Bohemia Records are proud to reveal latest signing A Lazarus Soul.

Brian Brannigan was nicknamed Lazarus by his mother. She was told he wouldn’t survive at birth and when he did, he was diagnosed with a form of Spina Bifida. He pulled through major surgery early in life, only to be diagnosed with cancer in his teens. A mixture of good fortune and surgery saved him again. However, this trauma had a huge effect on a young mind and songwriting became his coping mechanism, his way of figuring out the world. His songs became those of A Lazarus Soul and Brannigan has gone on to build a reputation as one of Ireland’s finest lyrical commentators.

The band’s first three albums, ALSRecord (2001), Graveyard of Burnt Out Cars (2007), Through a Window in the Sunshine Room had revolving cast of musicians from other Irish bands including Ten Speed Racer, Mexican Pets, Future Kings of Spain, Sunbear and Rollerskate Skinny. However, they all heavily featured the music of and were produced / arranged by one of Ireland's finest producers and musicians, Joe Chester.

After becoming a father, Brannigan all but quit playing live until he was asked (at a 2 year old’s birthday party) to play a tribute gig to his hero, Mark E. Smith. He asked Joe, Julie Bienvenu (Lines Drawing Circles) and Anton Hegarty (Future Kings of Spain) to accompany him. With only an hour’s rehearsal, something very special happened in Stoneybatter that night, the line-up of ALS solidified.

Together they released Last of the Analogue Age (2014). It was made album of the week by John Meagher (Newstalk), Alan Jacques (Limerick Live 95) & Dan Hegarty (2FM). It was included in many year end top ten lists including the Irish Independent and Newstalk. It was album of the year for Tom Dunne (Newstalk), Alan Jacques (Limerick 95) & Paul Page (Between The Bars blog / Whipping Boy).

The same year, ALS was invited to play live on RTE Radio 1’s Arena, Other Voices Music Trial and Newstalk’s Pet Sounds end of year broadcast. They were also invited to play the Abbey Theatre, where they stunned a packed theatre with a rendition of The Midday Class.

They were included in Tom Dunne’s Sunday Times 100 Irish albums to Love in 2017.

PRAISE FOR PREVIOUS RELEASES…

"The Green and Live album of the year for 2014 is nothing short of a masterpiece. It's our album of the year by a country mile.“ - Alan Jacques, Limerick Live 95fm

"Album of the week" - John Meagher, Newstalk 106

"A career best that firmly cements Brian Brannigan as one of Ireland's most criminally unsung lyrical heroes" - John Walshe, Hot Press 8/10

"So impressed, it has that brooding energy that Whipping Boy achieved on Heartworm" - Dan Hegarty, 2FM

"One listen & I already know it is everything that most modern music is not" - Paul Page, Entertainment.ie

NEW ALBUM ANNOUNCEMENT

May 2019 sees the release of the band’s fifth album, “The D They Put Between The R & L”, a record of passion, reminiscence and societal discontent.

Brian says of lead single “No Hope Road”…. “I had a great love of reggae music & Bob Marley was my introduction and probably my first musical hero. Every summer in the working class estates of the north side of Dublin (and I’m told the south side too) Marley would blare out of the “2in1’s”, our name for what was a small ghettoblaster, tape deck & radio. I was always fascinated by Marley and would be glued to any documentary on T.V. My brother had a copy of “Legend”and a rather exotic import, the live “Babylon By Bus” which he got from my auntie in London. This song is my attempt to articulate why Dublin people had such a soft spot for Bob. Like any great artist, you don’t get a proper sense of them from a collection of singles. It wasn’t until my teens when I got to hear “Catch A Fire” or “Talkin’ Blues”, that I really knew what Marley was about and my obsession grew.“