In mid February 2020, I walked into Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, with Steve Cooney, Robbie Harris, and Jon O’Connell.
Brian Masterson was driving the desk, assisted by Sarah Branigan.
We had about 14 songs I had written over the previous 2 years.
In February 2020 terms like ‘Covid’, ‘Social distancing’, ‘lockdown’ were not in my vocabulary.
We sat and played together for 2 days in this wonderful theatre of recorded music that is Windmill.
And to be honest some magic happened.
These 3 top men.
Little or no rehearsal.
Trust, and good vibrations.
When writing these songs, I wanted the canvas to be open, the story unfinished.
So, with no ‘arrangements’ in mind, we just played.
And we knew after 2 days, that there was perhaps some magic here.

Then the lockdown happened within a few weeks.
I decided to proceed with the music, even though the world was suddenly closing down.
I asked Jon to add some electric guitars and vocals, and some keyboards.
I asked Adam Shapiro to play some fiddle.

And then I spent a few weeks seeking out the voice of a woman, to complete the story of Bittersweet Crimson.
The moment I heard the voice of Niamh Farrell, I knew she must write the final chapter.
And thank God she agreed to do it.
At the time of the recording, she was (and is) working in a Dublin hospital.
In the time of Corona, we know what this means.
I felt so honoured that Niamh agreed to record the songs for me, with so much pressure in her non-music work.
Niamh and I have yet to meet in person, and yet she went to Brian’s home studio one day and just graced these songs with her pure voice and spirit.

From the moment I wrote the first song ‘Can we Stay’; I knew this record would be special. And so it is.
A record for 2020.

Lorcan Walshe painted the cover of the package and the booklet, and Myriam Riand designed the artwork.

On July 20th, Bittersweet Crimson will be available to buy ONLY from www.lukabloom.com – download or CD.