Love or its absence dominates the intimate, often whispered, songs on the new album from ARBORIST - the musical outlet of Belfast’s Mark McCambridge. We find protagonists scouring the dark corners of his home city, wiling-away afternoons in strip clubs and reflecting on the bleak reality of today’s world, all in search of an elusive love.
It is ARBORIST’s 4th LP and the first self-produced by McCambridge, largely from his home studio in Belfast – late night recordings lending the album a crepuscular, stark atmosphere and the feeling that we are present with him there in the room.
These quiet hours are clearly where McCambridge feels most at ease - after all, this is a singer Bill Drummond has described as writing songs,“riven with more loss than any record since Leonard Cohen quit this world”, who Kim Deal chose to sing in beautiful, intertwined harmony with on debut single Twisted Arrow and who Matthew E White and his Spacebomb band collaborated with to such astonishing effect on the previous Arborist LP.
Spacebomb’s resident bassist Cameron Ralston (Bonnie Light Horseman, Hiss Golden Messenger) again features throughout, alongside Eamon Ferris (The Waterboys) on drums and Ben McAuley (Van Morrison) engineering. It is close-mic-ed and intimate, calling to mind albums such as Songs Ohia’s Magnolia Electric Co., The Divine Comedy’s Regeneration, The Blue Nile’s Hats and Wilco’s Ode to Joy, as well as early-70s records from John Cale, John Lennon and Bill Fay.
Recently honoured with a ‘Fellowship’ by the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University in Belfast - alongside author Caoilinn Hughes and playwright Conor McPhearson – 2026 looks set to be a seminal year for the Irish artist.
In 2023, Belfast-based Mark McCambridge aka ARBORIST took the critical acclaim, success and unique production and songwriting of his first 2 LPs to new heights. An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeros, his 3rd LP, was released in April and won the prestigious Northern Ireland Music Prize 2023. It was recorded in Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia alongside producer Matthew E White and with the legendary Spacebomb Houseband, it is a record full of melody and lush arrangements.