Tag Archives: Interviews

A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With: Moncrieff

Photo Credit: Nicholas O Donnell

Having performed with Adele and impressed greats like Elton John and Avicii with his songwriting, Moncrieff is back with his new EP ‘Warm’ via German label energie. I caught up with Chris Breheny aka Moncrieff to talk about the EP, playing the main stage at Electric Picnic and how he lays all his raw emotions bare through his intimate and powerful songwriting.

‘Warm’ is an emotive EP that takes a different approach to Moncrieff’s music. His previous release ‘Class Of 2020’ was angst-riddled with powerful punk/pop elements while the earnest emotion pouring from ‘Warm’ showcases a more tender side to Moncrieff’s sound.

“Well, to be honest, I’ve always struggled to stay inside a box because I get bored of myself very often. I think with the ‘Class of 2020’ I was just very influenced by how crazy the world was seeming to get and Yeah, songs like ‘Playloud’ and ‘America’ spoke about that and I don’t know, even within ‘My Room’. I just felt even the sort of soundscape of that EP, portrayed how I felt really about that year. It’s a big mix of craziness. But after the sort of two years it was pretty hard in those two years with the pandemic. I had a time where I was thinking, should I keep going at this? Or should I call it quits? and I think what made me realize that I wanted to keep going was the fact that I hadn’t done something super personal. I ended up making these songs along those lines that are just trying to be as personal and as honest as possible and I think that’s what it’s come back down to.”

The lyrics within the EP are very raw and honest. Lines such as, “If I don’t believe in God who can I call? Maybe it’s easier to end it all” from ‘Talk’ see Breheny re-imagine difficult moments in his life through powerfully evocative songwriting and the singer-songwriter explained to me how cathartic the writing process was for him.

“I think it was definitely quite cathartic. ‘Warm’ is quite a positive song, ‘Ruin’ is kind of a positive song. ‘Talk’ itself is kind of sad, but I think the overall theme across the EP is Hope and that’s the thread that brings it together. So yeah it was like anything when you’re trying to make something super personal, you’re gonna have some challenges, but I feel it definitely was more cathartic than anything.”

‘Talk’ is a heartbreaking but beautifully presented gem. Breheny recounts the first time he opened up about having suicidal thoughts. His soulful vocals sincerely pour out lyrics of pain while the music delivers this song with a ray of hope. It’s as if the artist gives strength to the listener to push through whatever they are going through. That’s quite a special impact.

“Yeah, it kind of came together on the piano. I was just sitting down one day and usually, it doesn’t happen, where it just comes together so easily. But the song just fell out and I don’t know I feel maybe it’s the chords that are kind of reassuring. Because it keeps coming back to that major root chord and that gives it that reassuring vibe, that sense of hope within me and hopefully for other people. But yeah, it wasn’t done, really on purpose. It just came out that way.”

Breheny has a knack for writing powerful and uplifting melodies. He explained to me how melody drives his songwriting process.

“The melody comes first generally. Or it’s maybe a little phrase or something. But melody is the main thing that really inspires me and then that will influence where the lyric goes.”

The title track ‘Warm’ was an instant hit when it was released. It went to the top 10 in Irish Radio and was performed live on Germany’s ARD Network (“Frühstücksfernsehen”). 

“Yeah, considering ‘Warm’ was the first track off the EP that I wrote and that was in, I think November 2021. I was like, wow, this is really, really good, not like patting myself on the back but it made me feel something. I wrote it with a couple of friends and I was like, this feels like something special. So seeing people react the way they did, considering it was written at a point where I was at my lowest, feeling the lowest in terms of where I felt in my career. Seeing then the next song be like the biggest received song in Ireland that I’ve ever done is crazy.”

Breheny also provides the listener with a little treat on the EP in the form of a time-stopping version of Avril Lavigne’s ‘I’m With You’. I wondered what sparked his decision to cover that song.

“ I think I wanted to make something for the tour that I was doing. I wanted to make a cover for the tour and I think I did it towards the end of 2021. I produced it myself. I was bored in my room and I was like, this sounds really good and I wasn’t really planning on releasing it. Then I was like, Why the hell not? I mean, what’s the point in having another mp3 sitting on my laptop? So yeah, I just put it out and because I made a little video to go with it back when I was on tour in Limerick we did this one-shot video where we do like a transition and I walk out onto the stage. I was like, that’s a cool video, its a cool song, people would enjoy it if I put it out. So that’s why I did it.”

This year Breheny was moved up to play The Electric Picnic main stage last minute and we discussed the excitement and anxiety that came with the news.

“Yes, I did. That was amazing, it was super special. I was very worried, to be honest because I wasn’t supposed to be on the main stage and then Thursday morning came around and my manager gave me a call and said we’ve been asked to move up to the main stage which is obviously such an amazing privilege to have. But I was a bit worried at the same time, what if it’s raining, and it’s like pretty much second on Sunday, like what if nobody shows up and all this stuff. Luckily, it was really good weather and luckily it was really busy, so many more people turned up than I thought would. So yeah, all in all, it was something I’m not going to forget for a long time.”

Moncrieff has announced a headline show in The Olympia in December which has since our interview sold out. 

“ The Olympia is something for the bucket list really. So yeah, hopefully, we can get it sold out and move forward, I can’t wait for it. We’ve got also Belfast in November, and London in November and two shows in Germany as well which can be my first ever two shows in Germany and show in Amsterdam as well.”

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Moncrieff is a passionate musician and an exceptional songwriter. Within ‘Warm’ EP he provides moments of heightened emotion while the depth in the lyrics will take your breath away. He is a musical wizard who can break your heart in an instant with one gripping line while his refined and uplifting music comforts your soul. It’s quite a masterful display of musicianship that Moncrieff finds effortless. He is an artist to treasure and the songs within ‘Warm’ are a fine example of this musician’s boundless talent.

Stream ‘Warm’ below


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Indie, indie rock, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With: Ronan Hynes of N.O.A.H

N.O.A.H have released their new single ‘Stay Here’. I spoke with drummer Ronan Hynes about the new single, prospects of a new EP in the coming months and their upcoming gigs.

Hynes and I spoke after the band’s exciting Electric Picnic performance. With all the madness that goes on at the festival, the now hoarse drummer explained how well the show went down.

“Yeah, it was great. We went down on the Friday and we didn’t play until Sunday but we did a lot of networking between Friday and Saturday and then played on the Sunday and we were quite shocked at the amount of people that we got down, for the time anyway, because it was twenty to one, I think, on the Jerry Fish stage. So we felt that a lot of people would be hungover or wouldnt be at the festival yet so we were delighted to get around 200 odd people down to the tent at that hour so it went really well. 

“To be honest it’s still one of those things to us, that’s kind of unusual. We’re still not used to that either. It feels great and obviously, it’s quite reassuring that we put a lot of work and a lot of effort into making music and trying to get it out there in the smartest way possible. So to realize that it’s connecting with people and they’re starting to feel the need to come and see us and check us out. It’s really special and we’re really taken aback by it. “

The band have self-produced ‘Stay Here’, with mixing and finessing by Grammy Winning Ruadhri Cushnan. We discussed how producing their own track gave the band confidence and empowered them. 

“Yeah, I think it is quite empowering because when you’re working with producers and other people are involved in the process of songwriting or just the overall recording of a song, different people’s ideas can come in and sometimes it’s for the better and then sometimes, your own ideas may be the best for, a particular song. So yeah, definitely. This time around, being able to convey our own ideas and be confident in what we’re doing was really special to us because it is something that we are used to in terms of demos before we managed to get into the studio and a lot of the time because Adam, Adam studies music production in college so a lot of the time it is quite high quality to a point when we even wrote ‘Stay Here’, it was almost ready to be released. It just needed a little bit of cleaning up but not a lot, that makes us feel even better because it means that we can do this again and we can do it successfully again. So yeah, it certainly is empowering.“

“Yeah, and it’s super handy as well because one thing that we come up against quite a bit is time schedules. Sometimes it can be quite stressful for us when things are outside of our control. So the fact that we’ve released this and people have reacted in such a way to the song… that’s good for us. “

‘Stay Here’ is a groovy light tune filled with shimmering synths and ethereal melodies and shows a different side to the band’s sound. This subtle shift in sound keeps N.O.A.H’s music fresh and invigorating.

“It’s the progression, I suppose in ourselves and how we make songs, but it’s also an experimentation. Sometimes we want to show people of course that we’re not just a one-trick pony and we’ve said from the start that we don’t like being pigeonholed into one genre or one area of music. We like to explore and never let people know your next move kind of vibe you know, sometimes it might not work out, but we’re lucky enough so far, that it has been received quite well. In my own personal view of the song. It reminds me of, I suppose, because we’ve been learning, songwriting, production-wise and stuff like that it’s as if we wrote ‘Hands Up’ now that it’s almost like ‘Hands Up’s’ biggest brother. It’s on those vibes but yeah, it certainly is different. We want our fans to feel refreshed as well as ourselves, it’s for both parties really.”

There is a hypnotic synth melody running throughout the song and Hynes explained how that hook was the birth of the song. 

