Published: Wednesday, 8th September, 2010 5:00pm

Debut album 'Beta' than earlier work

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Terence Rowlands releases his debut album, 'Beta', this month.

Terence Rowlands is a songwriter with a story that might resonate with many others in his position. He releases his long awaited debut album 'Beta' this month, but it's been quite a journey to get there.

Rowlands first appeared on the Irish music scene in 2004 after recording a three track demo in a Tyrone farmhouse. Although its purpose was to secure some stage experience for the new songwriter, it began circulating wildly, and ended up spreading across four continents and receiving unexpected reviews and radio play.

"It was too much, too soon," he said. "I had less than a year of song writing and no live experience. I was completely unprepared. I gigged because I had to and was writing at least a song a day just to get a set together."

After his first year of performing, Terence became increasingly uncomfortable with the quality of his material and chose to take an indefinite break at the end of the tour. "I just wanted to write at my own pace and find myself as a songwriter. I had a few songs I was happy with and about 20 written on tour that had some potential, so I started working on those. Everything kind of came together after that and recording an album seemed like the most natural thing to do. The timing was right, although I didn't know it would take so long."

The album was recorded on a shoestring budget and took almost four years to complete. "Producing a home recorded album was definitely a learning experience, heartbreaking sometimes. Trial and error production certainly isn't something I would care to repeat, but the experimental approach did teach me a lot, like how to expand the songs beyond an acoustic guitar while keeping creative control, which just wouldn't have been possible with a studio production."

The end result is a low-fi album with a big vision and a lot of heart.

It may just be commercial enough to have a real chance to break through and get noticed.

Terence says each track is shaped by the life experience leading up to and during the artist's early touring days. They're about living not existence, about wealth not money, about seeing the world, for all its glory, for all its unspeakable horrors and making up your own mind.

As well as arranging and performing almost all instrumentation, Terence is responsible for the CD artwork, featuring a comic storyboard entitled 'The Boy', which tells the events leading up to the writing of many of the featured songs, giving an insight into their subject matter.

For more information on Terence Rowlands and his new album visit terencerowlands.com.