ARBORIST “Looking For Love” Album Launch

Love (or its absence) dominates the intimate songs on the new album from ARBORIST – the musical outlet of Belfast’s Mark McCambridge. With ‘Looking For Love’, we find protagonists scouring the dark corners of his home city, wiling-away afternoons in seedy clubs, wandering the streets in all weather, and reflecting on the harsh reality of the modern world, all in search of an elusive love. We need for it now more than ever.

It is ARBORIST’s 4th LP and the first self-produced by McCambridge, largely from his home studio in Belfast. That level of involvement doesn’t go unnoticed, and at times it feels like we are right there in the room with him. These quiet hours are clearly where McCambridge feels most at ease – after all, this is a singer Bill Drummond described as writing songs “riven with more loss than any record since Leonard Cohen quit this world”, who Kim Deal chose to sing in beautiful, intertwined harmony with on debut single Twisted Arrow, and who Matthew E White and his Spacebomb band collaborated with to such astonishing effect on the previous Arborist LP ‘An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeros’.

Spacebomb’s resident bassist Cameron Ralston (Bonnie Light Horseman, Hiss Golden Messenger) again features throughout ‘Looking For Love’, alongside Eamon Ferris (The Waterboys) on drums and Ben McAuley (Van Morrison) engineering. It calls to mind albums such as Songs Ohia’s Magnolia Electric Co., The Divine Comedy’s Regeneration, The Blue Nile’s Hats and Wilco’s Ode to Joy, as well as early-70s records from John Cale, John Lennon and Bill Fay.

In an increasingly noisy world, full of revision, bumph, and sham, it’s important to recognise greatness in the moment – why wait? Mark McCambridge is one of our very best, and each release cements that reputation further. We are delighted to welcome Arborist back to The Empire Music Hall for the Belfast launch of ‘Looking For Love’. Chances are, you’ll find it here.