“It literally started off with that kind of a loop and Ryan had his guitar going along with it. There was only probably around a 15-second loop between the guitar and that synth and all of a sudden it started to progress into something because we got a beat behind it. We got a lovely baseline from Adam, and it just started to expand and grow itself. In the end, it just grew legs and we had our Management and our PR saying that this is the single this is something that we need to release now. So yeah, it was actually rather quick, the way it grew and progressed and the last few singles that we’ve put out, haven’t necessarily been that easy in terms of how quickly they formed. So it was certainly a surprise to us, but it’s a good feeling as well because there’s nothing better than when a song comes together immediately and you’re just already excited to release it. But yeah, it did start from that strange little synth loop and progressed from there.“

‘Stay Here’ is a sweet and comforting track with lyrics that offer an unconditional, selfless vow to help a friend in need. Hynes explained to me how the band managed to create this soothing and comforting tone within the music to mirror the lyrics

“Usually how it works is the music always comes first. We all write lyrics and we all have our input once we have a theme and once we have something in which we can connect to but generally how we write songs would be that the music would come and then we will get the feeling from the music and that’s where our theme would then come in. Then we would go and start brainstorming how we were going to write it how we were going to project the overall message of the song and realistically with this song, it is something in which the lyricist observes and comforts a friend in need by giving themselves unconditionally without the need of recognition themselves. So we really wanted to bring out the human elements of the lyrics, and in some ways, it’s preaching what we all need to hear, because, we all have that friend or could be that friend within the story. That was something that we really wanted to convey to the listener. So yeah, it was really important in that way. We went for that soothing, and I suppose comforting elements of a story within these lyrics.”

N.O.A.H’s debut EP ‘Echoes of the Night’ grabbed the attention of those on the international music scene, not just the rock and noise genres. I wondered if the band felt pressure deciding what track would follow the success of that EP.

“I don’t think so, to be honest, because I think with the EP it came out and we’re always super excited for the next thing. We spend a long time working on things that come out and they’re brand new, but they’re not brand new to us. So we’re always moving on to the next idea and always the next step ahead. So for us, it’s more an excitement really. I think the only pressure to us is if we come up with an idea, and we look back and we don’t think it’s to a standard than say, you know, any of the songs on the EP, if we don’t feel that it could match one of them or fit into one of them then that’s where the pressure comes from a writing element. Other than that I think it’s more of an excitement really for us, we’re just excited for the next release. So we released this song on Friday, and we’re already thinking about the next one. So we’re quite happy. I suppose in a way we’ve got a short-term attention span when it comes to what we release because it’s just we’re always excited for the next thing.”

‘Stay Here’ feels like it is an appetizer for an EP or album to come and Hynes explained to me the band’s hopes for releasing music in the coming months.

“So we’re playing around with the idea of having an EP out by December. It’s not entirely confirmed as of yet but it is certainly something that the three of us are playing around with. In terms of an album, it would probably be this time next year before we get an album together because we do really want to sit down when it comes to an album and really spend time to get it all together and do it in a way that we’re happy with, that we can connect with. At the moment, we’re more needing to get ourselves out there on a live basis more so than constantly releasing studio songs. We still see ourselves as a small band and a band that’s still developing. So in order to do that, and in order to get more listeners, more fans, we need to be out there in front of people playing what we already have. So at the moment, it isn’t something that’s on the cards, album wise but certainly an EP you know, we are playing around with the idea. “

The past few months have also seen N.O.A.H dip their toes in the UK market. Working with Lander Pr the band secured regional UK radio play as well as their UK debut TV appearance on CBBC ‘Saturday Mashup’, the guys performed live on the show as well as taking part in games and comedy skits throughout. N.O.A.H also performed on Virgin Media Television’s 6′ O’Clock Show on May 27th. This opportunity gives the band more scope to gain fans and tour new places.

“Yeah, absolutely. You see all your peers and all the people you look up to, obviously they’re doing European tours, American tours and stuff like that and it certainly is something different when you can then turn around and see yourself getting on a plane to go play a gig. It’s something that’s quite surreal to us in a way. We can get in a car and go to Dublin and play a great gig and it feels good. But there’s something quite different about getting on a plane or a boat and going elsewhere to a different country and getting new fans over there. It certainly is exciting and with the UK market we certainly have been trying to get more and more vibes going over there. Thankfully, we have a PR company over there under Lander, so they’ve been helping us out quite a bit over there. So we’re really excited that we have a London gig and Manchester gig and a Glasgow gig coming up in November, and we’re really excited with that and then obviously to finish off those string of gigs in Whelan’s on the eighth of December is something that we’re extremely looking forward to because the last time we played there, the crowd was crazy. So we’re hoping that we can up that game even more to finish out the year. “

“I suppose it brings it all back, as I said, it’s quite surreal going to different countries and stuff like that to play. So then to bring it back to where we started, and almost bring it full circle again, it grounds us when we get there. But the crowd is the fourth member of our band so when they show up, it just makes it even more special for us and reminds us why we do it.”

N.O.A.H are building their sound superbly and fast becoming one of Ireland’s finest indie gems. ‘Stay Here’ is an intriguing glimpse of what’s to come from this talented band. Exciting times ahead.

Stream ‘Stay Here’ below 


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Album Release, Electronic, Indie, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With: Daithí

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Photo Credit: Brendan Canty

Irish electronic artist Daithí is set to release his highly-anticipated third solo record, ‘I’m Here Now’, via Strange Brew Records this Friday the 9th of September. I spoke to Daithí about how he created this mesmerising collection of tracks, the fantastic collaborations on the album, the inspiration behind his songs including the spontaneous and grounding moment that inspired  ‘Keep It For The Next One’.

‘I’m Here Now’ is an immersive listening experience, each track flows beautifully into the next with ease. 

“Yeah, it was an interesting one. I came at it a very different way to what I would usually do. My last two albums, I would write a whole pile of songs, maybe almost 30 or 40 songs and then I would just pick the best out of them and then try and improve on them. Whereas this album was written differently. I had two or three songs that I really liked, that I thought were really important to me at the time of writing them. Then I spent the rest of the time connecting those dots writing songs that I thought would run from one to the other in a really nice way. So it was a really interesting way to do it and I think the main reason I was able to do it that way was because I had plenty of time and I was out in the country. This was the first record where I was in my hometown as opposed to traveling around and working in different places. I did it all in the one spot in this place called The Beekeepers in Ballyvaughan, which I kind of run as an artists retreat and yeah, I just spent these big long weekends with a couple of different mates working on different pieces and getting to play different parts over it and stuff. Yeah, I agree with you it has this very kind of connecting, run altogether. You can listen to it as one big long project and there’s a lot of big open spaces with no vocals and stuff like that as well. So yeah, it was really fun to make that was the main thing, you know.”

As the album progresses the beats become heavier, more intoxicating and frenetic. However, Daithí expresses moments of euphoria through his music amongst the agitated expressive soundscapes. Tracks like ‘Polypoly’ and ‘Like The Water’ show this element perfectly and create a compelling listen from start to finish.

“Yeah, I think a lot of the songs are built around these chord structures and melodies. After the pandemic and the lockdown I think a lot of people felt there was a big kind of a question mark over everything that you were doing, and you were feeling like, Am I really here? Is this actually what I’m doing? Then I think a lot of people had these moments as well after those two years where it’s like you made these big, large kind of life decisions and I think one of mine was planning to be more at home in my hometown and stuff and on one side, I really liked that because it was out in the country and I got a really great newfound love for where I’m from. Then at the same time, I think, all kinds of young people once they move away, kind of going back to the place that you’re from.. there’s a bit of trepidation to it. So I find myself leaning into those types of melodies and those types of feelings throughout the whole thing and once I started realizing I was doing that I started leaning into it a lot more. ‘I’m Here Now’, for instance, has a whole pile of natural recordings from around that area and then I used the Concertina in certain parts as well because that’s what my grandfather played. Then there’s all these different sections where it’s like question marks of things that I found interesting in the time and the place and just trying to explore that feeling and emotion of this weird question mark that’s over a lot of people’s lives at the moment, you know”

There are interesting and unique sound bites placed throughout the album. like a creak of a heavy, rattling farm gate on the title track ‘I’m Here Now’, Daithí explained to me how he finds these little audio treasures and where he decides to place them in the songs.

“Yeah, most of my music is written in a specific way. Basically what I generally try and do, [ is ] collect up a huge sample library of sampled recordings. I’m always going around with my phone or a recorder and when something strikes me, I’ll record it but I’ll just put it into this vault of samples that I have that I’ve been building up for like 10 years. Then you can take stuff out and play around with it, and it can kick off an idea. But another really helpful thing is it’s all dated, and it’s all where it is and stuff so let’s say I’m thinking about a certain time in my life or a certain person and I think back to when I was with them last. Then I can go into my vaults of samples and find a recording that was done around that time. Then there’s all these connections from the different elements that make a really interesting collage, and then after that, a lot of it has to do with melody. I’ll come up with one melody, and then I’ll bring on some friends to write stuff and they can take their own experiences of what I’m trying to talk about, and plant their own experiences of that on the song as well. So you get this lovely collection of different experiences and inspirations throughout the whole record and it tends to be the best way to make something unique, it tends to get you away from trying to sound… well like other people, you know.”

In the album, Daithí has a wonderful array of supporting artists – Ailbhe Reddy and Sinéad White (‘Sunset’), David Tapley of Tandem Felix (‘Polypoly’), Uly (‘Like The Water’), and Neil Dexter (‘Keep It For The Next One’). These collaborations elevate each song and create a unique refreshing aspect within the track. 

“So for this record, it was a bit different again, so I had this place Beekeepers in Ballyvaughan and basically I would pick a weekend and then I would pick maybe one or two people, like two very good artists that I knew, who knew each other and we just kind of whisked them off to this place in Ballyvaughan and get them to spend a weekend just literally playing around with stuff and kind of toying with different things and showing them the different tracks and seeing what immediately resonates with them. It was a really good way to work I think because if you have two different really good artists people tend to try and egg each other on in different ways and as long as they’re comfortable with each other it becomes this really nice positive experience and I had a really good weekend with them, Ailbhe Reddy and Sinéad White, who have played together and done loads of different things. Ailbhe’s an amazing guitar player, and Sinéad is an amazing piano player as well as being really good vocalists, so they could jump on different things at different times. You know, like Ailbhe might be writing a vocal lyric and then Sinéad will be toying around on the piano and then suddenly you just start trying to record everything at once and you start getting this big rush of ideas. It was a really good way of working because it was just bringing really nice people together, having a really nice time and a private location. Yeah, it really got the best out of those artists you know, which is great.”

