Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Julian Lamadrid has released his new single ‘Saturday’. This infectious bop flows upon bright electronics and sunkissed tones as Lamadrid coos, “Ooh, babe, ooh, babe Ooh, babe, If we make it ’til Saturday, Then I’ll tell you my last name“. Lamadrid’s smooth vocals caress the dreamy melody through a haze of reverb, while his melodic prowess and effortless swagger make ‘Saturday’ a euphoric delight on listeners ears. He crafts a laid back summer tune filled with tropical tones, shimmering synths, and bubbling beats to create a luscious alternative pop gem that is sure to brighten any day. Lamadrid is displaying his versatility as an artist by producing tunes with an array of vibrant and tantalizing sounds from the funky flex of his previous release ‘15 Minutes’ to last years steel drum, synth peppered ‘Patience’ and 2019’s edgy alternative pop ‘Die Young’. Each release from Lamadrid is an exciting keyhole glimpse into the glorious musical world of this talented artist.
Dublin-based indie rock five-piece Somebody’s Child have released their new single ‘CRAZY’ – the first piece of material following the band’s critically lauded second EP ‘Hope, Amongst Other Things’, which was released earlier this year. The song is the first single to be taken from a new Somebody’s Child EP – ‘Staying Sane’, which is set for release this autumn. More conceptual than anything the band have done to date, Staying Sane is written from the perspective of a long road trip along the west coast of Ireland, with the new single kicking things off.
Layered in vibrant indie, earnest lyrics and richly layered soundscapes, ‘CRAZY’ is a triumph from Somebody’s Child. Within this catchy laid back tune filled with sun-kissed vibes, the band lay bare honest emotions as Cian Godfrey ruminates on self-isolation. “Have you ever questioned if you’re crazy?. They all say I’m a waster ’cause I’m lazy. I’m terrified of strangers I thought maybe, That I need help”. These well-coined lyrics provide depth while contrasting the light and upbeat tone of the song. With subtle elements of R&B peering between juicy guitar bounces and slick beats, Somebody’s Child creates a relatable indie bop for listeners to enjoy. The chorus ripples with rich percussion, funky bass lines and uplifting melodies as the band push past all expectations to deliver a euphoric and impressive earworm that will chime in your head for days.
Speaking about ‘CRAZY’, Godfrey says: “CRAZY is definitely from the depths of my thoughts. A throwback to my school days mixed in with my deepest fear – going crazy.”
Metal band Crafted In Black have released their debut single, ‘Sleeping With Devils’. Crafted In Black is the dark electronic metal project of solo artist and producer Marcel Helmar. With over 20 years of creating music, he uses his knowledge to create unique projects that defy genres. Crafted In Black is his newest endeavour. Recorded in his home studio, Marcel wrote, recorded, mixed and mastered the project’s debut single ‘Sleeping With Devils’.
‘Sleeping With Devils’ is a gloriously chilling listening experience. Filled with jabbing guitars that lacerate between dizzying synths and heavy beat progressions, the song rushes throughout gaining momentum as it progresses. ‘Sleeping With Devils’ explores through the medium of chilling and sinister musicianship, the idea where demons can manifest and haunt their victims in excruciating ways. Marcel Helmar growls and ominously whispers through the electronic soundscape and heavy rhythms as the song unfolds into a dark and blood-curdling onslaught. ‘Sleeping With Devils’ is a thrilling debut from Crafted In Black.
Dublin-based alternative rock band Late Night Pharmacy have released their new single ‘Relapse’. ‘Relapse’ is the band’s third single of 2021, following April’s ‘Too Late for the Rickshaws’ and June’s ‘Slacktivist (Normalise This)’. Recording the single was only possible after Late Night Pharmacy were one of four Irish bands hand-picked to take part in the 2020 edition of the TiLT Development Deal. As part of this deal, the band received hours of free studio time in Dublin’s renowned Sun Studios (in which artists such as Rihanna, Kanye West and Sinéad O’Connor have recorded over the years). There, the band recorded two songs, ‘Relapse’ is the first to be released.
Saturated in sharp indie rock, ‘Relapse’ is a mighty new single from Late Night Pharmacy. The band present their intricate fizzing indie sound through a catchy summer bop filled with jangly guitars, buoyant drums and light percussion. The track meanders between airy tones and edgy rock as the band drift a laid back melody over jagged riffs and driving bass lines to create a thrilling balance of mosh ready rock and infectious pop. With vivid metaphorical lyrics, “Oh my old friend, you were the scars on my skin. My veins have blown since we packed it in And now I’ve got the shakes, I’m craving my fix”, teamed with acute instrumentation and a shredding guitar solo the band pull out all the stops with this glistening gem. Late Night Pharmacy are blossoming wonderfully as a band. With each release, they delve deeper into their refined and exuberant sound while showcasing their deft lyrical prowess. ‘Relapse’ is a vibrant indie anthem ready for repeat plays. Press play and enjoy.
