FORMER GREEN PARTY TD Paul Gogarty has released his long-awaited musical debut, 15 months after leaving political office.

Under the musical moniker His Sweet Surprise, Gogarty today announced a free download of his song Dream Within A Dream. (Listen to it here.)

Gogarty, who describes the song’s style as “electroacoustic”, tweeted that it was a taster ahead of the release of his first single proper next month.

It’s a cheerful, poppy number – but commentators may be tempted to read messages about Gogarty’s own political fortunes into lines like the following:

You don’t try to understand it / Just accept the dreams you’re handed / Clinging to a moment that seems oh too fast.

According to a biography on his Soundcloud page, Gogarty has “not ruled out a return to politics in the future” but is “currently concentrating on his first love of music”. He said:

A lot of people think that you have to be one thing or the other and there is a feeling out there that any musical output from a politician is likely to be a load of rubbish. My hope is that after having a listen to the material on the upcoming album, a lot of people will be pleasantly surprised!

Gogarty memorably treated TheJournal.ie to a burst of song when being interviewed by Jason Kennedy for the first anniversary of the 2011 General election – during which he also revealed that he was considering joining Fianna Fáil.

His first single proper – called Wishing On A Photograph – is due to released in June.

More: Paul Gogarty – I’m considering joining Fianna Fáil>