On his new single ‘Belfast (Place Of My Soul)’, Paul Archer writes from distance, memory and homesickness, but what emerges is anything but subdued. Instead, he turns that longing into a rich, heartfelt celebration of Belfast’s people, its creative spirit and the deep-rooted sense of belonging that refuses to disappear no matter how far away life takes you.
The song was born during an overnight shift at a children’s home in Cambridgeshire, when thoughts of home suddenly came flooding back. That origin gives the track an immediate emotional pull, but he wisely avoids drifting into simple nostalgia. For this new single, his Belfast is alive, complicated and defiantly human.
Throughout the release, he writes from a place of warmth, humour, resilience and community at the centre of the frame. It feels like a reclamation of identity, and there’s something genuinely uplifting in the way he insists on showing another side of the place that made him who he is today.
Captured at Start Together Studios inside the Oh Yeah Music Centre, the track draws in an impressive cast that includes Nathan Connolly, Iain Archer, Terri Hooley and students from Belfast Metropolitan College. What began as one man’s private reflection suddenly becomes something communal and expansive, with the additional voices and instrumentation giving the song a real sense of scale.
His own history is also tied closely to Belfast’s musical landscape, from Disreali Gears through Burning Codes and into his current work, and ‘Belfast (Place of My Soul)’ feels like years of memory and experience converging in all in one place.
Taken from ‘Art’, the song also reinforces the wider themes running through the album; honing in on identity, compassion, memory and the places we continue to carry with us. There’s real pride here, but it never feels hollow.
In all, ‘Belfast (Place of My Soul)’ is warm, stirring and full of heart. It’s a song that takes homesickness and turns it into something bigger, brighter and beautifully communal.
