Known for being one of Ireland’s most creative and independent artists, John Blek today announces the release of new studio album The Midnight Ache, coming 16th January. The first single, 747, is released today – a heartbreaking track about leaving, the collapse of long lasting love and the indelible marks that lost love leaves.
“This is a song I wrote on an early morning flight to Europe to begin a tour back in late 2023,” explains Blek. “Those journeys can often be fruitful & creative times. The mind is half asleep and the body is there witnessing the tired beginnings of the day or the alien landscapes above the clouds. It’s a chance to get outside of yourself.”
The Midnight Ache is a staggeringly beautiful and perfectly formed piece of alternative folk with a lo-fi heart and touches of modest grandeur delivered by an artist with a voice that could break a heart in two and songs that could heal the most weary of souls.
With 11 beautiful recordings, this time around John has taken his DIY spirit one step further. Not only did he self-record and produce the majority of the album, he went so far as to build the recording studio with his own bare hands. A labour of love but labour all the same.
April 2024 Blek finished building his new creative home, Bigger River Recording Co., and set about working on what would become The Midnight Ache. Echos of Sea Change-era Beck and Sparklehorse give this record a lo-fi intimacy while the string arrangements balance the sound with an element of grandeur and sophistication.
Home is very much at the heart of The Midnight Ache, it features vocal performances by John’s wife and even the cover is adorned with pressed flowers from their garden. Additional production and mixing was done by regular collaborator Brian Casey at Wavefield Recordings.
Speaking on the release, John says “This album took me by surprise. I was slowly writing and using the songs to try to get to know the new studio space. Sonically feeling my way around and seeing what I could achieve when all of a sudden I realised I was looking at a new record.”
The Midnight Ache will be released on the 16th of January on John’s own label Bigger River Recording Co.