“A finer gift hasn’t come from France since the Statue of Liberty was delivered,”
said Irish American News about Doolin’s self-titled 2016 Compass Records
debut.

After three years of breakout touring at some of the biggest roots festivals in the
United States and Canada, and another three years locked out of the live
performance world they have so ambitiously cultivated, Doolin’, France’s
premiere practitioners of Irish and Celtic music, return in early 2023 with a new
album entitled CIRCUS BOY.

Recorded in part in the US (Chicago, Kansas City and Pittsburgh) during their
2019 tour, the album was completed at the legendary Studio Ferber in Paris,
France, under the direction of two legendary producers, Olivier Lude and
Patrice Renson, both of whom have collaborated with some of the biggest
names in French music.

While their 2016 album drew its inspiration from the fusion of traditional Irish
music, French chanson, and American roots music, CIRCUS BOY is resolutely
more adventurous, as evidenced by their original compositions (“Circus Boy”,
“When I’m Gone”, “A Place Where We Belong”), as well as by the added punch
and sonic elements that were brought to the project by producers Lude and
Renson.

Wilfried Besse’s vocals are supported as usual by the driving rhythm section of
Josselin Fournel (percussion), Sébastien Saunié (bass) and Nicolas Besse
(guitars), and the trad-Irish influence remains evidenced through the whistles of
Jacob Fournel, the bodhran of his brother, Josselin, and the nimble accordion
playing of Nicolas’ brother, Wilfried. But CIRCUS BOY represents a more
powerful and bigger musical vision for the band, made possible by the
introduction of piano, drums, and brass as new sonic elements. That said, the
Irish music tradition is not complete without the presence of a fiddle or two, and
on CIRCUS BOY Doolin’ includes three of the best European fiddlers of the
genre: Niahm Gallagher, Niall Murphy, and Guilhem Cavaillé, himself a
founding member of the band.

CIRCUS BOY is at its core an exploration of the recurring feelings and themes
experienced during the group’s US tours: the friendship and solidarity on the road (“Circus Boy”), the personal and artistic encounters gained through extensive
touring, and the exploration of a new country with a dizzying musical culture. It is
also the acknowledgement of a sometimes difficult world (“Top Of The
Mountain”), as well as the recent challenging times and the topics we’ve all been
forced to reckon with; to this Doolin’ have included a necessary and heartfelt
tribute to women (“Man Smart, Woman Smarter”). On the latter — a Calypso
standard first brought to mainstream attention by Harry Belafonte, and later by
Robert Palmer — they are joined by the female triumvirate of the Diver sisters,
aka The Screaming Orphans and Ashley Davis (Lunasa, The Chieftains) on
backing vocals, and Niahm Gallagher (Lord Of The Dance) on violin.

CIRCUS BOY is simultaneously Doolin’s declaration of love for their region of
France (in particular their hometown of Toulouse [“L’Amour Sorcier”]), for those at
home who miss them when they are away (“When I’m Gone”, “A Place Where
We Belong”), and for their many friends and newfound fans (“Thank You”).

Powerful, full of emotion, and eminently appealing, Doolin’ is poised to take their
career to the next level with the release of CIRCUS BOY.