It’s been an age since David Hopkins’ name has been whispered within the Irish music industry. Formerly of Dublin prog-rockers Lir, he elected to call it a day during a mid-90s US tour. He left the Lir bus in San Francisco and never looked back. That is until now.
Recorded in the States, Amber And Green is Hopkins’ solo debut and first collection of songs in nearly 15 years. It’s an intelligent and fiercely creative record cemented by its creator’s unrivalled talent on the keys.
What’s most interesting though is how Hopkins' songwriting has been infused by the country he now calls home. Amber And Green is an album very much with its immediate roots in America. On the one track Hopkins resembles the songwriters of his homeland (specifically Mundy), he tellingly sings “Don’t go home/They’ll lock you up in a hole/To get old/You know what they want you to be”.
Despite the American influence, it’s Canadian Ron Sexsmith who Hopkins is most akin to, particularly on the opener ‘You’re Some Kind Of Christian’, with its deep doe-eyed vocal, and the poppy ‘Then There’s None’ (one of the record's highlights).
‘Ginger Hair’, with its delicate beat and sips of electronica, sees Hopkins move into his own, later peaking with the Muse-influenced ‘My Time Is Running Out’. Subtlety is key, particularly in the use of Noe Venable’s operatic backing vocal. Such details make Amber And Green an engaging piece of work.