Welcome to 'Carubia' – it’s like nowhere else on Earth. The brainchild of singer-songwriter Owen Denvir, 'Carubia' is an imaginary puppet world – that has even caught the attention of none other than Ariana Grande who had a little singalong to the single 'Brushing My Teeth' on her social media.
It’s basically a brand new musical puppet show – available on all the usual places.
‘Carubians’ are musical puppets from the fantastical island of ‘Carubia’ – a magical place where everything you touch turns to music. Sounds like a good place to set up home surely – and it’s great fun!
Denvir is joined on vocals by Sasha Samara, while the illustrations and videos are by Thomas Bannon. There’s even a special guest appearance by comedian Matt Lucas no less.
It’s a far cry from Denvir’s usual repertoire – of achingly beautiful and tender tunes – to singing about mash potatoes, sausages, brushing your teeth and all sorts of magical adventures on the island of ‘Carubia’.
His musical influences normally range from Bach to Bon Iver – but somehow there’s been a magical leap of the imagination to land on ‘Carubia’ – the outcome? An album of 25 bouncy singalong tunes ideal for long summer car journeys with small people – much more fun than their wee noses stuck in the iPad.
Educational as well as fun – ‘Brushing My Teeth’ is released as a single – and given that the latest research shows that the average parent (whatever that is) spends eight minutes a day cajoling children to go clean their teeth – this tune will have them racing for the toothbrush and dancing while they clean. It’s genius.
Opening with ‘Land Ahoy!’ The voice of Matt Lucas introduces us to ‘Carubia’ – an island of wonder and awe, where everything you touch turns to music. The collaboration with Matt happened when Owen did a fun cover of the ‘Thank You Baked Potato’ song which caught the attention of Lucas – and hey presto, a collaboration made in ‘Carubia’.
In fact, potatoes feature big time on ‘Carubia’ (‘Bros Before Potatoes,/Mashed Potato’) – as do sausages (‘World’s Biggest Sausage’), and soup (‘Soup or Superpowers’). ‘Hangin’ Out (with you)’ is my new feel good tune of summer ’26.
‘Carubia’ is full of all the right messages and values in a fun way (‘We Don’t Put People Down (We Pick Them Up’)’and ‘We Don’t Kick’ and ‘I Vow to Thee Carubia’ – followed by the Carubian National Anthem).
There’s a nod to Mr Bowie with the wonderful ‘Space is the Best Place’. Of course, even Mr Bowie had the courage to take a detour in his early career into children’s entertainment with the ‘Laughing Gnome’.
Owen has taken one small step for man, a giant leap for mankind you could say – from Belfast to ‘Carubia’, a place like nothing on Earth. It takes big courage to do this – so hats off to Owen Denvir.
Don’t care if you’re nine or ninety-nine – take an hour out of Humdrum Land and dive into ‘Carubia’. I’m a great believer that the secret to longevity and contentment is to stay in close touch with your inner child – meet up with your little-self and friends in ‘Carubia’.
If there’s children in your life (no matter what their age – three or thirty three), introduce them to the magic of ‘Carubia’. All kudos to Owen Denvir for having the courage, wisdom and insight to create ‘Carubia’ from his imagination and to use his talent to make it happen.
Better known for his incredible singer-songwriting talents, Belfast based Owen has come a long way from training as a young orchestral viola player to catching the attention of the likes of Cold Play. In recent years, Denvir has been released a trilogy of EPs: such as ‘Sticks’, ‘Stones’ and ‘Bones’, themed around Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality.
The actual serious songwriting will of course continue, but in terms of demonstrating the sheer range of talent, the latest album from Owen Denvir is the best fun I’ve had on Spotify in a long time.