A Belfsat blogger, Phil O'Kane compiled a list of his top 20 Northern Irish tunes this week. I'm very pleased to have made the list at No. 2 with Lullaby from Departures. :)

Icedcoffee: Top 20 Northern Irish Songs

Thank you kindly, sir!

Tom

Hi Folks,

Two more nice blog reviews have come to my attention. The first is from The Devil has the Best Tuna and goes a little something like this:

BOXING CLEVER: Tom McShane
Genre: Indie / Alternative
From: Belfast, Northern Ireland United Kingdom

Tom Mcshane is a singer songwriter from Northern Ireland who takes you on a tour of his emotions with his heart firmly pinned to his sleeve. Like a mellow, melancholic David Ford or Will Oldham if he'd been brought up on the streets of Belfast instead of Kentucky Tom reaches right into your chest tugging at your heart and leaving you breathless. Such honesty is rare in a scene that emphasises style and fashion over passion and should be treasured by anyone with a passion for music.

Tom has recently released a single, 'Fighter', a lo-fi tale of a son following his boxing father into the ring. 'Fighter' was released as a split 7″ single with fellow Belfastians, the altogether more mainstream sounding indie pop trio Escape Act (of which more tomorrow).

If you've grown tired of run of the mill singer songwriters like David Gray then Tom McShane has arrived to restore your faith.

The second is from the Rocksellout mailout. It says:

Belfast's Tom Mc Shane, I'm going to have no problems in telling you why i was drawn to him. Lets start with the vocal delivery it draws you into the great haunting guitar. There is just enough going on but not too much that you are distracted from the great lyrics. The tracks with a full band are nearly as good, he is a true talent i found myself wanting more.

Thank you both for the kind words and support!

Tom

A brief but very kind review of Fighter appears in the single review section of Subba-cultcha.com. 

TOM MCSHANE - FIGHTER - PENNY DISTRIBUTION

Slow burning lament, touched with melancholy and exploding into falsetto when the emotion calls for it, a touching song from an artist with a pure soul…

Jeremy Chick, Subba-cultcha.com, July 2008

Thanks, Jeremy!

Tom

TOM MCSHANE

'FIGHTER' (Penny Distribution)

Spot of lo-fi alt country from Northern Ireland, anyone? Tom McShane channels the likes of Uncle Tupelo and Smog on this great track, which eloquently tells the story of a boxer's inner conflict. Only deep martial drums resonate beneath McShane's timeless voice for much of the track, with a simple but devastatingly effective little guitar lick cropping up every now and then too. An extremely promising taster.

Stephen Errity

Hot Press

Volume 32, Issue 13

16^th July 2008

Thanks Stephen!

Russell David featured "Fighter" & "Promise Me" on his Simplemuzik Podcast Episode 095. This episode, entitled "The Good Fight" centres around the thematic common ground between "Fighter", "Out of Tune Confessional" by Julius Caesar and the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke. Please check out Russell's Podcast.

I'm very pleased to announce that my band and I will be supporting the awesome Holly Golightly next Thursday evening at Auntie Annies Porter House in Belfast. I'm a big fan of Ms Golightly so this show will be a massive thrill for me!

I literally cannot wait!

Tom

Hi Folks,

The third and final of the Fighter pre-release free download tracks is now available here on myspace. This week it's an acoustic version of Promise Me recorded live in session from Across the Line on BBC Radio Ulster. As with the previous tracks, this song will be available for one week only.

I hope you've all enjoyed the tracks released in weeks one and two and I hope your appetites are whetted for the single release on 23^rd June. More exciting news on that to come.

'Til then,

Tom