Ireland y'know, so maybe travelling has made me a bit more universal and has a bit more universal appeal, hopefully,” he reasons. “I've grown in life I suppose and I'm feeling more comfortable and more confident in myself as well, and in my music and my voice.
“I'm still learning; I still see myself as a student – and I'm ready for things now. Some of these songs I've written I wouldn't have ten years ago; I would've been worried about what people would think of what I was talking about, whereas now I don't really care about what people are going to say. Maybe I have thicker skin or something?”
Dempsey also admits that since those early days his accent has toned down. He's learnt to speak a bit slower and pronounce his words better. Not that he's forgetting where he's from. He's just committed to taking listeners to places they've never been. “The diction is better because I think I have something to say – a message – so I'd hate for people not to be able to understand me, y'know.”
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