‘Familial’ is a mesmerising track and stand-out moment on the album with soothing melodies and lush electronics that build and become more intense and psychedelic, it’s a track that lingers in the listener’s head for days. 

“Yes, so ‘Familial’. Yeah, I built that drum beat on a drum machine and I had been kicking around with it for ages. Then I’d gotten another synth that I was playing with, and I was adding in those extra ideas. That’s those little bloopy key ideas. Then I had gone back to Clare for a good while and I was exploring all the stuff that my granddad had worked on. My granddad passed away a couple of years ago and just when he passed, I was trying to learn more about him. He was an amazing concertina player and I knew so much about him from a personal level, but I was getting all these different people coming up to me from the traditional Irish music world telling me different stories about him and I started going back down through all the people that he worked with throughout the years and I found this very amazing, like very, very old Sean-nós sample kind of based around those times, and for some reason, it just really stuck with me. Then I thought about how you would fit Sean-nós into electronic music and I put a massive auto tune on the Sean-nós so that it stuck in with the melodies that I had. So it was this weird moment where I was just like, is this like heresy is it like something that really works, which excited me a lot because I was like, oh my god, I’m putting auto-tune on Sean-nós it’s like the weirdest thing ever. Then that’s how I got that vocal melody that’s there. It has this lovely Irish lilt to it, but also it has a hip hop feel to it as well. So that was the birth of that track for sure.“

One of my favourite tracks on the album is ‘Keep It For The Next One’. It’s a beautiful tune that pivots around fuzzed beats, lush textures and ethereal soundscapes. The song provides a lighter take on Daithí’s dense expressive sound.

“That one came together really quickly. It was kind of amazing. It came together in the space of two days. So Neil Dexter is the vocalist on that. I had heard a couple of his songs before but I hadn’t really met him properly. He came up to The Beekeepers with David Tapley who’s a very good friend of mine. He’s in Tandem Felix and David was in my last record. They both came together and they were bringing some instruments up that they thought I wouldn’t have. David Tapley brought like a pedal steel you know, like a real country western pedal steel. We ran that through a whole pile of different electronic effects and that’s how that starts off. You can hear these kind of pad sounds behind it. That’s all pedal steel. It’s kind of an amazing story on the record, actually because Neil had arrived and it was only about two or three hours at The Beekeepers and his wife was pregnant at the time. She’s a nurse and she actually got a bit faint and had to sit down at work. So she called him and there was this amazing moment where we were all here in this lovely idyllic location and there was something really serious going on and once he hung up the phone, he was like Yeah, I think she’s okay, everything’s fine. My mother’s gone over to her. That’s all fine. Then we had this long conversation about how when we were in our early 20s, we didn’t really have that kind of responsibility so we could do whatever we wanted and now that we’re slightly older, you know, we’re up into our 30s now, life has changed so much and he literally just went over to the microphone and just started singing into it. That’s where we got the lyrics from. So it was one of those really great, amazing moments where everything just kind of clicks in this big inspirational way, and he was on fire at the time. Yeah, I love that track as well. It’s definitely one of my favourites. Can’t wait to play it live. It’s gonna be really fun.”

Daithí doesn’t do anything by halves. His music is immersive and rich and the videos to accompany his music follows this trend. Filled with cinematic visuals ‘Familial’, (courtesy of award-winning New Zealand filmmaker Ayla Amano) is a short film in itself that presents the well-worn fractures of a family through the strains of a father-son relationship and ‘Sunset’ is another touching film directed by Michael-David McKernan and features the American actress Annie Ryan (who was in the seminal 80s film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). It’s a beautiful, touching film that follows a woman in middle age coping with loss and grief in the most poised and hopeful way.

“Yeah, a lot of my good friends will be video directors. One of my best friends is Brendan Canty, who’s a very well-known music director and he does a lot of shorts and adverts and stuff like that. So the culture of doing really good high-quality videos has always been there. Then my partner of two or three years is Norman Howard, who’s a very well-known film producer. So I’m very lucky to be surrounded by an awful lot of people who were involved in the film world and stuff like that. So getting directors on to do that stuff was super important to me, and I think when you make a video there’s so much work involved and so much kind of toing and froing and so high risk to make sure that it’s like really good and it kind of solidifies a track a little bit more. ‘Familial’ is a really interesting one. So Brendan, my friend is married to Ayla Amano who is this amazing New Zealand director and they were in lockdown in New Zealand and that’s where that video was filmed. It was all filmed in New Zealand while they were over there, and then ‘Sunset’ was all filmed in The Burren. We threw a film camera into the sea with a waterproof box and got this amazing feeling of what the West of Ireland is like when it’s at its absolute best you know when the sunsets going down in Fanore Beach. So yeah, it’s always been a big thing for me and I think it really elevates the songs”

Daithí has a solid fan base. He told me how excited he is to be able to go out and tour this album and share it with his fans. 

“Yeah, It’s brilliant, the tour is the biggest tour I’ve ever done before. I’ve never really been on a proper tour of England or anything. So that’s one of the really exciting things about it. We played Body & Soul this year, and it was just this massive show and I still had everybody that I had from before the pandemic coming to the shows and stuff and it felt really, really special. So getting out on the road and really performing them is one of my favourite things to do, you know, so it’s going to be great. Yeah, yeah, I’m really looking forward to it. “

“ I think most artists realize there’s a good bit of responsibility involved in making sure that people have a good time at a show you know, as you get older, you’re consciously aware that it’s a really big thing for somebody to go out of their way and actually go to a show, so I feel I have a really big responsibility to make sure that it is the absolute best that it possibly can be to make it worth people’s time. I feel that if you do that and you consistently do that, and they know that they’re going to a good show, they’ll stick by you and a really good audience is really loyal as well and that’s so important for an artist to keep going you know, so I see it as a big responsibility to always make the shows as best as I possibly can and to always just keep making them better and better and better.”

Daithí has made a name for himself as a pioneer of electronic music and I asked him what advice he would give to an aspiring musician.

“Yeah, that’s a good one, it’s hard to make the career, that’s the hard part. I think my biggest advice would be to get really good at playing live to be honest because, as far as I could see, like I’ve been extremely lucky that I’ve gotten to be able to be a musician for about 10 years full-time. But the only way I’ve ever been able to do that is by touring and doing loads and loads of gigs as much as I can. So as early as possible if you can get out and build a scene around yourself with people, other people playing and try and play as much as you can, the experience of doing that will stand to you so much over time. Once you start going then, you just have to really like playing gigs and going around and travelling. The other obvious one as well is just surround yourself with really good people. One of the best things about being a musician is that there’s a brilliant, beautiful scene and it’s a really good way to meet new people and it’s such a sociable experience. So yeah, surrounding yourself with really good people and really amazing musicians is a blessing and super important as well for sure.”

‘I’m Here Now’ is a joy to listen to. Daithí has an impressive ability to create tunes that excite the imagination and thrill the senses. The album is a musical marvel and cements Daithí’s reputation as a trailblazer for electronic music. 

‘I’m Here Now’ is set for release this Friday. Until then check out the video for ‘Sunset (feat. Ailbhe Reddy)’ below 


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With: Bradley Marshall

22-year-old Irish artist-songwriter, Bradley Marshall has just released his brand new single ‘Better Left Unsaid’. I caught up with the singer-songwriter to talk about the single, his upcoming headline show in The Workman’s Cellar and working with Danny O’Donoghue (The Script), Ryan Hennessy and Jimmy Rainsford (Picture This), Jimbo Barry and David Lucius King on the song. 

“Yeah, it’s quite surreal to be honest, working with people that I’ve looked up to for the last few years and writing with them was a really great experience because you get to understand how they work and you learn a lot from it. So it was really cool.”

“It was kind of me bringing some ideas to them and then they had ideas for me and so we just mixed them together. But, I’m confident in my ideas and what I had. It was daunting at first, but when they said that they liked the ideas and stuff then it was really cool.”

“Luckily enough when I was in London with the guys, we were there for two days and we got three or four songs done which was really cool, which doesn’t really happen a lot but I’m happy that it did work out that way.”

“Sometimes I think when I go into a studio ‘will something come out of today?’ but if something doesn’t come out of studio session, then that’s okay. You just do it again and again and again and something will finally come.”

‘Better Left Unsaid’ is a wonderfully tender tune that discusses coming to terms with the fact that some relationships are just not meant to be. Marshall told me how the idea for the song formed and the personal concept of the song.

“In relationships sometimes things aren’t just meant to be and that’s okay, and sometimes things are just better left unsaid. That’s why it’s called Better Left Unsaid, yeah, that was the reason behind the song.”

“It was on my behalf an experience, but it was also an idea that the lads had as well. So when they actually had the idea I was like, that’s really cool because I’ve actually experienced something like this.”

Emotional cinematic tunes seem to be Marshall’s forte. ‘Better Left Unsaid’ follows the heart-gripping power ballad aesthetic of his first single ‘Make Believe’ – the song exudes lush soundscapes and an elegant soaring piano melody before the anthemic chorus kicks in. 

“Personally, I don’t love too much crazy production because I think the piano and vocals are really most important to me. You can add some drums and some strings just to make it really heartfelt and emotional that’s really all that I need in a song. So when I’m writing, I imagine the production and I say to the lads what I would like in it. Jimmy Rainsford produces most of the stuff that I do right now, and he’s just incredible. So, I let him just do what he does and I’m always happy with it.”

