Poor Creature – All Smiles Tonight
Poor Creature will release their debut album All Smiles Tonight on July 11, 2025, via River Lea Records.
Listen to the first single taken from the album, ‘The Whole Town Knows’ and watch its video, directed by the band’s Ruth Clinton and Cormac MacDiarmada.
“The video was filmed over a number of years, near to and far from our home in the northwest of Ireland. Starring ourselves and many friends, both boxy and round, with special thanks to the pigeons of Sligo”, explain the band.
Poor Creature is comprised of Ruth Clinton, Cormac MacDiarmada and John Dermody, all three are members of other bands (Landless and Lankum respectively) who have built a large following on re-interpreting songs from the past. Songs that have existed for centuries can seem immutable and anchored to time. A new generation of Irish musicians are keen to acknowledge that musical legacy, while reimagining the songs within a contemporary context.
There’s definitely a unifying theme of loss and separation on nearly all the songs on the record. When working on ‘The Whole Town Knows’ (a Ray Lynam & Philomena Begley track), it transformed from a song about cheating hearts to something else. “It talks about how we can’t go on living this way, which became a metaphor for the climate crisis and the general destruction of the planet. ‘Lorene’, which Cormac sings solo, is an epistolary tale of missing someone, and the despair of unanswered letters, which channels Chantal Akerman’s News From Home.
Poor Creature’s sound – particularly in the context of contemporary Irish folk – offers something unique. There’s the gauzy, underwater, almost psychedelic seams of ‘Bury Me Not’ and ‘Adieu Lovely Erin’. ‘All Smiles Tonight’ and ‘Hicks’ Farewell’ nod to the influence of American folk/bluegrass acts like Doc Watson and the Louvin Brothers. These shifting sounds are made possible by producer John ‘Spud’ Murphy, who has produced all of Lankum’s albums, and worked with Junior Brother, ØXN, Pretty Happy, Ye Vagabonds as well as the final two albums by The Jimmy Cake, with whom John has played for over 20 years.
“There’s something about the everyday and the fantastical, being entangled, which I think Irish music does so well” explains Ruth. This also sums up All Smiles Tonight, moving through stories and loss and history to create an otherworldly and timeless album for the ages.
Forthcoming Tour Dates:
April 11th – Whelans, Dublin
July 14th – Rough Trade East Instore, London
Aug 31st – Supersonic Festival, Birmingham
Sept 20th – Royal Festival Hall, London, supporting Lisa O’Neill
#poor_creature_music