ALBUM’S
Paul Woodward’s independent catalog bridges indie folk, acoustic and electric singer songwriter soundscapes, and cinematic electronic experimental and avant gaurd Music and Film . Originally a Bass player and Lead Singer of Paul Woodward It would be fair to say his musical output and documentary film making is the epitimy of the word eclitic. This by its very nature makes all comparisons very difficult and for this reason Paul Woodward doesn’t slot into today’s music consumption with its generic on demand convient marketing genera boxes. His solo streaming catalog on platforms like Spotify and YouTube and indeed his physical hardcopy store only releases on CD and Cassette Tape highlight his prolific output to date with coming up to 7 full studio albums 2 of which are double albums and 4 EPs not counting his tracks on various compilation records and playlists. Many of his albums are self-releases, and recordings on CMC Records. Woodwards records are mostly crafted and recorded in his personal studio utilitising old school analogue reel to reel tape recorders and consoles as well as modern digital technologies and various other sonic evolutions such as Woodwards ongoing oddessy into vintage and new synthizers, drum machines, and sequencers.
Discography & Concept Releases
Field Recordings (Album, 2004) This marked his earliest comprehensive solo studio collection. Moving away from a raw 4 track early demos concept, it functions as a fully produced indie-folk Pop Rock and even Country studio album that serves as the foundation for his acoustic and indie electric songwriting.
Standout tracks are Albatross as well as Trade in Goddess and Victory Milk, Peace and Repose and When you’re old.
Woodward and Gittings (2006) :
Brian Gittings is an American recording engineer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist based in Southern California. Woodward and Gittings collaboration started in the mid 90s in Orange County California at the beginning of the Brit Pop craze. It was a mutual intrested in music from the UK and USA as well as Woodwards hometown Dublin Ireland that inspired the two musical friends to embark on this ambitious project spanning the Atlantic and featuring mostly Californian Musicians. Gittings emotive rhythm based approach to songwriting, with its killer riffs, and melodies and lead vocal delivery complements Woodwards sometimes acoustic folk and jazz leanings the results are quite astounding and this album to this day is considered by some to be a buired treasure of 2000s independent Record making.
Woodward and Gittings has been described as being a tour de force over the years as it just seems to get better with every listen and has many admirers.
An Album brimming with detail and style and personality and even humour with its psychedelic and 60s folk rock and indie pop tones as well as the spoken word and poetic sound bites that join the tracks together in a seemless an entertaining way, the effect of which is almost a pop symphony with twists and turns a musical spiritual mash up par excellence. Nothing less than a full album listen is recommended for this imersive listening experience.
Hierapolis (2018) This atmospheric double concept Album was inspired by the progressive rock albums from the 60s and 70s by bands such as Yes and Genesis and is influenced by electronic pioneers such as Kraftwerk and Jean Michel Jare and has some cleverly arranged vocal performances and harmonys, not to mention well crafted lyrics and leaned heavily into cinematic instrumentation.
Add to the mix public domain narrated pieces by Philosopher Writer and public lecturer Alan Watts seamless segwayed into ambient 80s inspired electronic tracks.
The Album draws thematic and structural inspiration from the ancient, historic thermal city of Hierapolis. in Turkey.
Demographic Too (Album, 2020) Expanding on his “Demographic” concept series, this full-length album represents a transitional period in his catalog. It is characterized by multi-instrumentation recordings utilising the Roland 2480 digital recorder as well as a 16 track half inch reel to reel Fostex and analogue desk mixed with some of his favourite 4 track recordings from his early cassette self releases, layering experimental arrangements over traditional folk templates.
Demographic 3 (Album, 2021) The third installment in the series farther deepened his songwriting footprint. This record prioritized narrative-driven lyricism yet it still features 4 track recordings but with added tracks such as Hop on the spot recorded on 16 track reel to reel. Also Don’t try this home a song that features on a Spotify playlist. The focus was closely on lyrical content as well as arrangements some songs having a kitchen sink drama quality as well as the song, World behind the world a humorous observation which deals with the modern online conspiracy theory trend we see more prevalent in today’s Geopolitics.
The Song The Establishment also ploughs the same terrain in its Kinks like approach. As well as Irish societal subtext, isolation, and local character stories everything is fair game within reason as regards Woodward’s source material. We also get the balance with genuinely spiritually uplifting songs such as Warrior of light inspired by the Paulo Coelho book of same title. And inspiration from above as well as Nod to the call.
Demographic Folk EP (EP, 2025) His recent studio offering distills the broader concept down to a stripped-back, traditional acoustic setup. It showcases raw guitar and vocal arrangements that echo his early 4 track recordings.
Demographic Too
Producer & Production Credits
Woodward takes a strict DIY, auteur approach to his solo discography. He holds the primary producer credits across his entire independent catalog. He acts as his own executive producer, tracking engineer, and writer, retaining full rights labeled under his independent banner, ℗ Paul Woodward
Beyond his specific studio releases and production credits, several additional aspects shape Paul Woodward’s musical background, performance history, and creative footprint in Dublin:
Recording & Archiving: His project Field Recordings was not just a title, but part of an ethos of archiving local Dublin sounds. Over the years, he has utilized atypical, non-studio spaces around Finglas and greater Dublin and beyond to capture ambient environments, his latest in Fourknocks passage tomb a 5 thousand years old Neolithic Buirel chamber. integrating the natural acoustics of these spaces directly into the background of his experimental electronic arrangements always exploring new places in sound. .
