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Following the release last month of his double A-Side single “Marching Round The Ladies / The Good Life”, Belfast-based folk singer-songwriter Joshua Burnside has today announced his newest album, “Teeth of Time”, out February 28th via Nettwerk.
The announcement is accompanied by another double A-side, both of which tap into the anxieties surrounding significant life changes and becoming a father.
‘Ghost Of The Bloomfield Road’ follows Joshua as he wanders the streets following the birth of his son. With mother and baby back home, he feels the full weight of his powerlessness, roaming the dark warrens and walkways of East Belfast like a sleep-deprived ghoul. The single is accompanied by a nostalgic video by David Moody.
‘Good For One Thing’ is an imagined story of a circus performer, a young man whose worth is determined by his ability to pay bills, to entertain and amuse. A concept track that mirrors his own anxieties as a new father and a musician in a colder world. Originally written as a folk rock track, this stripped version gives more credence to the lyrics, allowing the tension and slow burn of Joshua’s sombre delivery to be fully felt.
Stream: https://joshuaburnside.ffm.to/gotbr_gfot
On the album, Burnside states, “This feels like my happiest family of songs to date. Or the most joy-filled ones anyway… which isn’t much of a boast. This album was written against the background of my becoming a father for the first time, and of my family growing alongside my wife Emily. And, alongside that joy, comes a lot of fear and anxiety, both of which are also pretty prevalent throughout this album. The songs were written between Belfast and Comber, Donegal and Paris, and recorded in my unsound-proof studio in Belfast city centre. So the sounds and life of the city and countryside, alongside that of my son, are all key parts and drivers of the tracks on this record.”
“This album is about growing older, becoming a dad, getting by and making do. It’s about change and changeless mountains that silently watch as our short lives pass, ice sheets melt, loughs die and stars vanish. It’s about the haves and have-nots, the lucky and the damned. It’s about being stuck in traffic with a hangover, and doom scrolling at 3am. It’s about trees as gods in the imagination of a child, about lands divided, and never-ending wars fought under the banner of capitalism. It’s about Belfast, the north and about saying f*ck that to those that would divide us. It is about losing the ones we love and carrying on.”
Burnside has perfectly captured his intimate yet universal thematic sounds and lyrics, carrying all the emotion into each track. The 11-track LP is simultaneously eclectic yet cohesive, from the delicate fingerpicking and lamentations of ‘Up and Down’, to the soothing nostalgia of ‘Climb the Tower’, with its oscillating finger strokes and picking, to the tongue-in-cheek, kitchen-sink melodrama of ‘The Good Life’. Incorporating greater electronica influence in more unconventional and unexpected ways, with tracks such as ‘Sycamore Queen’ and ‘The Silence of’ showcasing Burnside at his most experimental, the songwriter has continued to cultivate his signature sound, which he’s taking around the world. 2024 was a big year for the fast-rising performer, and 2025 is shaping up to be even bigger. Following the release and debut show at Celtic Connections, he’ll be headed back to the UK and EU to head out on another tour.
Teeth of Time Tracklist
- Teeth of Time: Mountain
- Up and Down
- The Good Life
- Sycamore Queen
- Ghost of the Bloomfield Road
- Climb the Tower
- Marching Round the Ladies
- In the Silence of
- Good For One Thing
- Woven
- Nothing Completed
Joshua Burnside Live Dates
Thu 27 Feb – Edinburgh, The Caves
Fri 28 Feb – Aberdeen, The Tunnels
Sat 1 Mar – Newcastle, The Grove
Sun 2 Mar – Stroud, Prince Albert
Tue 4 Mar – Deal, The Lighthouse
Wed 5 Mar – Brighton, Hope & Ruin
Thu 6 Mar – Southbourne, The Wight Bear
Fri 7 Mar – Bristol, Jam Jar
Sat 8 Mar – Leeds, Hyde Park Book Club
Sun 9 Mar – Birkenhead,
Tue 11 Mar – London, Islington Assembly Hall
Wed 12 Mar – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
Thu 13 Mar – Cardiff, The Gate
Fri 14 Mar – Newport, Carnigli Nights Out
Sat 15 Mar – Manchester, YES Basement
Wed 26 Mar – Kilkenny, Cleere’s Bar & Theatre
Thu 27 Mar – Clonakilty, DeBarra’s
Fri 28 Mar – Kinsale, Catherine’s Cultural Centre
Sat 29 Mar – Dingle, The Green Room
Sun 30 Mar – Tralee, Tobar Naofa
Tue 1 Apr – Strandhill, Sligo Brees
Wed 2 Apr – Galway, Roisin Dubh
Thu 3 Apr – Dublin, Whelans
Sat 5 Apr – Belfast, Ulster Hall
Further EU dates to follow…
