Mr Billy Fitzgerald Releases ‘Tiny Desk’ Inspired EP ‘Little Gestures’ (Irish Alt Pop/Indie)
A year ago Mr Billy Fitzgerald released his lush indie-pop masterpiece ‘A Grand Romantic Gesture’, 10 songs that simultaneously bathe in the faded light of heartbreak while pulling you on to the dancefloor. To mark this anniversary of the release Mr Billy Fitzgerald returns with a live EP ‘Little Gestures’. The EP takes 4 tracks from the album and reimagines them for the live environment. Having spent the last year touring the album, Billy found that the songs evolved with the energy of a live band and after being inspired by NPR’s famous Tiny Desk series decided to capture the songs in a new stripped down form. Recorded while recovering from the effects of long-covid Billy credits this as his most honest vocal performance recorded to date. Calling on his wife and friends to help bring these versions to life, recording was carried out guerilla style in bedrooms, rehearsal studios and secret spaces. The recordings capture the energy of this, employing shakers, drum machines and melodicas in a stark contrast to the maximalist approach to production on the record. The EP acts as both the perfect entry point for the uninitiated and as a worthy companion piece to the album for fans.
His debut album ‘A Grand Romantic Gesture’ caught the sharpened ears of XSNoize, Hot Press, Turn Up The Volume, Ragged Cast, Rock N Load, The Beat.ie and RTE2XM as it offered up a mix of RnB, indie-pop and 80’s inspired tracks. Owing as much to Curtis Mayfield and Destiny’s Child as it did to Robert Palmer and Beck. The album had a 10 year gestation period with each song being created in layers, each recorded almost completely alone in a studio with Billy shouldering responsibility for every role: writer, performer, recording engineer and produce, resulting in a lush production with no sound left unexplored. Now on ‘Little Gestures’ we get to hear the tracks stripped back to their raw elements.
When it came time to choose the songs, Billy used the time spent playing live as a litmus test opting for songs that had a reaction live. Then taking that energy and carrying it over into the alternate version he was keen to keep the sessions light and fun, and less about the precision of the studio. With his vocals front and centre with nowhere to hide Billy says that he had to commit fully to takes, and while these were recorded as he recovered from long-covid, his voice shows no signs as vocals feel full and lush.
The four track EP opens with ‘Gimme Love’, on record it opens with a choir of Billy’s, on this stripped back version Billy employs the talents of Aoife Mulqueen, his wife and live backing vocalist, long time collaborator Sam Jackson and Dave Power, bassist and singer in Billy’s old band, The Dead Flags. Creating an En Vogue homage for the opening before he turns the gang loose adding hand claps and shouting along during the melodica solo. Stripped back to just an acoustic guitar and a drum machine it shows just how sharp the song writing is.
The Mr Billy Fitzgerald Tiny Desk version of ‘Give Me A Chance’ is one of tracks that was heavily influenced by the experience of playing the songs live. He says: ‘My live drummer Dennis completely reshaped the groove of the song. He also remixed the song for my last EP that added cool keyboard melodies to the chorus. All of which I stole for this!”
The album of ‘You Had Your Chance’ was one of the biggest productions, as Billy added multiple guitars, two pianos, a plethora of percussion along with live drums, synths, and topped of by 16 vocal harmonies. Here we hear the song stripped back to it’s core. A song that speaks of heartbreak, wading through the emotional carnage that accompanies it and coming out the other side all over a delicate piano to which helps underpin the emotion of the song. Aoife adds some beautiful harmonies on the track, while the on the recording we can hear the keys being pressed on the keyboard, making it feel even more intimate.
‘All Fucked Up Now’, the last track on the EP was the first single taken from the album and features Shaool of Sligo based hip-hop group This Side Up on additional vocals. Taking things to back to basics the track still finds a strong groove between the percussive acoustic and insistent kick snare of the drum machine, with the Rhodes piano on vibe duty. As the song and EP draws to a close the last chorus features the Mr Billy Fitzgerald choir as everyone joins in to sing the reprise of ‘she got me all fucked up now’. The perfect way to close any stripped back mostly acoustic EP.
‘Little Gestures’ is the perfect way to close out the ‘A Grand Romantic Gesture’ album cycle. Bringing the songs back to how they originally began all while offering new listeners an alternative entry point into the world of Mr Billy Fitzgerald. Taking all the experience from creating, releasing and touring an album and now with the expanded (yet stripped back) sounds explored on ‘Little Gestures’ it’s exciting to see what Billy will offer up next!
