Ben Carrigan (a founding member of The Thrills) releases his new solo single, The Sweetest Stories, on Friday, 29th May (Ireland) / Monday, 1st June (UK).
The new track, written and produced by Carrigan, is the beautifully orchestrated follow-up single to his highly acclaimed 2011 debut solo album, The Greatest Narrators, an album likened to great singer-songwriters such as Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. It is also a precursor to his, as yet untitled, second album which is currently in production.
The Sweetest Stories features the vocal talents of New Zealand native, Thom Cross, whose voice is reminiscent of such greats as Scott Walker, Nick Cave and David Bowie. The track takes you on an endearing ride from the hopeful naivety of youth to the harsh and cynical climate of modern living, all the while building over a beautiful symphonic sound.
Carrigan is an accomplished musician having learnt piano, guitar and drums at an early age. He studied under the distinguished Dublin based jazz musician and composer Ronan Guilfoyle and obtained a Diploma in Advanced Jazz Studies from The Guildhall School of Music, London. He was awarded one of the few scholarships to the Berklee School of Music in Boston and earned a place at the prestigious The Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague.
Carrigan was a founding member of Mercury Music nominated, multi-platinum and award winning Irish pop group, The Thrills. The group enjoyed worldwide success between 2002 and 2008 with 3 top 10 albums and 7 top 40 singles, and toured the world over, including with musical greats such as Morrissey, The Rolling Stones, U2, Bob Dylan, REM, Maroon 5 and Pixies.
In 2009 Carrigan resumed his studies at Berklee, focusing on orchestration, music production and audio post production for film and television. He currently works as a composer and audio post production specialist for film, television, games and commercials and has been commissioned to write music for a number of high profile projects, including BBC 2 documentary, The Pity Of War.
