Belfast alt-country folk artist Niall McDowell (he/they) has released their stunning debut album Put Your Hands Where I Can See Them, out now via Tulle. Blossoming with gliding, eloquent, reflective, soulful, hook- laden tracks, it’s no wonder he was described as “A Future Headliner” on BBC Ulster’s Across the Lines show. Several of their tracks were hand picked by by Hot Press as their Track of the Day, while 2023’s single ‘I Have Given Up’ was shortlisted for ‘Single Of The Year’ at the Northern Ireland Music Prize after an array of sold-out shows.
In July 2023, Niall McDowell was selected as one of two artists to be part of Belfast’s first UNESCO City of Music exchange with Canada, giving McDowell the opportunity to perform their first festival mainstage performance to thousands of new listeners, setting McDowell up well to begin recording their debut album ‘Put Your Hands Where I Can See Them’ in 2024.
McDowell brings a modern slant to alt-country with their intimate reflections on love and loss, poetic imagery and beguiling, lyrics, turning their soul inside out with warmth, wit, eloquence, breath taking introspection and authenticity
Following on from the record’s two singles ‘I Know A Woman,‘ and ‘Waiting on the Bus,’ McDowell shares “a lot of stars aligned in order to make this album happen, and I’ve found a real sense of community in exploring my life, my relationships and my grief through music”.
McDowell’s debut LP is a capsule of stories from the everyday mundane to the expansive unknown, capturing snapshots of experiences we might not realise the importance of at the time:
“A few months before we started recording the album, I found an old video from my very first live performance in February 2020. I think my family forgot they were recording and set the phone down on the table, because what ensued was 30 mins of commentary on my set from my mum and dad. My dad passed away in 2021, so this was the only live performance he got to see, and it felt important to have his voice on my first record, and he basically narrates the album through various interludes taken from this video. And in a weird way, his voice actually ties together a lot of the songs thematically, and I like to think he helped put everything in place”.
Inspired by the eclecticism of Arthur Russell and the performance art of Laurie Anderson, they sought to find a realm for their already off-kilter country music to exist within, using analogue technology and working with producer Chris W. Ryan (TTSSFU, Just Mustard, Robocobra Quartet, NewDad) to weave in moments of magical realism, strengthening the songwriting and providing a fitting backdrop beyond the veil to explore the album’s themes.
The result is a thoughtful meditation on the chaos of grief, the tribulations of the queer experience, and the singer’s complicated relationship between the two; a diaristic exploration of the personal and the political.
‘Put Your Hands Where I Can See Them’ is out now via TULLE. Check it out! You won’t regret it.
TRACKLIST
- I Know What’s Going On
- Waiting On The Bus
- Body Clock
- Jesus Christ Get A Move On
- I Know A Woman
- The Midnight Song
- Give It A Rest (Country Song)
- Every Moving Part
- Put Your Hands Where I Can See Them
‘PUT YOUR HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM’
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photos credit: Niamh Barry.
