It’s “welcome back!” after a mere 25 years to Power Of Dreams, the Dublin outfit whose 1990 album, Immigrants, Emigrants & Me, is one of the all-time great Irish debuts.
What went spectacularly wrong after that is a story, which will doubtless be re-told again shortly in Hot Press.
Despite lead singer Craig Walker co-authoring The Avener’s massive European hit, ‘Fade Out Lines’, the chaps felt there was unfinished business, which is what brings us to today’s double A-side single release, ‘America’/‘Across The Shannon’.
While the original magic remains, it’s an older, possibly wiser Power Of Dreams that has also recorded a new album, Aüslander, which follows later in the year.
“Many of the new songs are tracks that I have been keeping to one side in recent times in my job as a songwriter," explains Craig. "They were very obviously Power of Dreams songs. I have found the experience of looking back and reflecting a really interesting one. I would only have ever done this when I felt there was an artistic purpose to a new record.
“There’s a lot of personal stuff in the album,” he continues, “that only worked in the context of a Power Of Dreams album. There’s a song for my mother, who played a huge part in the band’s beginnings. She allowed us to rehearse in her kitchen, garden shed for years and never complained once. I wrote the song ‘Margaret’ in 2000 when she was dying in hospital
“I am doing this for the fans who have been asking for it for 25 years. But also for myself and the guys in the band. It was a special time in our lives and I hope the new album is a worthy follow up to Immigrants.”
It is and we’re thrilled to have them back!