“There are songs that come easily to you and you can’t even explain how they come about. Others are more difficult. You’ve got to listen to your gut and let it out there and see what happens. You just need to be brave.” – Mundy, March 2009

If you thought this boy from Birr, Co Offaly was just about big, bug-eyed pop songs such as July, Mexico, or indeed, the most downloaded song of 2007 & 2008 Galway Girl (and it’s worth repeating that he didn’t write it - Steve Earle did!) then his latest collection boasts fourteen great songs to make you throw all your preconceptions out the window.

This is Strawberry Blood, Mundy’s fourth studio album and most accomplished to date. Recorded in Grouse Lodge, Co Westmeath and the Cauldron, Dublin by Joe Chester, Strawberry Blood features an intriguing cast of contributors including Shane McGowan (Love is Casino), Gemma Hayes (Fever) and Interference man Fergus O’Farrell (Pepper in My Dreams).

Strawberry Blood is the long-awaited follow up to the Number One album Raining Down Arrows (2004). The subsequent tour was documented on Live & Confusion, a stopgap live album and DVD that impressively notched up double platinum sales and delayed Mundy’s return to the studio due to the unexpected success of the live versions of ‘July’ and ‘Galway Girl’.

A chance run-in with Joe Chester at an airport led to a long discussion about recording and mutual favourite music and then to some casual recordings. “Joe’s work was so good,” Mundy remembers. “We tried out a few demos but they sounded like keepers. There was no need to hire a big name name producer.”

The result is a beautiful and uplfiting album that’s a true tonic for the times. “With what’s going on with the country and the world, it’s very easy to be negative and it’s very easy to write negative songs,” Mundy muses. “It’s more challenging to be positive. This album is thought provoking and reflective but fun and upbeat. It’s about taking on a challenge…and God loves a trier.”