Seamus Fogarty

Seamus Fogarty plays The Continental on Thursday 4 February, starting at 19:30. He's a London-based alt-folk musician signed to Domino Records, and this is a headline show with him as the sole bill.

Fogarty's path to the London scene took a bit of a detour. He left his home in the West of Ireland in 2009 and landed in Anstruther, where he played the Homegame festival. His 2012 debut, released on Fence Records, was called one of the best Irish albums of recent years by the Irish Times and earned him a main stage slot at Green Man, as well as tours with James Yorkston, Pictish Trail and Malcolm Middleton. In 2015 he put out the EP Ducks & Drakes on the Scottish label Lost Map, and its title track was named one of the songs of the summer by Gideon Coe of BBC 6 Music.

His album Ships, out on Lost Map and the Swedish label Sing A Song Fighter, is described as his most expansive and uplifting collection so far. It's full of poignant and funny slice-of-life vignettes that run from Geoffrey Chaucer to DIY coffins, all set in a sonic realm where songs and stories sit alongside fragmentary electronics, drones and field recordings. That mix of folk songwriting and electronic textures is a good way to get a handle on what he does: the songs are the core, but they're wrapped in drones and field recordings rather than just a guitar or a piano.

The gig is at The Continental on South Meadow Lane, Preston, PR1 8JP, on Thursday 4 February, starting at 19:30. Tickets start from £15 via Skiddle.