Following the release of his acclaimed new album Cheer Up last Friday, Cork singer-songwriter John Blek has debuted at No.2 on the Independent Chart this week – just behind Fontaines D.C., who hold onto the No.1 spot another week with Romance.

Over on the Irish Albums Chart, Cheer Up landed straight in at No.24, while Sabrina Carpenter continues her reign at the top of the chart with Short n' Sweet.

"Following his Catharsis Project – a four-album exploration of the sea, earth, embers and air – last year’s Until The Rivers Run Dry marked a fresh creative turn, moving from pure folk into poppier territory," Will Russell wrote in his recent review of Cheer Up for Hot Press. "That direction is wonderfully expanded-upon here, with Dutch harmony group Woolf and the Dresden-based Broken Strings providing much of the added bolster..."

Blek himself describes the project as "a very important record for me."

"It's the first of mine that is entirely autobiographical from start to finish," he continues. "Also, in the past, I have tried to be quite restrained when it came to the production of my songs, but this time around I wanted to adopt a more is more approach. Allowing each song to dictate its own natural path and taking it as far as I could with the resources available to me."

Listen to Cheer Up below:

Upcoming Irish tour dates with The Broken Strings:

• 17th Oct - Cleere's, Kilkenny
• 18th Oct - DeBarra's, Clonakilty
• 19th Oct - Triskel, Cork
• 20th Oct - The Cobblestone, Dublin