Alt-folk artist and Donegal native Declan McClafferty, better known as Ramper, finds joy in the menial on his lush new single ‘If You Want A Good Dream’, out now. The song precedes his performance as a showcasing artist at Ireland Music Week (22:10 on 3rd October, Workman’s Cellar). Ramper’s honeyed vocals match the melodic, gentle song, until buzzing, cathartic guitar crashes in at the end like a tidal wave.
Ramper says of ‘If You Want A Good Dream’: “The song is about reflecting on hard work or a tough stretch of life and sinking into the temporary pleasure that you’ve gotten through it, maybe even done a good job—the kind of accomplishment that society almost doesn’t recognise anymore. The sort of remedy that comes from getting lost in some task like chopping wood, escaping the world of flashing screens. It leans into being more analog but not a purist—accepting the modernity of technology and cultural change with the same respect that you put on tradition—and taking the best bits from both sides. A hunt for beauty and balance.”
Ramper takes the best of primal rural simplicity and transports it into the future whilst telling the stories of our past and ever-changing present.
Based on a childhood lived before the internet and in the Irish language first, Ramper captures those moments in time that are almost so simple you may not notice them at first, but when you let them settle hold a beauty that cuts through the noise. McClafferty previously played in the award-winning Donegal band In Their Thousands, but embarked on his own journey as Ramper to explore a sound at once expansive yet intimate.
There’s a duality to Ramper. It exists in a time that’s long gone but it doesn’t sound traditional. It’s melancholic, yet hopeful. Sometimes stream of consciousness and sometimes labouring in the details. Recognising its imperfections and showing them off. Pedal steel and synth hold up sharp observations, widescreen guitars, and out-of-tune pianos. ‘If You Want A Good Dream’ follows Ramper’s previous releases ‘Pale as the Moon’, ‘Kept a Curl’, and ‘Promised’.
Ramper’s songs have already travelled around Ireland, the UK, and across the Atlantic Ocean in the form of cosy shows. His music is best experienced live, in a moment just as ephemeral as his subject matter.