Cork Folk Fest: Cormac O Caoimh & Martin Leahy

Cormac launched his 5th album (swim crawl walk run ) on May 15th 2020. The first 7 singles including “I’m in need” , 'When my kids grow too old to hold hands' and 'Swim Crawl Walk Run Ride Drive Fly' all were playlisted by Ireland's biggest national station – RTE Radio 1.

The album was Album of the the week on RTE Radio 1, BBC Ulster, Lyric FM, KCRL FM, Play Irish , 8 Radio , Le Village Pop and 8 Radio. It was the 8th biggest selling album of 2020 and reached no.1 in the official IRMA indie charts on the week of its release.

It was recorded with Martin Leahy at the helm. It features 10 songs, multi instrumentalist Martin playing drums, bass, keys, guitar and many many more.

Since May 2022 he has been releasing a whole bunch of singles from a new album (due out soon). There Must Be A Catch, Aliens, My Little Buddha and Where The World Begins all received extensive radio airplay and will feature on the new album. A standalone single, Didn't We (a co-write with Lindy Morrisson from the Go Betweens) was released in October 2022.

Cormac's intimate vocals, magical melodies and exquisite guitar playing has always attracted very favourable appeal to critics (with Mojo, The Irish Times, HotPress, R2, Americana UK, OndaRock in Italy and many more) always quick to point to his unique style as well as comparisons to acts varying from the dreamy pop of The Go Betweens, Badly Drawn Boy, Elliott Smith and Prefab Sprout to the introspective and more folk-oriented Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen and Paul Simon.

Martin leahy been playing on the Irish music scene for about 20 years. Along with his recent successes as a singer/songwriter he has worked extensively with some of Irelands greatest songwriters and musicians including John Spillane, Christy Moore (on his No.1 selling album ‘Listen’) Ger Wolfe, Jimmy McCarthy, Greenshine, Noel Brazil, Declan Sinnott among many others. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, he has produced many albums including Cormac O Caoimh's ‘Swim Crawl Walk Run’, Ger Wolfe’s well-received album ‘I Have Been Loved', Leah Sohotra and John Neville.

Martin received nationwide attention when he released his song in April 2022 about the housing crisis called Everyone Should Have A Home. He has been travelling from Cork to Dublin every week to protest outside Dáil Éireann by singing his song since May 2022 for 59 weeks. He has performed at all the major Cost Of Living Crisis protests in Dublin and in Cork including the recent Raise The Roof Protest in Dublin. He has been interviewed by and featured on multiple national and local print, tv and radio media outlets about his protest and his song. He has been featured on The Irish Times (front cover) The Irish Examiner, Irish Independent, Echo (front cover), Joe.ie, Virgin Media TV, RTE News, TG4 etc.

Buy your tickets early. This is likely to sell out quickly

“One day or another, Cormac O Caoimh will be unanimously considered one of the greatest melodists in the history of pop-music” - Le Village Pop

"if there’s any justice in this mad musical world, those who have not heard of this man will be in the minority very soon" - Golden Plec

“Acoustic Gems from the Cork singer-songwriter. Each song superglues to the memory " **** Mojo Magazine

"a tour de force" - Americana UK

**** "There are echoes of terrific songwriters here – the likes of Lloyd Cole, Paul Simon, Eels’ Mark E Everett, and Prefab Sprout’s Paddy McAloon filter through – but O Caoimh’s personalized worldview makes the material his own" - The Irish Times

“Nice mix of chamber-pop, jazz, folk, bossa and indie-pop. The exuberance of his songs is far from the melancholy of many country-folk authors; His style is much closer to the elegance of Paddy McAloon or Paul Simon's lyric polychrome that seem to come out of a dream where the Belle And Sebastian meet Prefab Sprout” - Ondarock

“Not quite sure why this wizard of an Irish songwriter doesn't get talked about more.If you like your Go Betweens/Prefab Sprout,this is for you” – Willie Meighan – RollerCoaster Records

"Feels as if you’re wrapped up in your warmest coat glimpsing some vast and beautiful landscape through the condensation laden windows" - Tom Robinson

"Leaves you feeling that all can be right with the world" - Fatea Magazine 

?"There is true magic here" - Folk Words