About the track, the band said: “Relapse” is a song about breaking up with your girlfriend, falling back into bed with her, regretting it, and then the whole cycle starting again. The lyrics compare this to a recovering drug addict repeatedly falling off the wagon, alluding to Oscar Wilde and The Undertones.“
Four in the Morning have released their new single ‘Keep It Together’. Irish singer-songwriter Kevin Dolan leads the band with Kiran Srinivasan, Dan Walwyn and Alex Lees completing the eclectic genre-defying line-up.
I caught up with Kevin, who is living in Australia, to chat about the new single, how the band craft their dreamy, musically dense tunes, and how he hasn’t been able to return to Ireland due to the pandemic.
‘Keep It Together’ is an atmospheric tune that ebbs and flows with brooding and evocative instrumentation. Kevin explained to me how the pandemic influenced the song.
“ I guess the first line of the song is – ” I haven’t been sleeping again. It’s been a while since that’s been a thing ” – and that was just a truism I guess. When lockdown hit, as for everyone and it’s pretty boring to hear me talk about it but it was a lot of stress, it was a lot of you didn’t know what was going on, we still don’t know what’s going on. We’re back in lockdown now so it’s just been uncertainty and I think everyone has been going through this weird joint psychological roller coaster and for me, that manifested itself. I’ve always been terrible at sleeping, and just before lockdown started I had bought this new record player, and these speaker setups, and they weren’t working. I had all this time stuck at home and I wasted a lot of it just trying to figure out how to make these bloody speakers work. So I realised that I was putting all of this stress, angst and worry into fixing these bloody speakers, and the song, kind of stemmed from that I guess – that and… I was listening to I think it was this New York Times radio podcast, where they were just playing moments from all over the States and all over the world of people dealing with COVID and lockdown. It was amazing to me to get all of these people’s brains just sort of fed into my head and that’s probably what was keeping me up. The song then came with a jumble of all of that, this idea of trying to keep yourself together and probably doing a very bad job of it.”
‘Keep It Together’ is the perfect example of each band members musical prowess as they intricately weave multiple layers and textures into the song to create a gripping listening experience that lingers in the listener’s mind for days.
“ I always joke that I’m a real lyric person and I’ll sit down at a piano and a guitar and write a song with lyrics and that’s how this song started, but the band I play with, these amazing musicians Dan [Walwyn] on bass, Kiran [Srinivasan] on guitar and piano and drums and Alex [Lees] on guitar, and I’m a real folk lyric nerd, but they’re like jazz nuts into prog. [ Progressive rock] and they’re a million times better than I am. We always joke that they take a song and just shift it and play with it until it breaks. I don’t have a big musical background so I just describe what’s in my head for a song and I think for this one it was the sound of a radio breaking and someone fluttering in and out of consciousness or whatever, and they ran with that and create this sound around the story. Interestingly for this one, because we sat with it so long over lockdown, it was made in a bunch of different directions. It started as a real driving kind of indie banger, just simple rock song, and that didn’t feel right. Then we took it away and we were just sending files back and forth to each other because we were in lockdown and Kiran created this drum loop and slowed the song down and that’s when we were like, this is the vibe for this one. Then finally, we got to record it in the studio, I’d say maybe six months, nine months after I’d started writing it, and we hadn’t played it live, at any point. So we went into the studio and we just kind of reinvented it again. It was really organic. The parts weren’t written on their own, we just played it in a room together which is the coolest way to play any music, and then just kept layering stuff on top of it until it felt right.”
The drum loop pulses through the song with a heartbeat-like effect, becoming the element within the track that exudes tension while an icy piano melody and synth embellishments create an ethereal expansive soundscape.
“Yeah, that drum loop was on the demo from way back and we again, couldn’t play in a room with drums and we couldn’t record in a room with drums in lockdown. We haven’t used samples or stuff before, but we had this drum loop that we loved, and that became almost the linchpin of the song. I always say there’s glass and there’s clay. Clay is the thing that you can mould and glass is the thing that you mess with, it breaks and for this one, it was the piano and it was the drums that were the glass of it. We actually tried to recreate that drum loop in the studio, and our producer Jono Steer was amazing, he is an amazing person. He was just like, ‘nah, just keep this’, and we ended up building more drums around it but keeping that. I think it goes through the whole song.“
The lyrics discuss putting on a good face and trying to convince those around you that you have it all together, which is a relatable theme even without the looming pandemic. Through his lyrics, Kevin perfectly captures a sense of loneliness while masking that hollow feeling through the metaphor of the broken record player. “I took it apart just to see what makes you sing. It was nothing but blue wires and the space between”.
