Man Alive Featuring James Vincent McMorrow Release 'What Are The Chances'

Man Alive aka Mark Prendergast teams up with James Vincent McMorrow for a re-worked version of the single 'What Are The Chances.' The original track is taken from Man Alive's debut EP Colors.

Mark Prendergast’s Man Alive project has showcased a very different side to his talents away from the chart-topping, arena-filling success of Kodaline.  On ‘What Are The Chances’, Mark captures the late night torment of wondering if there’s any hope of salvaging a relationship after a break-up. While past mistakes are acknowledged, he eventually accepts that rekindling the romance might be an idea that’s doomed to fail as he laments, “I’d like to think I’d do things better, I’ll probably end up doing the same.”

Musically, the song embarks upon a similar journey of discovery, building from acoustic guitar into a rich finale full of dramatic beats, plaintive piano and beautifully ethereal vocal harmonies. Mark wrote the song with James Vincent McMorrow and Ciaran Warren.

As Kodaline spent a decade touring the world and accumulating over 2 billion streams, Mark had always written his own songs in a style that didn’t fit the band but never had an outlet for them. And then lockdown hit, followed by a break-up, and Mark suddenly had infinite inspiration and all of the time needed to bring his own project to fruition.

Even now he stated that he never aspired to be a singer, but the songs that he wrote were far too personal to pass over to someone else to perform. A key part of the process was about channelling his creativity in a different way. In Kodaline he has the strength that comes from being part of a gang, but Man Alive is entirely reliant on his talents.

Early in the project, Mark was in Los Angeles where he played an early version of ‘Be Someone'  to his pal, Irish comedian and actress Aisling Bea. Not only did she love it, but she constantly encouraged him to stretch far beyond his comfort zone. She even had an input into the project name, after bluntly stating that its initial moniker,  Blood Type, was “s, and it just doesn’t match your music.”

She has continued to back Man Alive  ever since, first stepping up to host Mark’s launch party for the project, and recently declaring her love for ‘What Are The Chances’.

Since that launch party, Mark has played as Man Alive just three times: a sold-out London headline show at The Waiting Room; an acoustic Ruby Sessions performance in Dublin; and an informal pop-up in Kuala Lumpur during the recent Kodaline tour. He’s open minded as to what comes next for Man Alive, but he already has an album’s worth of material prepped. For now, though, immerse yourself in the eclectic sonics and powerful emotions of the ‘Colours’ EP. 

Photo Credit: Woolf