The Demographic Trilogy Concept
The Demographic series (1, Too, and 3) originally began as a archiving project of Woodward’s early Tascam 4 track recordings and indeed Paul Woodward released 4 limited edition cassette tape and cd only albums in the early to mid 90s. Notably Tea and Biscuits. Avant-garda and Lost Angeles. And his early experiments with electronic music Exploring beyond the edge of darkness in the belly of the beast. The instrumental album must be a contender for longest Irish Album title ever even piping Japes, The monkeys in the zoo have more fun than me. Also longer than other records from Fight like apes and Horslips, actually on closer editorial inspection Woodwards (beyond) is beaten by one word in That Petrol Emotions 13 word count “Call Me Easy, Say I’m Strong, Love Me My Way, It Ain’t Wrong”. However since that band where from Northern Ireland and the singer was born in the USA and they where based in London indeed Woodwards album wins the title in The Republic of Ireland with a 12 word count. If excessively long album titles went on to become a trend it has to be said that navigating the fronteer of
Releasing 4 track lo fi recordings at this time was an unorthodox idea especially in Ireland it wasn’t the done thing. It’s funny because unbeknownst to Woodward a band across the Atlantic from Deyton Ohio called Guided by Voices where also churning out Album after Album also recorded on a Tascam 4 track be it of a different model the Tascam porta 1 and where fast becoming US Indie ones to watch. Woodwards Demographic album has an illustration of Paul’s Tascam porta 07 by Ro Hackett who done most if not all of his cover art ont the back is Woodwards Tascam 38 quarter inch reel to reel machine that the album was later mastered on to. Woodward has always incorporated the process and equipment around the recordings with lists of exact instruments and devices used it adds to the work by making it even more tactile. It’s an interesting curio that if you look at the all the album titles Woodward has released to date they all have a word associated with audio or sound in them starting with Field Recordings then Demographic 1 to 3 then Hierapolis incorporating Hear but spelt Hier to his upcoming release Monolithic using the word Mono a word you would find a lot on Albums in the early 60s before the introduction of stereo recording technology.
Guided by Voices album Bee Thousand had just been released in 1994 at the same time Woodward was working on his music in Orange County California, and it was fellow songwriter Brian Gittings who gave Woodward an early rare copy of the now historic Indie Lo fi classic. Gittings said something along the lines of ” you might like this album they are kind of doing what you and I do” As Gittings was also Limited edition releasing his own 4 track recordings.
Woodwards lo fi albums featuring a lot of sound effects and psychedelic influences such as the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour and Sgt Pepper era records. Also in particular The Kinks Village Green Preservation Society as well as more modern influences such as Belgium band Deus as well as all the 80s acts he grew up listening to. Woodward was inspired by everyone from Jellyfish and It Bites to Deacon Blue and Sade as well as Talk Talk, The Blue Níle, and from Dylan, Lenord Cohen, Nick Drake, and Captain Beef heart and The Beach boys to Kraftwerk, Can, John Fox and The Human League and Simple Minds, not to mention off course Woodwards favourites Yes, Rush and Genesis with a bit of Sid Barrett era Pink Floyd for good measure.
A fun fact as they say is Paul Woodwards Early band Kick to the Heart, would go on to be the opening act for another one of his musical heroes Tears for Fears in Dublin’s then Point Depot now the 3 Arena. Everybody wants to rule the world. Alas to be slightly well know in his working-class Irish neighborhood of Finglas would have been enough. In fact Woodward played in early Finglas bands with a guitar player named Ken McCluskey the band where called Fantasy Screams and the guitar player went on to join The Commitments and act in the Alan Parker movie of the same name along with the Late Singer Songwriter Glen Hansard among others. Indeed Woodward also auditioned for the film along with nearly every other musician in Dublin but I guess acting wasn’t his gig so it was back to the rehearsal studio for Paul.
It would be true to say Woodwards early 4 track recordings are full of personality and even humour with stories of hope and urban life and decay. What started as an acoustic singer-songwriter project in Demographic gradually evolved into a more complex, multi-instrumental commentary on economic and social changes in modern Ireland by the time Demographic 3 was finalized.
Paul Woodward’s book Hierapolis Compendium goes into more detail on his musical upbringing and influences also covering his foray into Brit Pop his support performance for Ian Brown in Dublin’s Olympia theatre in the mid 1990s.
Woodward has always felt a symbiotic connection to the spirit of the music making of Guided by Voices. So just to conclude and bing the subject full circle.Woodward is quoted as saying “It’s the screw it just do it attitude that he paticularly likes” . “Here we are in the basement and here’s the music we made no over thinking no over producing no computers just art” . The Demographic Trilogy has exactly the same ethos and is well worth a listen also.
The SilverStonz Connection: While Woodward pursues an avant-garde, DIY folk Indie and electronic style in his solo work, his identity remains deeply tied to the electric and rock energy of the Dublin grassroots band circuits. His involvement with The SilverStonz provides a stark creative contrast to his solo material, trading his isolated acoustic soundscapes for collaborative, high-energy live band sets across traditional Dublin venues.
Independent Distribution: Operating entirely without major label backing, Woodward distributes his music directly via independent streaming aggregator profiles and local independent record networks. This has allowed him to maintain 100% ownership of his master recordings and publishing catalogs.This extends to his Film and Music Documentary Films and his lastest release Monolithic Album and Film .
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Paul Woodward Dublin music / film 