Kodaline Our Roots Run Deep CD

When Kodaline stepped on stage at Dublin’s cozy, sold-out Olympia Theatre in early March 2022, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist, Steve Garrigan; bassist/vocalist, Jason Boland; guitarist/vocalist, Mark Prendergast; and drummer/vocalist Vinny May felt a deep sense of renewal, of their friendship, their brotherhood, and their musical community.

The beloved Irish quartet also felt a sense of release. Two years of pandemic-related separation, from each other, and the audience they had meticulously built since 2011, had underscored how essential that symbiotic relationship really is.

It's that sense of release that permeates Our Roots Run Deep, Kodaline’s brand-new, stripped-down, 17-track live album and Fantasy Records debut.

Produced with pristine clarity by fellow Irish cohort, Phillip Magee, Our Roots Run Deep features a cross-section of the group’s most treasured tunes and three illuminating covers in over 80-minutes of music.

“This album is something we’ve wanted to do for a very long-time, it’s also something entirely new to us,” explain the band. “It’s a stripped-down acoustic show with no click, which basically means, it’s very raw and unfiltered. We wanted to try and capture the energy and atmosphere of the night as best we could. It was an intimate show recorded in one of our favourite venues in the world, in Dublin City at home in Ireland. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed playing it.”

Known for the soaring, sing-along pop-rock anthems and lush, yearning ballads that have topped radio and streaming charts around the globe, for these special intimate performances Kodaline utilized largely acoustic instruments including cellist, David Doyle and keyboardist/vocalist, David Prendergast who help give the warm, living room sound added layers of texture and depth.

The quieter musical beds pushed the band’s emotionally driven lyrics and intricately woven harmonies to the forefront, deepening their poignant resonance even further. It also left room for the voices of their ecstatic fans, who filled the open spaces every chance they could!

While too plentiful to list in full, the set’s highlights include the highly apropos opener ‘Wherever You Are,’ the lead track from their latest LP, 2020’s One Day At A Time, ‘High Hopes,’ the lead single from the band’s debut album, 2013’s In A Perfect World and ‘Brother,’ a moving cut from the group’s third studio album, Politics of Living, which is now being released as the first track from Our Roots Run Deep.

The band include three interesting and revealing covers here as well: a brooding, dramatic turn on Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean,’ a mostly a cappella performance of Sam Cooke’s soul classic ‘Bring It On Home To Me,’ and a taste of ‘Dirty Old Town,’ the near Irish standard popularized by The Dubliners and The Pogues.

It can be argued that in some ways the international chart-topping hitmakers, and world-wide concert draws, who are massively synched on film and television, have been hiding in plain sight. 

Our Roots Run Deep is a spectacular showcase for the purity of their artistry and the profound musical impact they’ve had on a generation. Their next step is around the corner, till then, this is Kodaline—unguarded, simple, essential.

TRACKLIST

1. Wherever You Are
2. Ready
3. Brother 
4. Brand New Day 
5. Billie Jean 
6. The One 
7. Moving On 
8. The Answer 
9. Dirty Old Town 
10. Love Like This
11. Sometimes 
12. Love Will Set You Free 
13. High Hopes 
14. Bring It On Home To Me 
15. Perfect World 
16. Everything Works Out In The End 
17. All I Want