Joshua Burnside announces his new album ‘Teeth of Time’ out February 28th

Belfast-based folk singer-songwriter Joshua Burnside announces his newest album, “Teeth of Time”, out February 28th via Nettwerk.

Described as ambitious, foreboding and provocative, Burnside’s lush Irish folk blended with tense electronica is representative of the new Folk revival that has captivated audiences and resulted in sold-out tour dates and a rapidly growing audience. Acting as frontman, songwriter and producer, his unconventional instrumentation comes together in a perfectly atmospheric yet introspective sound, fluctuating from crisp and clean to tense and droning, with intricate fingerpicking that brings to mind the works of artists like Ben Howard and Elliot Smith.

On the album, Burnside states, “This feels like my happiest family of songs to date. Or the most joy-filled ones anyway… which isn’t much of a boast. This album was written against the background of my becoming a father for the first time, and of my family growing alongside my wife Emily. And, alongside that joy, comes a lot of fear and anxiety, both of which are also pretty prevalent throughout this album. The songs were written between Belfast and Comber, Donegal and Paris, and recorded in my unsound-proof studio in Belfast city centre. So the sounds and life of the city and countryside, alongside that of my son, are all key parts and drivers of the tracks on this record.”

This latest album demonstrates the full spectrum of the Irishman’s sound, with a hazy soundscape pierced by traditional Irish acoustic melodies, feedback-drenched samples and found sounds, harsh, tongue-in-cheek lyricism and themes and imagery that stretches generations.

Burnside explains, “This album is about growing older, becoming a dad, getting by and making do. It’s about change and changeless mountains that silently watch as our short lives pass, ice sheets melt, loughs die and stars vanish. It’s about the haves and have-nots, the lucky and the damned. It’s about being stuck in traffic with a hangover, and doom scrolling at 3am. It’s about trees as gods in the imagination of a child, about lands divided, and never-ending wars fought under the banner of capitalism. It’s about Belfast, the north and about saying f*ck that to those that would divide us. It is about losing the ones we love and carrying on.”

Burnside has perfectly captured his intimate yet universal thematic sounds and lyrics, carrying all the emotion into each track. The 11-track LP is simultaneously eclectic yet cohesive, from the delicate fingerpicking and lamentations of ‘Up and Down’, to the soothing nostalgia of ‘Climb the Tower’, with its oscillating finger strokes and picking, to the tongue-in-cheek, kitchen-sink melodrama of ‘The Good Life’. Incorporating greater electronica influence in more unconventional and unexpected ways, with tracks such as ‘Sycamore Queen’ and ‘The Silence of’ showcasing Burnside at his most experimental, the songwriter has continued to cultivate his signature sound, which he’s taking around the world. 2024 was a big year for the fast-rising performer, and 2025 is shaping up to be even bigger. Following the release and debut show at Celtic Connections, he’ll be headed back to the UK and EU to head out on another tour.

Tracklist:

Teeth of Time: Mountain

Up and Down

The Good Life

Sycamore Queen

Ghost of the Bloomfield Road

Climb the Tower

Marching Round the Ladies

In the Silence of

Good For One Thing

Woven

Nothing Completed

Live dates:

Thu 27 Feb – Edinburgh, The Caves

Fri 28 Feb – Aberdeen, The Tunnels

Sat 1 Mar – Newcastle, The Grove

Sun 2 Mar – Stroud, Prince Albert

Tue 4 Mar – Deal, The Lighthouse

Wed 5 Mar – Brighton, Hope & Ruin

Thu 6 Mar – Southbourne, The Wight Bear

Fri 7 Mar – Bristol, Fyfe Hall

Sat 8 Mar – Leeds, Hyde Park Book Club

Sun 9 Mar – Birkenhead,

Tue 11 Mar – London, Islington Assembly Hall

Wed 12 Mar – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds

Thu 13 Mar – Cardiff, The Gate

Fri 14 Mar – Newport, Carnigli Nights Out

Sat 15 Mar – Manchester , YES Basement

Wed 26 Mar – Kilkenny, Cleere’s Bar & Theatre

Thu 27 Mar – Clonakilty, DeBarra’s

Fri 28 Mar – Kinsale, Catherine’s Cultural Centre

Sat 29 Mar – Dingle, The Green Room

Sun 30 Mar – Tralee, Tobar Naofa

Tue 1 Apr – Strandhill, Sligo Brees

Wed 2 Apr – Galway, Roisin Dubh

Thu 3 Apr – Dublin, Whelans

Sat 5 Apr – Belfast, Ulster Hall

Mon 3 Jun – Utrecht, TivoliVredenburg

Wed 5 Jun – Cologne, Gebäude 9

Thur 6 Jun – Paris, Pop Up De Label

Sun 8 Jun – Antwerp, AMOR

Tue 10 Jun – Hamburg, Nochtspeicher

Wed 11 Jun – Berlin, Franzz Club