Marshall released a stripped-back performance of the song which was captured on video by Jimmy Rainsford during a recent London trip and recorded in Hoxa Studios. Stripped-back versions of Marshall’s songs are so impactful. Marshall told me he feels at his best performing live.

“Yeah, I’ve done a few gigs, the last couple of months and it’s just been my pianists, Jake Richardson and me and I feel that’s where I thrive”

The track is awash with relatable content and eloquent lyrics. Lines such as “few more years of being broken trying to right my wrongs and when I find a brand new person I’ll still write you breakup songs” are honest and impactful. We discussed how daunting it is for artists to pour their heart and feelings into lyrics for other people to hear and interpret.

“Yeah it really is because you’re putting all your personal experiences that you haven’t really talked about to anybody into a song, and everybody listens. So everybody knows what you’ve gone through and stuff like that. So it’s a little bit daunting, but that’s the reason why I do it because I know that through my experiences other people will also have experiences like that, and that’s why I write music. I want people to relate to it”

“It’s absolutely therapeutic for me. Definitely. I’m not the best at talking about things. So writing was always my way of just getting things down. It’s literally like talking to somebody when you’re writing a song because you’re putting it out there even though it’s not out yet. When you’re writing on paper it’s still like you’re putting it out to somebody. So yeah, it’s definitely therapeutic for me.”

The last time we spoke Marshall told me he was building up his tunes and I wondered if we can look forward to an EP soon.

“Yeah definitely. I do have a next single lined up. I will probably do singles until the end of the year, maybe two or three more and then next year, we’ll think about something like that [an EP]. Last time we talked, I didn’t have many, but now I have a lot of songs lined up so they’re all ready to go out and it’s just about patience and time. “

Bradley Marshall is a talented artist who is growing and developing his sound wonderfully. He is an artist to keep an eye on and his velvety voice is sure to charm all who hear it. Luckily for fans, Marshall has some live shows coming up. 

“I actually just announced my debut headline show in Workman’s Cellar on December 16th. So really happy about that and then I’m also playing a festival next month Kildare so yeah, just a few things lined up”

Stream ‘Better Left Unsaid’ below


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With: Mick D’Arcy of Corner Boy

Corner Boy have released their new single ‘Kingdom Come and Go’. I spoke with singer Mick D’Arcy about the new single, upcoming gigs and their fantastic video filmed in Johnstown Castle.

‘Kingdom Come and Go’ is a spirited tune laced with the band’s passionate musicianship and irresistible melodies. With a foot-tapping rhythm and vibrant instrumentation, this song is a musical gem sure to delight listener’s ears.

“This was a song that we had worked on a couple of years ago. Sometimes, you might work on a song and it might not click at that moment, but we were in a rehearsal room about two years ago and we were playing through the song and yeah, it just came back to life. Sometimes it happens with songs that when you play it, just new ideas will come to it and I guess the story of the song as well, it’s an exploration of a connection between two people, the highs and the lows. So we started working on the song with the new energy we had brought. We were able to finish it then lyrically as well. That new energy like I said, it just breathed life back into it. So it was a song that we had on the backburner for a long time and we just thought it’d be a great single to release”

There is a lively atmosphere in the song enhanced by fiddle and banjo elements. Corner Boy pivot the track around the fiddle/banjo embellishments and driving guitar to create a folk/ indie fusion that is a joy to listen to.

” I guess our sound will be considered to be folk and from a young age, we would have been raised in the folk tradition with aspects of traditional Irish music as well. That’s always really important for us to retain what got us into music, folk and traditional Irish music. It’s really important as a band to try to find the balance with contemporary sounds as well. You’re brought up in traditional music from a young age but then, you know, you leave home, you see a bit of the world on your own two feet, you take new sounds and you begin to allow yourself to be influenced by newer ideas, new sounds and contemporary themes, music structures and songwriting. So combining that with what we knew from a folk sense, all of a sudden for us as a band, we arrived in this place of writing songs that sounded really fresh and exciting to us and something worth developing. So I guess it’s kind of exploring the potential of that feeling. That’s where we are as a band, taking a bit of old, taking a bit of new and then finding something that’s fresh and exciting in between too.”

‘Kingdom Come and Go’ is awash with lush instrumentation and driving rhythms. The song is brimming with emotive sounds yet each element within the track has its place allowing the expressive soundscape to flourish without becoming overpowering.

“We’ve had a lot of years to refine that process and what it feels like to us. It’s a delicate enough thing. When the band first started out, we released our first EP. It was very roots orientated. It was folk it was traditional Irish influenced, then we would have released another EP that was a bit more Indie influenced and another one that was a bit more rock influenced. So we finally feel that, you know, we’re in a position this year where we’re releasing our debut album that we’ve kind of taken all of that learning, that journey over the last 9/10 years as a band and I guess two years ago, when we decided to finally sit down and record the album we felt that we were in this comfortable position where we really knew the essence of what we were trying to do. We had gone through all of the different stages to get to this point and we feel that’s fairly self evident in the music. We’ve gone through this whole cycle of different genres and exploring them and we’ve emerged with this original sound that’s very much representative of ourselves. “

“I think a lot of artists put a lot of pressure on themselves to be this new all encompassing, fresh and exciting sound. Our band started in fairly humble, modest surroundings. One of the main things we wanted to do was just play a gig outside of Wexford and to write three or four original songs and then all of a sudden, we just had this massive creative burst from early on in the band. We started getting invited to play festivals and we had to start building a set and it was a really, really exciting time for us. When you put yourself under that kind of pressure, a lot of things can get rushed. So we said we’re going to try to take the pressure out of that scenario at all costs and slowly develop our sound, not rush it and make sure that the music is something that’s representative of all of us. It was trying to make sure that we had this collective sound that represented us all equally. That can be a really difficult thing to do. Sometimes that takes time and it certainly took time. My one piece of advice is; try if at all possible to take the pressure out of the situation as much as you can and allow the space and time that you need to evolve naturally. We feel collectively as a band now that we’ve certainly arrived at that place.“

Corner Boy’s songs are filled with vivid imagery, and ‘Kingdom Come and Go’ is no exception. Lines such as “Your careless and free, A Lark on the breeze “ are simple yet wonderfully evocative and add a poetic aspect to the band’s music. 

“Some songs take a long time to write, some songs take you know only five minutes. This was one of those songs that we had originally written the music of but lyrically it’s something that came really quickly. Some people think that’s a really good thing, some people think not so much but for us we were happy this song emerged naturally and finished itself really quickly with regards to the lyrics. This song is about the discussion of connection between two people. It’s almost like a back-and-forth conversation at times, you know, talking about the idea of connection, and what it would mean to one another. So describing these things and bringing in aspects of narrative and storytelling that’s really important to us – painting that vivid imagery within the song and allowing it to match up with the energy of the music as well is key. So, yeah, these different musical ideas within the song that are kind of soaring, really powerful and energetic the music, just trying to match that. So I guess we felt that we had done that really well with the single in particular, then as a result, we decided to have this as a great representation of us, where we are now musically, sonically, lyrically.”

The vocals in this song are quite powerful. It’s not one for a timid vocalist and D’Arcy delivers a goosebump-inducing performance. We discussed his vocal talents and if he was always a confident singer.

“No, I certainly wasn’t a confident singer. I remember in primary school, there was 36 people in my class and 33 of them got picked for the school choir, I was one of the three that didn’t. I always had my own style, but I guess this is something that would have come out from us playing around at different sessions being around other musicians. For me, it was always important, playing with other musicians to have a voice that really had an impact to it and was able to be quiet when it was needed in certain parts of songs, but you know, really show the power of what you’re trying to connect with in the lyrics when it’s needed and I guess, it arrived with this song.The song is incredibly vibrant, energetic and impactful. The vocal melody really needed to match that at certain points. So we’re quite lucky with the band as well that we have five different vocalists as well, five individual strong singers. Yeah we were blessed when it came to laying down backing vocals and stuff like that as well. It was a nice challenge for us to be able to match the intensity of certain parts of the songs.”

The band have released the music video for ‘Kingdom Come and Go’. Shot in Johnstown Castle the band discuss the theme of the song through wonderful visuals.

“We wanted something that embodied [ the ] story. We shoot all of our own music videos, we storyboard it all together, we direct everything. So everything is very much self-contained within the band, all the visuals all of the artwork, it’s done by the band. So the story was that the castle in essence you know, somebody’s been stuck really in their own mind and trying to wander around and figure out what exactly they wanted from a relationship or a conversation and that’s what we’re exploring lyrically in the song.The castle is something that’s very much representative of that, you’re stuck in this place, and you’re trying to figure your way out. The conversations that you have with yourself and the actions that you go through to find your way out of it. So it’s something we wanted to to get across. We all [the band] live within 10 minutes from each other in County Wexford and the one thing in that area is this place called Johnston Castle. It’s right in the middle where all of us live. For a long time, we would have all driven by this huge place and thought wouldn’t it be amazing to shoot a video there one day and luckily enough they were like absolutely. They gave us the keys to the place and we’re able to create the story that we wanted that would match lyrically with the song and for the video to be dynamic and interesting. We feel we achieved that anyway, with the video. We’re really happy with it.”

Corner Boy’s debut album is due for release in October 2022 and D’Arcy told me what gigs the band have planned to celebrate the release.

“Yeah, so I guess our next show will be I think we’re okay to announce that we’re playing Electric Picnic at the start of September so that will be one of the first airings of the song which we’re really, really excited about. Then after that we have dates that are going to be launched soon for shows in our hometown in Wexford, then in Dublin and Whelan’s in October when we’re releasing the album as well. Information on that is going to be coming out in the next week or two. So we’re really excited to start gigging again and be able to air the album in full in the live setting. That’s really, really important to us. Playing live is the thing that’s always been central to the band. So we’re looking forward to getting back on the road from September onwards.”

