By No Ordinary Fool

Hailing from Malahide in North Dublin, singer-songwriter Paul Hourican released his debut album back in March on his own label. For those dreading that this may be another Damien Rice or Fionn Regan kicking about, do try to read on a bit more, all may not be lost!

Let the Enemy In has quite an eclectic sound from the catchy disco-rock of opening track New York City Lights to the sleazy blues of Alive, the U2-esque Even Though You’re Gone, the pop balladry of She’s Gotta Be (the One) and the gospel-choir backed Let it Go.
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By Elaine O’Neill - State Magazine

Releasing your debut album on your own label could be seen as a risky endeavour, but for Paul Hourican, the gamble has certainly paid off. LET THE ENEMY IN could be described as the place where quirky meets commercial.

By far the lead track of the pack, ‘Alive’ reveals something exceptional within Hourican. With it’s moody blues guitar and mellow melody, this is as close to a hot, sticky summer’s day as you can get. And just when you think you’re hot enough, Hourican pours an ice-cold beer down your throat with some high-energy riffs and unapologetically confident vocals. Read the rest of this entry »

Paul Hourican has just released his first album through his own record label, Hurricane. He tells Alison O’Riordan about his career and taking control

Sunday Independent: March 16 2008

Delorentos, Director and Channel One have all made big names for themselves, and now it’s the turn of singer/ songwriter and fellow Malahidian Paul Hourican whose debut album Let the Enemy In has just been released through Warner Music Ireland.

Hourican gives his own perspective, saying: “Malahide is a very unique place and central to my writing. It’s an isolated place where a lot of people know each other, and in my opinion it’s a healthy output for all these young people from this picturesque village to be out there making music. Read the rest of this entry »

By Kevin Courtney, The Ticket (Irish Times)
PAUL HOURICAN
Let the Enemy In (Hurricane Records) 4 stars (out of 5)

Singer-songwriters are usually the enemy of all right-thinking rock fans, but here’s a guy who can pull off the delicate Damien Rice stuff alongside catchy pop fare and grungy guitar blues. Hourican, who hails from Malahide, has been forging his own path through the whole range of pop and rock styles. Here are tunes to suit anyone’s ever-changing mood, from the big-hearted tunesmithery of Even Though You’re Gone to the slip-sliding blues of Alive, the surefooted One Step Forward, the laddish She’s Gotta Be (The One) and the tender gospel of Let It Go. Just when you think Hourican has exhausted his palette, he shows another facet to his talent - and brings you even deeper under his spell. Even when he trips up, as on the parping Don’t Know If I Do Know (it sounds like the theme for Pat Kenny’s radio show), Hourican’s enthusiasm and dexterity carry him through.

Download tracks: One Step Forward, She’s Gotta Be (The One), Let It Go

By Jackie Hayden at Hot Press

LET THE ENEMY IN (Hurricane Records)
4 stars (out of 5)

AOR SINGER SONGWRITER MAKES GREAT ALBUM SHOCK.

With influences ranging from Van Morrison to Davids Kitt and Gray, Paul Hourican is in the vanguard of Irish pop-rock writers Read the rest of this entry »

from The Beat Surrender

Paul Hourican’s press release states his music ranges from U2 to David Gray to Wilco, quite a range to fill in 4 songs. It also mentions in association a great number of Irish artists except David Kitt who is the one I would compare his sound to the most. Read the rest of this entry »

by Martin Sirl, playingoutloud.co.uk

Life has a way of surprising you and, like an Irish Richard Hawley, Paul Hourican has a superb voice and a gift for a melody that just begs for repeating listens. This EP is an odd mix of love songs, Celtic-tinged anthems and irreverent drinking songs but Hourican is equally at home on all of them. The guy is clearly a huge talent and if he isn’t attracting major attention by the end of the year then I’ll eat me little leprechaun hat.

by Gregory Hughes, Entertainment Focus, UK

The first EP by Irish singer/songwriter Paul Hourican does exactly what you would expect from the name, Intro, and gives you a flavour of the talents of this musician. In the tradition of Damien Rice (who was so impressed with Hourican’s work he asked him to open some of his shows) Hourican writes heartfelt, poetic and often melancholic music, but usually with a sharp wit that cuts out any sentimentality. Read the rest of this entry »

(Playing support to Michele Ann Kelly at the Hotpress Xmas Show)

By Jackie Hayden, Hotpress.

The audience were taken aback somewhat when Paul Hourican bravely opened up with an acapella song ‘In at time (when i had freedom)’. His ‘Happy Anniversary’ has rude words and is brimful of venom, while the rest of his set, ‘All i ever wanted’, ‘She’s gotta be (the one)’ and ‘Let it go’, proved that he’s a gifted songwriter and performer with oodles of convincing charm. That combination could see Hourican make a serious pitch for the territory between Declan O’Rourke and Paddy Casey. His songs often have a subtle connection back to the Irish ballad tradition, and his relaxed stage-craft and fluid voice are bound to win him new friends in the coming year when we should receive delivery of his debut album.

by Toxic Pete, January 2008.

Well, it’s literally just a few days since I first reviewed Paul Hourican and I don’t know whether its me that’s more accepting now or whether it’s Hourican in a wholly different musical moment. I very much liked what I heard earlier but, for me, ‘Let The Enemy In’ is by far the most convincing EP of the two thus far; Hourican seems to be more assured and focussed here and I really like this little four tracker. Read the rest of this entry »

By Toxic Pete, January 2008.

There’s something very pleasing, no, make that rewarding, about the music of Paul Hourican; his gently persuasive stylee is calming and evocative - his lyrics are poetically mature yet somehow soothingly familiar - his music is sensitively structured and suitably chilled yet precise and somehow soulful. Read the rest of this entry »

November 2007

At first listen, this solid piano-based ballad has Coldplay written all over it, and indeed Hourican’s vocals fall somewhere between that band’s Chris Martin and an early 80’s Bono. The coincidences don’t end there, either - the soaring guitar riff that fills the last minute is pure U2. Despite the epic nature of the chorus, there is a restraint which suggests that Hourican knows that big isn’t always better. One to watch.

By Angela Macari-O’Looney

I arrived just in time to see Paul come onstage. He asked the audience to move closer to the stage. This time, in the bigger venue, he came into his own. He opened the show with a ballad, unaccompanied. This showed off his vocal range, as he glided effortlessly up to falsetto, then back to tenor. What a voice! Read the rest of this entry »

Interviewer: My special attraction, my special guest tonight is a young Malahide singer-songwriter Paul Hourican. And the material I have heard from him so far is not alone engaging, not alone promising but indeed brilliant. And they don’t come much better than this young man so stay tuned. A mutual friend of ours introduced your music to me a few months ago now particularly the track I have just lined up “One Step Forward” and delighted I was to play it and get lovely feedback, well done! Read the rest of this entry »

By Phill Udell

Propelled by a shuffling, laid-back beat, Hourican’s debut is an immediate attention grabber. Subtle backing from his band adds an extra dimension to a really good song. It also provides a nice contrast to the stark piano reading of ‘Lost At Sea’. Hopefully there will be more to come.

Guitar and piano playing Paul Hourican from Malahide, County Dublin is trying to make a name for himself as a performing songwriter. Read the rest of this entry »