Old Man Polka

Old Man Polka is Dublin musician Steve Fanagan. 'I go to work to come home to you' was the first album release by Old Man Polka, the songwriter moniker of Dubliner Steve Fanagan. Recorded in Dublin in late 2002/2003 the album was Steve Fanagan's 4th full release, following 2000's stevefanagan recording 'by way of', 2001's 'there is hope' and last years northstation release 'plink.plonk'.

Steve began recording as Northstation in 1999, when he provided the soundtrack for a collection of short films. 2001 saw the release of the first Northstation album, ‘plink.plonk’, a collection of songs originally compiled for the din sound exhibition. This was followed by some live performances. In 2003 Steve began work on the ‘Bears’ album, which was released in July 2004, on risc records. Since releasing Bears, Northstation has gigged extensively playing alongside many and varied musicians. 2006 saw the release of the third Northstation album, called ‘Wagtail’. In February of this year Northstation released an ep of remixes of music by bands such as Hood, Halfset, Herv and others.

Over the course of the succinct 29 mins of 'I go to work,' Fanagan sketches a series of love notes, tenderly laid across beats, kids toys, cheap keyboards,and whistles. The electro feel is augmented on the record by the Coldspoon Conspiracy drummer Peter Lee especially on the epic rocker 'flame.'

Continuing the thread woven on his previous recordings, 'I go to work…' settles somewhere after the intimate personal longing of 'There is Hope.' Check out the intense fingerboard scratches on 'All this Time,' for full evidence of this. The cinematic sweep of Northstation,was also bringing itself to bear, especially on the beat laden 'Heading West to get East.'

'I go to work to come home to you' was the first release in a period of renewed activity for Fanagan, recording as both Old Man Polka, Northstation, and Wrecking Ball.The following months saw the release of the Northstation album Bears on compactrisc records, the wrecking ball release grunt music on deserted village. 

Steve currently works as a recording/mixing/mastering engineer for music and in sound post production for film and television at Ardmore Sound, and releases music under several different names. He also runs a small independent label called Slow Loris. For more music and information please visit: www.stevefanagan.com, www.slowloris.org