Corner Boy package their exciting and kinetic sound in one fiery heartfelt tune and the result is a song that boasts glorious melodies, rich instrumentation and heartfelt emotion. Featuring surging brass sections, gripping fiddle outbursts and an anthemic sing-along chorus, ‘Kingdom Come and Go’ is a fine example of Corner Boy’s immense talent.

Watch the video for ‘Kingdom Come and Go’ below 


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With: Gabrielle Aplin

Singer-songwriter Gabrielle Aplin has returned with the release of her new single ‘Call Me’.Throughout her career so far Aplin achieved a UK #1 smash hit with her cover of ‘The Power of Love’ which launched her career, as well as a further four international #1 singles, a Gold-certified debut album ‘English Rain’ plus her most recent album, 2020’s ‘Dear Happy’, has now exceeded 200 million streams on Spotify alone. I spoke to Aplin about her new single ‘Call Me’, releasing music on her own label, touring and if ‘Call Me’ is a taster of a new collection of songs to come.

‘Call Me’ is an exciting glimpse into Gabrielle Aplin’s approach to writing and recording new material. Having moved back to Somerset late in 2020, she began to write alone at home and ‘Call Me’ is the mesmerising result of this writing process. It’s a wonderfully cinematic tune, however, at the heart of this beautifully vibrant track is a delicate piano melody.

“I’m so glad you said it was cinematic. That’s exactly what I was going for. I actually wrote just on piano on my own in lockdown at the start of last year, and it was really loose, and quite old-sounding in a way. We just put the whole band in the studio and we all played it and recorded it and that was it, you know. But I didn’t really want to make a retro-sounding album. I wanted it to be inspired by all the things I love and some of those things happen to be, retro, but I still wanted to make a modern record. I came in one day and Mike [Spencer] the producer had told me to sit down he was like the song’s not on rails. There’s nothing railing it everything’s just floating all over the place. So he put in the sawtooth synth part and then it suddenly made sense and I was like, oh my god this is it. So yeah, it kind of came about from Mike.”

How to introduce a song is a tricky decision because it’s those few seconds at the beginning of a song that captures the listener’s imagination. Aplin creates a unique and refreshing intro to ‘Call Me’ through the use of droning synths that chop and drag before the softer elements of the song are introduced.

“ I did imagine it as this pretty piano intro and Mike just came up with that. It sounded so gnarly when I first heard it because the rest of it was just piano and strings and whatever. When that happened, it suddenly made more sense. But yeah, it kind of scared me because the song was so delicate before that synth came in. I respect that feeling when I get it because it’s usually a good one you know?”

Aplin has proven herself as a diverse artist who isn’t defined by a genre and ‘Call Me’ showcases this superbly. Within the track, cinematic pop elements blend with warm country tones on guitar, indie embellishments, synths and almost gospel choir vibes in the backing vocals. The track is simply a musical delight to listener’s ears.

“ I didn’t want to adhere to a trend that was happening now because I wanted it to feel timeless. So we had our pillars and one of them was that it had to be very human and have loads of real musicians. Everything had to have a space so any kind of non-acoustic instrument, any of the synths and whatever all had to have a space so we weren’t plugging them into the computer. My producer Mike had a Fairchild machine built so everything can pass through all these valves and pass through air and the same with the synth on ‘Call Me’, he went and found some man on eBay who had a certain speaker that we could run it through in a hall. It was just so important that everything had space, was human and true [and] organic. We didn’t really listen to anything trying to steer us any way. We genuinely made it as if we were artists not trying to make anything for anything other than to create something good.”

It’s an honest track with clear and emotional lyrics and Aplin explained to me how the lyrics developed.

“Most of it was like a stream of consciousness and then I flesh it out. The idea was there you know,  I don’t really know what I’m writing about. I just, like you say stream of consciousness, kind of blurting stuff out and record it. Any that stand out to me, I’ll finish them and with that one [Call Me] it just felt like I had to do that one. But it’s like filling in the gaps when I work out what the song is, then I can finish it, you know? And for me, it was that feeling that I had where I was quite isolated in the second lockdown and was just writing because I had nothing else to do. That’s where I was like, Oh God, now that I’m sitting here and I can’t go out and I literally can’t do anything and I can’t see anyone I wish I didn’t bail on all those times I could have had human interaction. It was a longing for human connection, I guess.”

“I think most of my favourite songs come from little streams of consciousness. I just sit there and start singing any random stuff, sometimes a chord pattern or you know, something I’m playing might spark a melody and I might just do a little scatter of something. Then that scatter, I might listen to it back and it might sound like a certain word. So then I start with that word and you know, it will stem from there. I literally am just going somewhere meditative when I’m doing it and, I pick out the bits that stand out to me.”

‘Call Me’ marks a new era in Aplin’s career, one which has seen her hit a massive landmark of one billion streams.

“Yeah, I feel so lucky and as an independent artist, it’s just really nice to know that people care. Yeah, it’s mad.”

“It’s nice to know that artists can own their work and still have a career and not feel they have to sign their masters away. Apart from that, for me, it was also really important to work with a team who really cared and were really enthusiastic about what I wanted to create and what I wanted to achieve. So keeping it close to me, and just having people come into our team that want to work on it is really nice. It also means we’re not tied to anything”

Aplin’s last release ‘Dear Happy’ was released independently on her own label, Fade Records, in January 2020 and ‘Call Me’ follows in its footsteps. We discussed how the freedom of releasing music on her own label gave the singer-songwriter more confidence in her work to do what felt right for her.

“Absolutely. This is the most confident I’ve actually ever felt as an artist. I’ve been left to just become who I am and make what I make where I’m at now. No one wanted to hear it until it was finished and when it is done, you know, I will go into people in the label and I will tell them all my ideas and they don’t want to start working on anything until they’ve got my ideas because they want it to be based on everything that I’m creating. Everything has to be real, and they really care about making sure that artists are looked after and treated like artists. It’s really nice to be working with a really supportive group of people. It definitely helps to be left [to] yourself to make something because that’s what your job is essentially. I’m here to create something, just leave me to it and I’ll come back [with] something. I think it does show when artists are nurtured in that way they create really good work.”

A striking and instantly recognisable aspect of Aplin as an artist is her effortless vocals and sweet emotive vocal tone. Within ‘Call Me’ we see Aplin command an eloquent vocal delivery that exudes passion and charm over a bittersweet melody.

“Even now, I get really nervous performing. I find it quite daunting, but in a studio, I’m much more confident maybe it’s because I feel a bit more free and more private. I haven’t always been confident. I really have to gear myself up, especially when I’m performing in front of people. I have to really get pumped up. I find it really scary. I do enjoy it though, once I get going.”

In March Aplin finally got to finish her ‘Dear Happy’ tour that initially started in March 2020. Aplin told me how surreal it was to sing the songs from the album as they were no longer new to her.

“It was so bizarre. But it was amazing though. So much time [has] passed since. I had different people on the road with me and that was weird, but then also at the same time we just stepped back into it like there was no time at all gone. It was bizarre, but it was amazing to finish it. It’s just mad though because when I started that tour, that setlist you know, those songs were brand new and when I finished the tour, I’d made a whole new body of work and I was playing ‘Call Me’ at the shows. I did that to honour who I am now because I felt, [people] myself included, are not the same people they were a few years ago. It’s been a mad few years so I really wanted to honour those things with those shows but yeah, it’s amazing to have it done.”

‘Call Me’ is a teaser for a new collection of work to come. I wondered how soon fans could experience the artist’s music in a live setting. Aplin explained the pandemic gave her time to re-evaluate the tiring manner in which gigging used to be approached by artists.

“Definitely yeah, I’ve made a body of work. I made a load of songs and they were all part of one project. I think it’s really exciting how there are so many ways in which artists can release music now. So I really like the idea of coming up with a cool way of releasing it but I don’t know if it’s an album or not. But there’s a collection of songs that will come out together at some point. I just don’t know in what format”

“ I’m really excited to play new songs but I haven’t got any festivals planned this year. I’m looking forward to going to shows as well and I’m going to a few festivals and stuff.”

“With touring I always found this is not normal…a lot of stuff was just not sustainable. For me, I’m much happier when I have a very solid routine. Everything’s planned well in advance, having nice people around you and looking after yourself. My whole band and crew you know, want to be comfortable and happy and not you know, ruin themselves over something that should be fun and should bring joy to people. We shouldn’t be feeling awful about ourselves after doing something like that. So, yeah, it’s more important for us to take care of ourselves and not overdo it now.”

Before we ended the interview Aplin bestowed some solid advice for any budding artist looking to start a career in music

“I would advise [you] to just do whatever [you] want and make the most of all the resources that are available to you to get your music out there. There are so many, try them all and use the one that sticks or what works for you. Also, I think it’s really important to read up on music law, rights, ownerships, and publishing royalties, and make yourself really familiar with all of those things so you don’t get messed over.”

Gabrielle Aplin is a passionate and dedicated songwriter who clearly pours all she has into her art and the result is compelling, emotive music that is a delight to listen to. Her dedication to creating sincere first-rate quality songs makes her a timeless songwriter and a musical treasure to cherish. ‘Call Me’ is a glorious addition to her sparkling repertoire.

Stream ‘Call Me’ below 


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With: Brian Corbett

Brian Corbett has released his new single ‘Wonder’. I spoke to Corbett about the new single, his return to Ireland after moving to Toronto five years ago and working with Pa Sheehy on a new collection of songs.

‘Wonder’ discusses Corbett’s teenage years as he reminisces on lacking the bravery to tell a close friend that he wanted to be more. Corbett uses beautiful lyrics to take the listener on this nostalgic journey.

