STU LARSEN

That Stu Larsen called his album Vagabond makes sense from the moment it opens. It contains tales of travels taken on a whim, with no final destination decided and no itinerary to follow. It’s full of startlingly simple, compellingly pretty, storytelling songs packed with people the singer has encountered along the way

Since deciding, in 2010, to venture further than his native Australia, New Zealand and Japan – all countries he had already toured, several times – he hasn’t stopped travelling. Partly, that’s due to his great friend Passenger, for whom Stu has been support act over the past three years.

It was Passenger who produced Vagabond, an album originally recorded at the tail end of 2012 on a shoestring budget, which was due for release last year. Passenger’s global success, however, took the pair on an unexpected journey that lasted longer than either imagined. The album was rerecorded in Sydney in January 2014 with a host of musician mates – including Passenger on backing vocals and guitar, a string quartet and banjo and backing vocals from Tim Hart (Boy & Bear) – and it is available now on Nettwerk Records

A regular visitor to Belfast, both on tour with Passenger and on his own, Stu plays his biggest headline show to date in the city in support of the new record at the Empire Music Hall on 8 February.