Paul Page (The Sentimental Tourists) – A Year in Music – 2025
by Killian Laher

How has your year been?

It’s been a pretty exciting year for me, to be back writing music again, and loving it was something that I didn’t really foresee this time last year. And to have co-written and released 3 EPs with someone I have always admired within a six-month period is just crazy, but here we are!

Tell us a bit about the Sentimental Tourist EPs? What prompted you to get back into creating music?

It was actually this time last year that I started playing guitar again, just messing around really. And I am not sure why I got that urge again, after 20 years. But I just had this strong desire to get back to doing something creative. I was listening to a podcast where Dave Long and Shane O’Neill were talking about their latest record, and Dave mentioned a portable recorder that he used. Dave and I go back a long way – I reached out to him to get some advice on that portable recorder, and told him I was playing a bit of guitar again.  Out of the blue in June, Dave asked would I add some guitar to a song he had written, and it just snowballed from there. We started exchanging ideas, and before long, we had enough material for an EP. And we seemed to work really well together. The songwriting has continued on – I think we both love the kind of low-fi, DIY approach; it means we can work fast, and not get too precious about it.  And the songs have come easily, because we are both constantly coming up with ideas.

Any plans for an album?

Yes, we plan to put out an album. It would be nice to put an album out on vinyl in 2026 – digital only, Bandcamp releases have a limited reach. But obviously, there would have to be enough of a demand for it to make vinyl worthwhile. We have a Christmas-themed EP ‘Lost Treasures’ out on the 5th December through Bandcamp.

I am also putting out an ambient/drone solo album called ‘Belgica 1898’ under the name Polaroid Ghost in early 2026. I have been working on that for a while; it’s a genre of music I love. Since getting back into making music, I have really thrown myself into it in an almost obsessive way. I am thinking about music almost every waking hour. It has kind of surprised me how I have switched back into that mode, having been away from it for so long.

What albums have you enjoyed most this year?

Album of the year for me was ‘Carving the Stone’ by For Those I Love. It’s a brilliant album; lyrically, David Balfe is on another level.

I really liked the Maria Somerville and Hilary Woods albums…both records mine similarly dark territory. The Ólafur Arnalds/Talos album ‘A Dawning’ is a really beautiful and affecting record, while Arrivalists released the gorgeous ‘From a Piano in Bergen’ – a collection of brief, sparse piano-based pieces ..played that to death when it came out.

What’s the most promising new act you’ve heard this year?

JP O’Duill released an excellent debut album, ‘Nótaí in the summer – definitely one to watch based on that record.

https://open.spotify.com/album/7v7fo52YZlJjmM5tAUUlGP?si=_DI0ZosyS3eBjumIrV6xhw

Any gig highlights?

For Those I Love at the Olympia was intense, touching, a real memorable show. It was great to get to see John Cale in Vicar Street earlier in the year. Met up with the rest of the lads from Whipping Boy for the first time in ages, and we had a great night.

Can you recommend an album that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves

There are so many. But there is a Danish band called Mew that released a string of brilliant albums, the best of which is an album called ‘Frengers’, released in 2003. I think they are a band, and that is a record that was really underrated at the time.

What inspires you these days?

I guess there is a sense of making up for lost time – I buried my creative side for a long time, and just got on with living life. But I am aware that I am not getting any younger, and rediscovering that joy of making music, something that was such a big part of my life for so long, is inspiring and excites me every day now.