“So a couple of months ago I went to Dingle in Kerry. I met up with Pa Sheehy and I was nervous going down because he’s a well-known artist. We talked and he’s like, what would you like to write about? So I told him about the story, about my friend, how I felt. Four hours later we came up with the song. I think it was the adrenaline from meeting him and being nervous it helped me for some strange reason with the writing. Yeah, four hours later, ‘Wonder’ was born.”

“I was like, should I say it? Should I not? [ to Pa Sheehy] Is it too soon?, but then you know what something beautiful could be made here so why hold back and just be honest and put everything on the plate.”

There is a warm twinkling guitar melody that exudes a folk tone and reinforces the nostalgic theme within the song. 

“Pa had a guitar riff that he actually made while we were on our way down there. Just an acoustic, he just looped it and I just fell in love with it straightaway. That’s when the inspiration just straight away clicked. It was just so easy to play off it.”

The song is sonically impressive and boasts deft production and dreamy tones with an intricate pulsing rhythm anchoring the listener in the track’s ethereal soundscapes.

“ We had the guitar sound and we wrote alongside the guitar sound. Then eventually, we left it simmer for a while for a few weeks and then Pa started messing around with these beautiful dreamy sounds that just came into it perfectly and just fitted with the song. I think that’s the feedback we’re getting off the song too. It’s a summer vibe song, it’s a sad song but a happy song at the same time.”

Brian Corbett’s music oozes wonderful folk elements with a contemporary twist. We spoke about how he crafted his style and sound.

“ I think it’s just the way I sing. From a very young age, I was surrounded by folk music, especially Irish folk music, and I was reared in the countryside. So I had that country twang, more or less and I just brought it into my music and gradually developed it over a few years. It goes pretty well with the music that we are making at the moment.”

Corbett moved across the Atlantic five years ago to live in Toronto and found himself in a music scene he had never experienced before. Through rubbing shoulders with a variety of artists and writers Corbett gained a new insight into his music and writing.

“To be honest, I started taking it seriously. I didn’t really believe. I knew I could sing. I knew I could play the guitar. I started going to open mics and stuff like that, just to go to them to listen and have a beer or whatever and then I started making friends and rubbing shoulders with some really amazing musicians. That’s when I started to write and develop my writing. I wasn’t great at the start, but it’s like turning on the tap and getting the dirty water out first, eventually the clean water comes through. So it really helped me, the city life, and just being surrounded by different musicians and different cultures and stuff. It really had a golden plus for me.”

After five years away from home Corbett grew tired of city life and moved home to Connemara and is living in a remote cabin with artistic friends writing music. I wondered if the nostalgia of being back in Ireland is giving Corbett material to write.

“It has yeah, it’s like past situations you’ve been in and moments of sadness, moments of happiness, but it really helped me. It’s really nice to be back. It’s like writing a book, you need to sit down and your like, Alright, what do I write about? How do I feel and when did that happen? When did this happen? So it’s good to be home, it’s good to be on the Irish soil again. But, hopefully, this music takes me out there again.”

“I live in a little house in Connemara. Some of my friends are musicians and I bring them down for the day or two. I have a little studio here in the house and we just chill, we eat, we talk, we make music, we eat more and then we make more music and then it just develops from there. It’s a really nice humbling situation.”

“I live in Clifden in Connemara, it’s just magic. It’s surrounded by water, surrounded by greenery and surrounded by mountains and it’s just inspirational. So being in Toronto in the busy city for nearly five years, six years it was nice to come home. Once I came home I was like this is so nice to be just able to think again and just like relax.”

Corbett has some exciting plans for the rest of the year with new releases and an upcoming EP.

“It’s the first song off the EP, that me and Pa are putting together at the moment. So we have a few more songs down. It’s hard to just put a full stop on it. I was like should we not make another one. It’s easy to make it into an album. But I want to make an EP first and then we can talk about albums. In the next few months, we’ll have another song that we’re ready to put in the oven.”

Brian Corbett is a compelling artist who has the ability to create passionate songs filled with rich instrumentation. He is developing his sound beautifully and displaying a talent for creating cinematic musicianship and emotive lyrics – ‘Wonder’ is a sublime example of this. 

Watch the video for ‘Wonder’ below 


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With: Throatsugar

Brand new electropop artist Throatsugar has released her debut single ‘Ascend’. Throatsugar is a new project from the multi-talented musician Colleen Heavey, a songwriting graduate who holds a master’s degree in Music Technology. I spoke with Colleen about the new single and her plans as she introduces this new project to the world. 

“Basically, I’ve been writing my own music for 10/15 years, a long time. I was doing my degree in music and then I went on to be a teacher and now I’ve finished my master’s degree in production. I’ve been writing the whole time [but] I never released anything. So I got to a stage where I was like, Okay, I need to get over the imposter syndrome and just go for [it] because I had songs recorded and everything just sitting in the Google Drive. In terms of the name I knew I wanted a name that was in some way, visceral I guess would be the word. So I used a random word generator and I came up with a few combinations I really liked and I sent them to a few friends. One of my friends said throat sugar is vile and I loved that reaction so that’s why I chose it.”

Colleen has released her debut single ‘Ascend’. A debut track is a big deal. It announces your sound and musical style to listeners. Colleen told me she has a lot of songs written and we spoke about how she decided ‘Ascend’ was the perfect one to introduce her solo material.

” Ascend is my favourite song that I recorded so I was like, Okay, I’m going to choose the one that I guess gives me the most confidence. So I decided to start with that one because that is the one that for me I feel most comfortable with. I feel like it’s something I would enjoy and I would listen to. When people did ever ask to hear any songs of mine, that would be the one I would play for them. So I decided you know in order to start with even a miniscule degree of confidence, I would choose that.”

Colleen has a career’s worth of accomplishments to her name already. She has toured all over Ireland, the UK and the USA as a member of the band Brass Phantoms, and has performed at major festivals as well as opening for the likes of Delorentos and The Slow Readers Club. Music she has worked on in the past has been featured by the likes of BBC, RTE, and more. Colleen told me how daunting it is establishing her own sound away from the band.

“Yeah, it was terrifying. I never wanted to be the front woman. It’s never my thing, I love collaborating. So yeah, it was really scary for me. I’m really fortunate now because the song was recorded a long time ago with Mick Heffernan and he’s an amazing producer. He helped me a lot with it. One of my bandmates Greg [ Greg Whelan of Brass Phantoms] he is doing an amazing job, just monitoring all my PR and all that stuff. He’s been great, he’s given me a lot of confidence as well and really helped push me along. So yeah, with him it’s been a lot less scary and obviously we’ve worked together musically for so many years that it’s been great working with him. He’s put me at ease a lot which is nice.”

” I wish I had told myself sooner to not be so precious about it. I should have earlier on collaborated and gotten help from people and there’s so many people who want to help and want to be part of things. I lecture in the music college now and I’m always telling my students, if you’re going to release something, get someone to help you with it or maybe you can help release each other’s stuff or get someone to do your social media for you or maybe get a group of you together and make a spreadsheet of what playlists that you want to get on or who you want to contact, essentially just encouraging other people to collaborate because for me collaborating has absolutely got my career to the place it is.”

“I’m very fortunate that I’ve had experience in such a ridiculous array of things – a very quick rundown of my experience, there’s Brass Phantoms a kind of post punk band. Then I’m also a DJ and when I DJ I do everything but my main thing I DJ is metal music. So anything metal I’m really into. I’m also a big fan of math rock, and then especially in my masters I did a lot of compositions. I did electroacoustic composition and I did contemporary minimalist composition and obviously I’m really into production. So a lot of the time I’ll be writing a song and I’ll think okay, no, this is too weird, this is too niche. But it’s been great because I’m in a position where I feel I have a bit of an outsider’s perspective. I can think okay, I would like this but, what would the general public think or what would listeners think or you know, what kind of market am I tapping into and things like that. So yeah, I try not to get too weird when I write music.”

‘Ascend’ is a dynamic electronic pop track that exudes subtle cinematic undertones. It’s well layered and filled with intoxicating beats and dark ethereal electronics. Colleen explained how she crafted the song.

” I spent way too much time just layering it and stuff. I’m sure I made it on Logic Pro X, but I’m sure I still have the actual session somewhere. But even when I brought it to Mick [Heffernan], I don’t know how many different tracks or different layers were involved with it but it was a very long, painful, slow process. But it was great. It’s great working with someone like Mick Heffernan because he’s able to take what I have and build off of it. He doesn’t try to start his own thing he basically just tries to expand what I have and just refine the vocals because where I live it’s a bit noisy and the microphone is picking up a lot of things. But yeah, a huge amount of time. I recorded quite a long time ago, I feel like if I did it now I’d probably get through a little bit quicker. But yeah, when I was in my early stages of learning to record and produce at home, it was a long experimental process I guess.”

The lyrics within the song are beautifully evocative, eloquent and poetic and display another facet to Colleen as an artist, “Fill my blood with bitter warm sweet love. The colours in your mouth The feathers in my breath”. I wondered if she wrote the lyrics in a stream of consciousness.

“Yeah, I love what you say about stream of consciousness it’s definitely part of it for sure. One thing that inspired me was the poem “Night Piece” by James Joyce. I had read that recently and I knew I wanted the song to use that whole poem as a theme. As far as a narrative I don’t want to reveal too much about the meaning behind it but yeah I think the word stream of consciousness is absolutely right. It’s telling a story and I want to tell it in an abstract way so that people can derive their own meaning of it, which I think is important. I don’t want anyone to be like this is what the song is about and you’re not allowed interpret in your own way. I want it to be interpreted in whatever way the listener feels applies to them most.”

The artwork for the single is beautiful and adds a lovely dimension to the track. We discussed the concept behind the artwork.

