John Hegarty has received critical acclaim for his second album, Guiding Light since its release on Sonic Revelator Records in Ireland back in September, 2007.
Riding on the back of the radio single also entitled “Guiding Lightâ€, Hegarty launched the album with a show at Crawdaddy in September performing powerful versions of some of his best loved songs while introducing some of the pop delights featured on his new opus.
Guiding Light features 14 new songs which cover a broad range of musical styles from the energetic melodic rock of ‘Such A Thrill’, ‘The Sound’ and ‘Misgivings’, the chamber pop of ‘Love Happens’, ‘Let Love In’ and ‘You See’ and string laden balladry of ‘Break The Spell’, ‘Disfigured Heart’ and ‘Before’.
The album was influenced by the classic pop songwriting of Burt Bacharach, Brendan Benson, Scott Walker, Tim Buckley and Paul McCartney, the rock musings of Big Star, The Velvet Underground and Dinosaur Jr. and the country soul of Gram Parsons and The Byrds.
The album received glowing album reviews praising his “devotion to classic pop and uncanny way with a tuneâ€, “truly superb rhodes electric piano soundsâ€, and “superb knack for writing the most catchy and clever country pop songs.â€
The recording of Guiding Light began in April, 2006 with Steve Shannon producing the songs in his new studio, Experimental Audio. Initially Hegarty intended to record a band album and enlisted the combined mastery of drummer Declan Herbert and bass player El Byrne of Noise Control for the rock songs and the string arrangements of Linda Buckley for the gentler songs.
A gifted multi-instrumentalist who has toured with The Pernice Brothers, David Gray and more recently opened for Patrick Watson, Hegarty plays a wide array of instruments on the album including guitars, Hammond organ, piano, Wurlitzer, Rhodes, vocals, and percussion.
John Hegarty's debut album, Twilight was released in 2000, he featured in the first RTE TV series of Other Voices: Songs from A Room and recently appeared on The Last Broadcast where he was interviewed by Dave Fanning and did a live performance of his new single, “Such A Thrillâ€.
“…..a pop force to be reckoned who mines from the motherlode of Bacharach, Big Star and The Beatles, channeling them into such bright, upbeat songs as Such a Thrill, The Sound and Let Love In…†The Ticket
“….with a wonderful collection of gentle, sun-soaked songs, Hegarty supported Canadian stalwarts Patrick Watson in what was a brilliantly rousing show …†The Irish Daily Star
“….a possible contender for the catchiest Irish album of the year, Guiding Light features 14 slices of pure sunshine east coast rootsy rock with hints of everything from the Beach Boys to Gram Parsons to more modern acts like Phoenix and Ray Lamontagne…†RoadRecords.com
“…fourteen tracks of quite whimsical wonder especially on songs such as ‘Love Happens’, ‘You See’ and the melancholic loveliness that is present on ‘Break The Spell’…†Dublin Event Guide
