Rua Rí — the Cobh singer-songwriter Seán Damery — has shared Makeover, a new single and video from his forthcoming debut album, Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life, out 1st May via Soft Boy Records.
Like its predecessor Johnny Workman, which we shared last month, Makeover was born from a period of unemployment in Damery’s life. The song found its beginnings while he was busking on Shandon Bridge in Cork City and making very little money. Out of frustration, he started improvising what you hear at the opening of the track — and, engulfing himself in the unseriousness of what he was playing, wound up with the whole song, fully formed and fizzing with energy.
It’s a track that captures much of what makes Rua Rí such an appealing prospect in Ireland’s contemporary folk scene: the ability to spin the mundane into something irresistible, with lyrics that tumble and skid between nursery rhyme absurdism and sharp, grounded detail. The images pile up with the breathless logic of a story told too fast, held together by Damery’s warm delivery and the song’s infectious momentum.
The single lands with a video directed by Nicole DeLarge, which Damery describes as “a mob wife pre-drinks party.”
Fully produced by Kean Kavanagh, Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life is rooted in place, memory, and ordinary life — nearly every song tied to specific locations around Cobh and Cork City. It captures a world shaped by friendship, boredom, and the small moments that only feel meaningful in hindsight, balancing humour and warmth with an undertow of genuine feeling. Damery has been building a reputation on Ireland’s folk circuit, having supported Amble, Joshua Burnside, Kavanagh himself, and Sam Amidon.
Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life releases 1st May via Soft Boy Records.
Pre-Order: https://bfan.link/tell-your-mother-i-saved-your-life