Earlier this year, Belfast folk singer-songwriter Joshua Burnside released Teeth of Time, described in these pages as his most complex and layered work to date. In that same review, Thomas Blake notes, “This ability to write songs that are both instantaneous and deeply considered is perhaps Burnside’s greatest strength”; and he continues that trend with his latest single “Nicer Part of Town”.
As Burnside explains, “‘Nicer Part of Town’ is a daydream song, following thoughts and memories around, some nice, some not so nice. Many sparks of inspiration for a song occur to me first thing in the morning when I’m sitting on my back step trying to hijack myself awake with caffeine and nicotine. So that’s where this song begins, before we head back in time to my childhood kitchen, and then up into the heavens on an old spaceship. We then sleep rough under a bridge, get blown up by a car bomb and end up in the garden of Eden. It would be nice to say that this one is about this thing or that, but some songs just aren’t so easily pinned down. I guess one theme is the unfairness of life, and in the chaos of it all you may wind up living in the nicer part of town, or sleeping rough.”
Watch the accompanying video below, which was directed, shot and edited by Joe Laverty. Burnside is currently preparing for both his East Coast US Tour (dates below) and performance at Dingle’s Other Voices later this year. We’re looking forward to hearing more.
Stream: https://joshuaburnside.ffm.to/nicerpartoftown
Joshua Burnside USA tour dates:
Nov 5 – Exeter, NH – The Word Barn
Nov 6 – Northampton, MA – The Parlor Room (low tickets)
Nov 7 – Boston, MA – City Winery (sold out)
Nov 8 – Vienna, VA – Jammin’ Java
Nov 9 – Philadelphia, PA – Silk City
Nov 10 – New York, NY – Irish Arts Center (sold out)
Nov 11 – Pittsburgh, PA – City Winery