‘The Man Whom’ is the moniker for Wexford-based singer songwriter, producer/composer and multi-instrumentalist Ian Doyle, whose attributes have been described as including “a marvelous voice, a great sense of musical adventure and a sussed approach to arrangements” – The Irish Times. The opportunity to spend a considerable amount of time crafting and developing his debut album serendipitously came about due to the current economic situation and by extension, the activities of the Irish bankers, developers and some politicians. From here, Doyle set the task of recording his songs and attaining the one thing that had eluded him for many years, despite his best intentions; his first studio album. Enlisting the skills of musicians and friends, Brian Hassett (bass), Christian Best (drums), and recording engineer Donal Byrne, Doyle and his band retreated to the seclusion of a house in Kilrane Village and worked intensely to record the majority of the album. The piano parts were subsequently recorded in the local arts centre. Further contributions to Doyle’s album include polished string arrangements written by composer Peter Fahey and performed by the Mamisa Quartet, as well as local guitarist Clive Barnes who played peddle steel for the track Over and Under. All remaining guitar, banjo and dobro parts were recorded at his home using very basic recording equipment. For the final stage, an assembled choir of local singers joined Doyle and his band on the last evening of the Kilrane sessions to record backing vocals for the soulful track, Leavin this Town. For the finishing touches, Doyle spent two weeks in Exchequer Studios, Dublin with producer Brian Crosby and mixing engineer Phil Hayes who shaped and honed the original recordings. There, some songs were stripped down to their core and altered, with added bits of percussion, piano, rhodes, vox organs, and the obscure sounds of various exotic instruments like the dilruba, harmonium, autoharp and cuatro guitar. The result is an album which is the sum of its parts, held together by a shoestring and interwoven with the goodwill of creative, talented (albeit jobless!) friends.