When he's not busy scoring movies for the likes of Steven Soderbergh and Steve McQueen or producing the next Noel Gallagher album, Belfast polymath David Holmes is keeping busy with the day job, DJ-ing round the world and creating tunes of the finest (and funkiest) order.
Next month sees the release of Holmes' eagerly-anticipated contribution to Late Night Tales, a popular series of mixes curated by an eclectic array of artists, mixing music and spoken word tracks. Previous installments have featured everyone from Arctic Monkeys and Fatboy Slim to visual artist David Shrigley, with contributions from the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Bootsy Collins, Brian Blessed and the late, great astronomer Patrick Moore.
In suitably Holmes-ian fashion, his Late Night Tales set offers a truly out-there assortment of tracks, punctuated by new material from the man himself, with contributions from the likes of Stephen Rea, reading from the work of Seamus Heaney. Another new track, Henry McCullough, features an appearance from Irish cult music legend BP Fallon, the recent subject of an award-nominated RTÉ radio documentary. As the title suggests, the tune pays tribute to BP's friend, the Northern Irish guitar great who played with Wings, Pink Floyd and Joe Cocker, who passed away earlier this year after a long illness.
"He (BP) was heartbroken having lost his dear friend and asked could he stay at mine after he returned from the funeral," Holmes told the UK Independent newspaper. "After I picked him up from the train station, he asked me if he returned early enough could we record something. I started working on the music that day and then I had an idea which was to record something about Henry and their relationship. When BP returned that evening I sat him down in front of the microphone and this happened in one take! We both knew we captured a very special moment that couldn’t have been created at any other moment - magic."
You can listen to the results of their collaboration here:
As if he wasn't busy - or talented - enough, Holmes also made his directorial debut last year with an acclaimed (and autobiographical) short film, I Am Here, shot in his native Belfast - watch it in full below:
Next up, he's composing the soundtrack for heist movie Logan Lucky, director Steven Soderbergh's eagerly anticipated return to the big-screen after self-imposed exile - the film stars Daniel Craig, Channing Tatum and Adam Driver. David Holmes' will launch his Late Night Tales record with a live appearance in Belfast on October 10th, with many of his collaborators (including BP Fallon) joining him on the night - details here.
