• Interview: David Turpin on Romances

    October 18, 2019 - By 

    The Late David Turpin (so called because of a brief near-death experience) has just released his first album in six years. Romances is a haunting and provocative collection of songs, on which Turpin has stepped back from the microphone to make way for ten guest singers, including Elephant, Bear Worship, Gar Cox, Jaime Nanci and Villagers’ Conor O’Brien. Here, we talk to him about the influences behind the album and its accompanying imagery. Photo by Dorje De Burgh. Previously, you’ve been known as a singer-songwriter. What made you decide to do an album with others singing, instead of you? I’ve…

  • Track Record: The Late David Turpin

    September 1, 2015 - By 

    In the latest installment of Track Record, Dublin artist David Turpin (AKA The Late David Turpin) selects and talks about some of his all-time favourite records. The Late David Turpin’s concert Romances will take place at Project Arts Centre, Dublin on September 17 as part of Tiger Dublin Fringe. Photos by Abigail Denniston. Bjork – Medulla I love Medulla because it’s very beautiful, and it’s also very ugly – like the interior of a human body. Watching a documentary I was struck by how germane and technical Bjork is in the studio – which is not always how she’s presented as…

  • Watch: The Late David Turpin – Hotel

    May 23, 2014 - By 

    Dublin-based singer-songwriter The Late David Turpin has unveiled the rather cryptic and impenetrable video for his new single, ‘Hotel’. Made in collaboration with photographer/editor Killian Broderick and starring siblings Julie Shanley and Jack Shanley (as well as Turpin and his own brother),  the video was shot on location in the Wicklow mountains and in the atmospheric Bray Head Hotel, which wasrecently used as a location for Neil Jordan’s Byzantium. Partially inspired by esoteric fantasies of the mid-1970s including John Boorman’s Zardoz (1974) and Louis Malle’s Black Moon (1975), the video features multiple fragmented strands suggesting human sacrifice and transformation.  Pivoting around a movement piece choreographed by Jack Shanley, the video is…

  • The Thin Air’s Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2013 (100-75)

    December 10, 2013 - By 

    It’s that time of year again: End Of Year” lists are steadily rolling in from every conceivable direction, many of us are still debating the BBC Sound of… verdict for next year and we’re all silently pondering our own favourite albums and EPs of the last twelve months. Closer to home, it’s been yet another ridiculously impressive year for Irish music, both North and South. Since January 1, right up until the writing of this article (December 10), a single week hasn’t gone by that wasn’t soundtracked in some way by the very best in new, homegrown music. As such –…

  • Watch: The Late David Turpin – Fur

    December 6, 2013 - By 

    Taken from his third studio album We Belong Dead, Dublin-based singer-songwriter The Late David Turpin has unveiled the video to his new single, ‘Fur’. Made in collaboration with photographer Mark Duggan and the actress Julie Shanley as well as friends of Turpin, the video was inspired by Derek Jarman’s The Angelic Conversation and Jean Cocteatu’s La Belle et la Bete. Speaking of the video, Turpin said, “When I made ‘Fur’ I was thinking about hair. Because we live in a pornographic society, hair – like all the realities of the body – is something we seem to either fetishise or…

  • Exclusive stream: The Late David Turpin – Bear of a Star

    September 11, 2013 - By 

    On the eve of the release of his forthcoming third album, we have an exclusive stream of ‘Bear of a Star’ by Dublin-based singer-songwriter The Late David Turpin. Having already released two albums under his own name, Turpin – who recently died for “approximately died for 28 seconds” – will release We Belong Dead on September 13. To celebrate the release, Turpin will perform the album in full with a chamber choir  on September 15 at Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre.  ‘Bear of a Star’ strikes a rather brilliant balance between Beck, Eels and Of Montreal, with hints of Wire and Soul Coughing. Ahead of our interview with Turpin on…