“I was incredibly fortunate with the artwork. I didn’t know much in terms of visual art. Basically I’m not good at visuals at all. I knew what colors I wanted, and that was really about it. So I went onto Fiverr which is a freelance website and I found this incredible guy from Slovenia. He’s called ‘topcreativemind’. I messaged him and I explained what I was looking for and he was amazing. I couldn’t believe how many times he got back to me and he gave his opinion on what he thought was best and he just gave me loads of different options. We talked through what we didn’t like, and he listened to the song and it was cool to work with someone who actually did have a visual mind which I don’t have. He gave some insight as to what he thought was the best thing for the song and I love what he chose. He gave us loads of different options and combined all the things that I liked. So yeah, it was weird for me to use Fiverr but I would definitely recommend, we’ll definitely be using it again.”

People experience and consume music differently and it’s only when you are speaking in-depth with someone about songs and crafting them that you become aware that people enjoy music in different ways. Colleen and I discussed how people’s senses affect how they experience music.

“Yeah, I studied a little bit of synesthesia when I did my masters which is the whole, your senses crossing over and I’ve never had visual synesthesia, which is like conjuring up pictures in your brain but music for me, especially when it’s played through decent quality headphones I get a very euphoric brain tickling sensation. When I DJ and the music is blasting, I find myself just smiling uncontrollably. I just feel a lot of euphoria with music, whether it’s happy or sad. It just tickles my brain in that right way. It doesn’t necessarily matter what the music is, pretty much anything of any quality even if it’s just a phone recording can often hit me in the right spot, which is pretty cool. I know a lot of other people have that as well so it’s a nice thing to experience.”

Throatsugar is an exciting project with a sound full of invigorating textures and melodies that would be fantastic to hear in a live setting. Colleen told me what she has planned for the project in the coming months and if we can expect any live shows. 

“That’s a great question. My answer has always been no because I want to be just a digital artist. Now, I would say I wouldn’t rule anything out. But at the minute like I said I’m not crazy being a frontwoman. I love everything behind the scenes. I love producing I’m happy to sing when recording and everything like that. I can sit for hours mixing and stuff. But yeah, I’m not going to rule it out is all I’ll say.”

“I have another single, which I have recorded. It’s actually pretty old. But I did a mini release of it many years ago and I got great feedback. It’s very different. It’s a lot more like pop. It’s different. But yeah, I think it’s a really fun kind of song. That’ll be ready to go I guess whenever the right time is, so I’ll definitely keep you updated.”

‘Ascend’ is an emotive tune dripping in ethereal tones and first-rate musicianship. The track boasts expressive soundscapes filled with pulsing beats, smooth vocals accompanied by soft R&B tones, and shimmering keys throughout. “Ascend” is an invigorating, immersive tune from Throatsugar that beckons repeat plays. Looking forward to hearing more from Throatsugar.

Stream ‘Ascend’ below 


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Album Release, Album Review, Indie, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With: Harry From Hudson Taylor

Photo Credit: Nat Michele

Hudson Taylor’s eagerly-awaited third studio album ‘Searching For The Answers’ is set for release on June 3rd. This album is a glimpse into a more personal facet of Hudson Taylor and musically the album is a triumph. Filled with bittersweet melodies, earnest lyrics and gentle instrumentation, this album might come as a surprise to fans who loved the fast-paced catchy ditties the band have become known for. 

I spoke to Harry Hudson-Taylor about the maturing and natural growth of the album, his debut main vocal song which features on the album, as well as the duo’s return to touring.

“I’d say its a whole host of different things influencing it. I obviously couldn’t really not factor in the whole big you know, that thing that happened there for the last couple of years, the big C. I think that affected the chilled way that we approached singing. You just start singing differently, when you’re at home and you’re not playing in gigs all the time, playing in front of people in loud venues. It’s like, you desire a little bit of a more chill thing, but if anything, for us….[it] just felt more natural. It’s our third album as well, the first one that’s the one you get to work on for years before you actually release it. Then the second one, it’s the hard, second album and we were really lucky with that, we were lucky with what it did for us, except we didn’t get to tour it at all because of the pandemic. Then with this third one, Alfie and I actually didn’t speak for the rest of 2020. Basically,the pandemic came and all of our shows are cancelled. We’ve been living in each other’s pockets, you know, emotionally, physically, financially, for 10 years, and just naturally, without either of us saying anything, we just didn’t really speak for the rest of the year. Then the start 2021 our record label were like, Yo, do you lads have anything? We want to do another album with you and so at the start of last year, Alfie and I got together over a zoom call and just discussed what we want to do, and if we were going to do it, how we would want to do it. So this is the combination of that. Essentially, half of the songs were written by Alfie, half of them were written by me initially and then we shared our favourites that we’ve been writing over the past year and collaborated on them to finish them and turn them into Hudson Taylor songs.”

I wondered when the duo reunited to write the album if Harry and Alfie slipped back into the old way of doing things or if it was very different once they had that break.

“It was very different for a couple of reasons. I mean, one was that we weren’t in the same place. Alfie lives in the UK at the moment. During the pandemic, I moved to Berlin, Germany and so we actually wrote the initial stuff over zoom and Dropbox, sending each other ideas and helping each other finish them. The first time we played any of these songs together was in the studio so that’s different because in the past, we’d be playing songs on the road, we’d be touring them, we’d be practising them, we’d be refining them. These are songs we’ve never played live so it was very different in that sense but also just the wealth of experience from getting a chance to just chill out and reflect having been pretty much back to back constantly on the road or promoting something for the previous 10/ 12 years. So there was a bit more time to reflect, there was a bit more time to question what we want to actually say, who we want to work with, how we want to do the album. The guy we worked with Luke Potashnick, to bring this stuff over the finish line, he’s a chap that we wrote with. We wrote a song in 2015 and we really wanted to work with him back then… with this third album, the record label were a bit more, you know what, lads, what do you want to do? and that was beautiful. We came up with a plan. We said we want to work with this person [Potashnick]. We said, realistically, we think we can get the whole thing done by this date and they were just like cool, here you go, here’s some money, go and do it. So it was in many ways a huge breath of fresh air to get to work on a body of work, fully having creative control over it, and working with people who we love.”

The title ‘Searching For The Answers’, is a perfect title for this collection of songs and similarly, the title track is a beautiful representation of the duo’s musical and lyrical growth. The song is earnest and delicately composed and uses the sweet harmonies of the brothers, warm guitar, steady beats and pristine piano embellishments to highlight themes of longing to great effect.

“Oh yeah, we had a good feeling about that song from the off. It was actually written about three/four years ago, on a break from touring. It was the only song that we brought, from the past. All the other songs were written in 2020 and 2021. That one was floating around since 2018, or ’19. It was written with a really good friend of ours, Jack Morris, and another friend, our bass player in our band, Ronan Sherlock, and Alfie’s partner Gabrielle [Aplin] also helped. So it felt like a really nice community that represented me and Alfie’s two part harmonies, structure around the song. It was one of those ones that came out of a jam. It didn’t sound anything like the production that you hear now. It just was piano and guitar but yeah, I think that song encapsulates the whole thing really well. Not just lyrically but also the sound, it really captures the two part vocals, the harmonies, and it was entirely recorded live as well. So there’s a few songs on there like ‘Searching For The Answers’ is one of them, ‘Overloaded’ is another one, there’s about six songs on there that were recorded, entirely live and you wouldn’t know it. I’m really happy about that.”

There are plenty of well-placed thoughtful slow burners on the album. ‘Overloaded’ in particular is a heartbreaking musical gem. With just soft vocals and twinkling piano, the duo create a raw, stripped back tender tune to indulge in. The song, however, encases some surprising musical treats within as it builds to an eerie and dark crescendo.

“That one was written in the studio. Actually, the two main singles, ‘Hold Out Hope’ and ‘You Me Myself’ were written in the studio and ‘Overloaded’ was also written in the studio. So we actually came in only wanting to do 10 songs and we came out with 12. Essentially, ‘Overloaded’ it was written just at a certain moment. Alfie sat at the piano and started doing this back and forth piano thing and we wrote a song and it had themes about relationship toxicity thematically it’s like dealing with mental health really. A good few of the songs on the album really have mental health themes, and that was one of the ones that was mental health-related and everyone will relate to it differently. The people who wrote it was myself, Alfie and the producer, and we all had our own different ways of interpreting what was going on. For me, that song spoke directly to a relationship that I had been in that was really painful and toxic. For my brother I’m sure, he was bringing his stuff in and then the producer, I think around the same time there had been, a death close by. So it was very much cathartic writing for all of us that just came out in the moment, written over a few hours, recorded and that was it. The instrumentation just felt right. We were taking influences from like Radiohead, for that song, just this kind of eerie stuff using some weird synths. Yeah, really fun. To be honest a lot of that stuff was just instinctual. It was not really a decision like, Oh, well, this is definitely going to have this instrument on it. It just kind of unfolded. A lot of the time, the producer would be mixing, or just cleaning up something that we’d record and then one of us would be in the background, holding an instrument and playing a note or something and then we’d be like, Oh, that’s cool. Let’s put that in there. “

“Me and Alfie, both coming from different perspectives being able to marry them to [create a] Hudson Taylor song, you know, because the songs could be in theory, solo songs from Harry or solo songs from Alfie sometimes, and it’s just like we decide between us. We either say Oh, do you think that could be a Hudson Taylor song or just leave it for some future project and we made a good few decisions like that. That led to us refining what we ended up choosing in the end.”

It feels as if the band eased listeners into this generation of Hudson Talyor. The singles released this year give a glimpse into different facets of the album from the peppy ‘You Me Myself’ and the most recently released ‘Hold Out Hope’. They hint at something special and different but maintain a hopeful and upbeat tone.

