“He has been in numerous bands and produced even more, but Chester’s debut solo album is a perfect pop record. The songs are at once effortless, memorable, hook-laden and a masterclass in subtle dynamics.”
“101 Irish Albums We Love” by Tom Dunne
(01 October, 2017 - The Sunday Times)

On this episode I’m joined by Joe Chester for a deep dive about A Murder of Crows.

We chat about Dublin in the mid-90s, playing music with Sunbear, Nina Hynes, Ten Speed Racer, and others. We also chat about A Lazarus Soul, Elvis Costello, Christy Moore, collaborating with Gemma Hayes for Culture Night 2024, revisiting A Murder of Crows for its vinyl reissue and loads more.

A few weeks ago it was the 20th anniversary of the broadcast of the first episode of Songs to Learn and Sing, my weekly radio show for Dublin City FM. Last week, I was writing a blog post about 20 years of broadcasting and as part of the research for that post I was looking back at some old playlists.

It’ll come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I’ll kept records of all 983 shows to date. ;)

I can write with complete certainty, that the first appearance of Joe Chester’s name on a Songs to Learn and Sing playlist was on Episode 23, from 16th of February 2005.

There nestled between ‘We Will Become Silhouettes’ by The Postal Service and ‘Yeti’ by Caribou is Joe Chester’s ‘Charlie for A Girl’

A week later I played ‘Charlie for a Girl’ again, that time it was between ‘California’ by Low and ‘Crosses’ by Jose Gonzalez.

A few months later in April 2005 ‘How You Wish You Feel’, another single from A Murder of Crows was getting airplay on Songs to Learn and Sing alongside tunes by The Dears, Mice Parade, and The Czars.

It’s funny looking back at these old playlists because I can hear the songs in my head.

If I was to name some of my favourite albums from 20 years ago, albums that I still regularly listen to, I’d definitely name: No Cities Left by The Dears, Before… But Longer by The Czars, Give Up by The Postal Service, The Great Destroyer by Low, and without hesitation I’d also add to that list Joe Chester’s A Murder of Crows.

Joe Chester joined the great Dublin band Sunbear in the mid-90s, just after they released their self-titled debut album. They signed a big record deal to Tom Zutaut’s (the A&R man who signed Mötley Crüe to Elektra in 1982 and Guns N’ Roses to Geffen in 1986) record label - The Enclave - but ultimately things didn’t work out for the band.

Joe joined Nina Hynes’ band. Nina talks about those early days in Episode 13 of this podcast. From there Joe spent three years in Ten Speed Racer. With his former Ten Speed Racer bandmate Pat Barrett he released three albums as The Hedge Schools. Pat tells the story of Ten Speed Racer and The Hedge Schools in Episode 45 of the podcast.

Joe has worked with everyone from The Waterboys to Gemma Hayes. He has worked with Nick Kelly, Turn, Sack, Dr Millar, Mundy, Hozier, loads of others. He’s an in demand producer and mastering engineer and he’s also a member of A Lazarus Soul.

He’s released a load of albums under his own name, not least the incredible records Jupiter’s Wife and The Easter Vigil or indeed his recent critically acclaimed album Lucia, inspired by fragments of the life of Lucia Joyce.

But for this episode we’re focusing on Joe’s first album. A Murder of Crows from 2005.

For Further Listening:

A Murder of Crows on red vinyl is available from Bohemia Records.