NPR World Cafe, USA Today Tout Declan O'Rourke As Travel + Leisure Premieres Lush Music Video

NPR WORLD CAFÉ NEXT FEATURES DECLAN O'ROURKE AS ACCLAIM MOUNTS FROM USA TODAY & SPIN

TRAVEL + LEISURE PREMIERES NEW MUSIC VIDEO "TIME MACHINE" FILMED IN RURAL IRELAND

Declan O'Rourke – who made his US debut with the stunning new album 'Mag Pai Zai' (Rimecoat / Missing Piece) – was last week's featured Next artist on NPR World Café.

World Café host David Dye says, "It is definitely time for this music to cross the ocean... O'Rourke has a penchant for writing about love and history with equal amounts of ease and gravity."

Today, Travel + Leisure premiered the new video for "Time Machine," gorgeously filmed in rural Ireland and featuring O'Rourke's nephews as stand-ins for his younger self. In the piece, he talks about how a priest gifted him his first guitar in Melbourne, Australia.

Other acclaim has come in from a variety of critics, including USA Today, in which he was featured on a Playlist alongside major stars like Neko Case, Nine Inch Nails, Lorde, Drake, Lupe Fiasco, and Nirvana.

Acclaim for 'Mag Pai Zai'

"Compassion, romance, a sense of mortality, and a sense of history run through the songs of Declan O'Rourke… his calling is as a balladeer, proffering reassurance in the face of inevitable sorrow." – Jon Pareles, NY Times

"Declan O'Rourke is long overdue for a stateside breakthrough." – Luke McCormick, SPIN

"The Irish balladeer's storytelling skills shine." – Edna Gundersen, USA Today,

"Warm, enveloping voice." – Eric Danton, Wall Street Journal

"Classic crooing sound." – Nate Storey, Travel + Leisure

"Greatness... A listen to a song like 'Time Machine,' 'Caterpillar DNA' or 'Langley's Requiem' is to feel a biting wind blow right through you, and have you reaching for the first warmth available. Heaviness has never had a better home."– Bill Bentley, Morton Report

"Be warned: O’Rourke isn’t just another balladeer with an acoustic guitar. His voice, lyrics and arrangements have distinct impact." – Chuck Campbell, Knoxville News-Sentinel

PAUL WELLER ON DECLAN O'ROURKE & "THE GREATEST SONG WRITTEN IN THE LAST 30 YEARS"

Among Declan O'Rourke's famous fans is Jam legend Paul Weller, who told MOJO Magazine last year, "He writes the sort of classic songs that people don’t write anymore, songs that sound like they’ve been around forever [...] Listen to Galileo, which is possibly the greatest song written in the last 30 years."

O'Rourke's new album 'Mag Pai Zai,' already a top ten hit in Ireland, will come out in the US October 8. A live version of "Galileo" is a bonus track on the US release.

"Be Brave and Believe" music video.

Tour dates in NYC, Philadelphia, Northampton, and CT.

US RELEASE SET FOR ARTIST DECLAN O'ROURKE'S IRISH TOP TEN ALBUM 'MAG PAI ZAI' ON RIMECOAT / MISSING PIECE RECORDS

NY TIMES: "HIS CALLING IS AS A BALLADEER"

PAUL WELLER ON O'ROURKE: "HE WRITES THE SORT OF CLASSIC SONGS THAT PEOPLE DON'T WRITE ANYMORE, SONGS THAT SOUND LIKE THEY'VE BEEN AROUND FOREVER."

WSJ PREMIERES 1ST SONG

Declan O'Rourke's 'Mag Pai Zai,' which rocketed to number six on the Albums Top 100 chart in Ireland, will be released in the US on Rimecoat / Missing Piece Records. Recalling the masterful melodic and vocal gifts of Rufus Wainwright, Harry Nilsson, and Van Morrison, the album will be released via digital download September 24 and distributed on CD October 8.

For the New York Times, Jon Pareles wrote, "Compassion, romance, a sense of mortality and a sense of history run through the songs of Declan O’Rourke... The gravity of unaccompanied traditional Irish ballads — the deliberation in their melodies, their calmly sustained phrases, their fatalistic undertone — informs his songs, whether they’re about faithful love or reckoning with elemental forces."

The Wall Street Journal premiered the first track from 'Mag Pai Zai' today. Eric Danton praises O'Rourke's "warm, enveloping voice."

O'Rourke's song "Galileo (Someone Like You)" was recorded by Josh Groban on his album 'Illuminations,' which charted at number four on the Billboard 200 in the US. Growing up between Australia and Dublin, Ireland, O'Rourke has opened for Snow Patrol, Badly Drawn Boy, John Prine, and Weller. He has also performed on BBC2 and BBC4.

-->Interviewed in Hot Press, Brendan Graham, who penned the worldwide smash hit 'You Raise Me Up'said, "To me, Declan is not a songwriter within the ordinary definition of the word. He is a sorcerer of songs, with a Dickensian skill for finding the moment that details some aspect of our humanity."

All Music Guide called 'Mag Pai Zai' "captivating."

US tour dates are in the works, including an NYC show.

'Mag Pai Zai' Track Listing

1.    Time Machine
2.    Slieve Bloom
3.    Be Brave & Believe
4.    Dancing Song
5.    Caterpiller DNA
6.    Lightning Bird Wind River Man
7.    Langley's Requiem
8.    A Little Something
9.    The Hardest Fight
10.    Orphan Wind Song
11.    Galileo (live, bonus track)
12.    Marrying the Sea (live, bonus track)