“Yeah, in some ways we give our finished body of work to the record label and they’ll have their pick and we’ll have our pick and it seemed like they aligned in some ways. We probably would have chosen slightly differently. I think ‘Honest’, was our favourite collectively, between me and Alfie and the producer. We thought that was probably the strongest and so it’s cool it got released and actually in some ways we were affirmed because it got really good traction by the different digital service providers, putting it on playlists and stuff. So that’s nice to know that your, own instinct can get affirmed by it. But in terms of the choices,  from the get-go, we were all like Oh yeah, these ones are definitely doing the right thing. Getting a song put on some radio stations, regional radio station can just be really helpful for us for when we want to do a show because then you’re in people’s consciousness or you know, oh yeah, those lads were on the radio, that kind of thing.”

“But in this case, though, none of the songs were written with that kind of angst that we used to have when we were younger, where it’d be like oh God we need to make this thing, it has to be for the radio.A lot of that stuff, just with time and age and I guess some of the immaturity has evaporated a good bit. Obviously always having an ear to the ground and to hear for yourself and be critical and be like, oh yeah, this could have a bit more commercial success perhaps. But really, for me, definitely, I can say, I just felt really proud of all of the stuff we wrote this time. There was no compromises made. It’s just like, No, this is what we’re doing and we’re enjoying it and if people like it, great.”

“Actually, I got so much healing out of just not caring too much whether other people would find it appealing. It was just a really nice experience for connecting deeper to our truth, you know, and me and Alfie as brothers as well getting to basically have a bit of a conversation through the music.”

For me, ‘You Decide’ is a special moment in the album the harmonies are beautiful and the ambient textures and warm guitar show how Hudson Taylor don’t need much instrumentation behind them to create a compelling listening experience.

“That’s my first time ever singing a song in lead and [in] Hudson Taylor as well. So yeah, there’s no other songs on there or really ever before in Hudson Taylor where I have a lead song and that’s a song that really I wrote and brought for the project. I’ve always wanted to have a song that I sing, because Alfie tends to be singing the lead most of the time and over the years I’ve been building my confidence to do that. So just really happy about that song. I think it really represents a moment in time in my mind and in my experience and getting to share it and having Alfie sing on it and just again that was one of the ones that was recorded live as well. I just really enjoyed that experience.”

Harry explained the mixed feelings that come with releasing his first main vocal song. 

“Yeah, I am a bit nervous. But I’m also excited. I’m excited because down the line me and Alfie will end up doing our own stuff outside of Hudson Taylor and for me to know that there’s something out there at least that represents the timbre of my voice… I love being able to sing harmony, but you know, this was like cool. It’s was nice.”

Hudson Taylor have announced an Irish tour which will be the duo’s first tour since 2019 and includes a 3Olympia Dublin headline show on Saturday 4th June.

“Yeah, cannot wait because we’re playing some of these songs for the first time. We have rehearsals just before the tour and then we’ll be playing some brand new songs. We’re playing some of the ones that have been on the radio now in Ireland, and then just doing the old ones. We have a slightly different band lineup and stuff though. It’s really exciting for us. Just to get home as well, as I said I live in Berlin. So it’s any opportunity to get home, I aways want to get home you know.”

‘Searching For The Answers’ is a captivating body of work. There are elements of soul, jazz, pop, blues and more all delicately blended into an emotive album that lays bare emotions of loneliness, anxiety, joy and love. It’s a fantastic album that showcases the ever-growing talent of Hudson Taylor both as a duo and individual artists. 

‘Searching For The Answers’ is set for release on June 3rd. 

Watch the video for  ‘Hold Out Hope’ below 


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Indie, indie rock, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With: The Backseat Lovers

The Backseat Lovers performed their debut Irish show, in The Button Factory last Wednesday night as part of Eastbound Dublin. Their show was completely sold out, following two venue upgrades. The Salt Lake City four-piece have had huge streaming success. They independently released, their debut album ‘When We Were Friends’ which smashed through industry ceilings after its 2019 release with 120m+ Spotify streams for the international phenomenon that is their single ‘Kilby Girl’ along with achieving a sold-out, first-ever 48-date US Tour and a Lollapalooza debut last year.

I spoke to Joshua Harmon (vocals/guitars), Jonas Swanson (vocals/guitars), Juice Welch (drums) and KJ Ward (bass) before their show in The Button Factory. 

The Backseat Lovers have become known for their sun-kissed indie rock sound. The guitar in particular is an irresistible factor in this band’s songs. The sweet mellow and nimble guitar melodies weave soothing tones through each song, making every track utterly glorious to the ears.

Joshua: “ I think we look at guitar melodies pretty similar to the vocal melodies. They both guide the song and sometimes either/or will come first, especially with our older stuff, some of those songs will revolve around a riff or it would revolve around the melody and the riff would come later. It’s always sort of different”

Though the songs are laid back and melodious there is enough grit to keep each song interesting. ‘Pool House’, is a fine example of this, the song builds to a shredding guitar-heavy crescendo that is just exhilarating and the band explained to me how they crafted the song.

Joshua: “Well, I started writing that song on a classical acoustic guitar at a party somewhere. I guess it’s the morning after a very bad party and I was in Southern California. So it kind of…came from weird, some sort of beachy energy somehow. When we started playing it as a band, it kept that energy. I remember the moment we were in my parent’s basement, we were jamming it and I hadn’t written the chorus yet. It was once we kind of written that chorus we were just jamming it and I just started singing that “wait outside”, just that melody. It wasn’t even any lyrics yet, it was just singing that melody, and it got heavier as we kept jamming it, so it’s naturally the evolution, having a heavier side once it got to the chorus.”

The Backseat Lovers have an intricate sound. They carefully build the tracks to create catchy, light tunes filled with oodles of passion that is enhanced by delicately placed instrumentation. This creates a mature and lush listening experience. I wondered how the band write their songs and if they approached writing like a jamming session or if each member brings bits they have written to each other to work with.

Jonas: “I think that one depends too, a lot of the songs we have out were songs that Josh had written and then brought to us and we all arranged our parts. But as we’ve kept playing together as a band, we’ve started to, write songs more out of just jams or, either me or Josh coming up with a seed of an idea and then bringing that to the band and it growing from there. But there’s lots of different ways. We like to continue to explore new ways too.” 

Well crafted and clever lyrical content is an obvious element in each of the band’s songs. Lines such as “Feels like a night to carry a tune, I’ve been carrying yours since you wrecked my room” “So we chase jack with love” from Kilby Girl eloquently express subtle messages and poetic undertones. The band explained to me the effort that goes into coining these lyrical elements and how they don’t feel pressure from outside influences to write poignant lyrical content.

Joshua: ” I feel Jonas and I are the main lyric writers and yeah, we’ve probably spent hours and hours most days churning through lyrics. Sometimes you’re just singing a melody and the lyrics are making their way into the melody in a very natural way in real time and sometimes it’s much more methodical, like trying out different puzzle pieces to fit the rhythm of the song and make a rhyme, and a certain cadence. It’s a combination between the two. It’s really fun, and it’s incredibly frustrating. It’s the best and worst part in my opinion”

Joshua: “ We don’t really feel pressure from outside. I think we have a certain amount of pressure that we create for ourselves. I think, at least for me, when I’m writing a song, it’s so much more.The only reason I’m doing it is to feel like I’m doing something for myself and I’m connecting with myself. When I think of something and it clicks and I’ve been working on it, for a second I feel it click in place. It’s the most satisfying feeling, it’s like Oh, I haven’t done that before, that pushed a little further than I went last time, you know. So that’s where the pressure comes from.”

Jonas: “Sometimes the most satisfying lyrics, feel the most genuine and I feel a connection to, are really simple ones that don’t really have a lot, I guess, super poetic value to it. But because they’re just saying exactly how it is, sometimes that’s even better than something that’s really flowery, I think.”

The Backseat Lovers’ song titles are interesting. They aren’t obvious song titles, they appear random with hints to the lyrics within the song. This adds a new dimension and meaning to the songs. Maple Syrup is a superb example of this. We spoke about what sparked that name for the song.

Joshua: “With the first album there is a strange arrangement of song titles. It’s something that’s fun when you can think of a song.. because naming a song isn’t very fun, generally, in my opinion it’s kind of like the last part, it’s like okay now we have to name the song. But with those ones, it was really quite fun, because there were certain important backstories behind certain lyrics that only I would know about, that would end up making their way into the song title and Maple Syrup, I wrote about my friend. In the second verse, I’m talking about the purple sweater that he left at my house and he smelled like maple syrup. So that was where that came from.”

The band have been making waves in the music industry independently. With over 120m streams, their UK and Irish run of shows all sold out and they return to the US to support Jack White on his Arena tours. I asked the band if they had any advice for any upcoming independent artists and if we can look forward to their next album soon.

Joshua: “I think, take it with a grain of salt because we don’t know what the hell we are doing. We’ve always understood the reason why we’re making music in the first place. Ask [yourself] that question, then answer it and then act with that as the centre of what you’re doing. If you want to make music to get attention, then you have to know that’s why you’re doing it. But if you’re making music because it fulfils you, and because it’s something that you care about and you want to share it with people and that’s why you’re doing it doesn’t really modify it, essentially, if you’re acting on principles [that are] reasonably good.”

Jonas: “Yeah, we’ve been recording [album] for the last year. We still don’t have a date yet, but it’s getting close.”

Joshua:”Yeah, it’s about done”

The Backseat Lovers are crafting their sound beautifully to create tunes filled with compelling indie rock, wonderful intricate melodies and first-rate musicianship. Their debut album ‘When We Were Friends’ is just a glimpse into the many talents of this band. I’m looking forward to hearing what delicious musical gems they have in store for us with their next release. 

Stream ‘When We Were Friends’ below


Author: Danu