“I wish I could say, I spent ages, meticulously crafting these words. But honestly, I actually don’t think I wrote them down. We were uploading them all to Spotify and all the things, and you have to put in the lyrics and I realised I hadn’t saved lyrics anywhere. Kiran our drummer, he’s a real organised brain, that I’m not. So I jotted down the lyrics, and he’s like ‘Kevin, these are not what you’re singing’, and he fixed them up. So it was a really weird one, I guess you get really lucky, sometimes with songs and there’s definitely songs that I sit down and I really write, but this one I don’t remember writing it and I couldn’t find notes where I had pieced together the lyrics, it kind of just all, fell out of me I guess”
‘Keep It Together’ feels like it lives in a dream state, or the in-between dreaming and awake. Kevin’s unconscious writing of the lyrics adds to the mystique of the track, while the cinematic instrumentation creates an awe-inspiring sense of elation.
“ I love when you mentioned cinematic, It’s such a compliment. I love images in songs and creating little postcards of images throughout songs and I’ve worked really hard at that, throughout writing lots of other songs. If the song hadn’t had those, I think I would have just thrown it away and forgotten about it, which I’ve done with 100 other songs that I wrote at the same time.”
Four in the Morning maintain a dreamy, night-time chilled atmosphere throughout the song, even when the background synths and elements of distortion create a tense and heavy soundscape towards the crescendo. The vocals are hushed and sombre, adding a haunting or deep sadness to the song. It’s as if Kevin is quietly revealing the lyrics as if it’s too difficult to say aloud. This is the first time we hear Kevin display his voice in this melancholic and earnest manner. His vocals walk a fine line between nonchalance and despair throughout.
“Yeah, it’s a really good point. We play a lot of bars and loud rooms and I love it …and the trick was always could you have a few people at the bar stop talking, if they stopped talking and looked at you, you knew you were doing something right. I love Glen Hansard, and those people who can really belt out a song, but this one because it was written in lockdown and again not played live it had a little bit of a different vibe and again, our producer really wanted to honour that for want of the better term, in the studio. I remember he asked us and I was like ‘I don’t know how to do the chorus should I be giving the chorus more than I currently am’, and he’s like, ‘well do it how you sing it live’ and I was like, ‘we’ve never sung it live, you [Jono Steer] were the first person we sang it in front of’, he’s like, ‘oh cool, just do it, how you’ve been doing it’. So I think in a way that hopefully does fit the song”
The song was produced, recorded and mixed by Jono Steer (Angie McMahon, Ainslie Wills, Leif Vollebekk, Julia Wallace) at The Perch Recording Studio in Castlemaine in rural Australia. I wondered what it was like working with Jono.
“I think Jono is an amazing talent to be able to come into a room and listen to the stuff that the band is playing and [hear] what’s important. So the way we work with Jono was. He came to a rehearsal of ours and he just sat and we played all the songs to him, and it was literally the first time we’d ever played the songs to anyone. We were like, oh wow this is like a little gig, and he kind of took that away with him, and he didn’t really say much. Jono is a really quiet dude, but he didn’t really say much at that rehearsal. But when we got to the studio then, I think he’d really inhabited the songs and knew the most important bits of all the songs and he set us up in a way that we were just playing in a little sitting room, basically together. He knew that’s how we practice and how we played together. He just took the best bits of the song and just really dialled them up in ways that capture the song and sounds that I hadn’t been expecting for the songs or I hadn’t really imagined could go there, and it was great. It was so cool.”
‘Keep It Together,’ is part of a series of songs the band have written for an EP called ‘Stress Dreams’. Kevin explained what we can expect from the EP.
“So, the EP. It’s great that you talk about dreams and this space between awake and asleep because the EP is called ‘Stress Dreams’, and we played witha lot of names, but I realised after listening back to it, that there was all these references to dreams and sleeping and I guess even, we’re bloody well called Four in the Morning. I realised these songs were all ways of dealing with the world in a way that dreams do. A lot of stuff happens to you during the day, you go to sleep, your brain spits out a dream at you. I love dreams, they’re amazing, and I think songs are very similar. They’re your unconscious thinking about what’s going on in your life, and that’s what these songs feel like they are, and in a similar way musically, it’s hopefully quite atmospheric, it’s quite lyrical but in a little bit of an interesting twist. In terms of themes and stuff, it’s a lot about missing home, like not being able to get home at the moment and missing friends as well as just dealing with the minutiae of daily life and ruminating on that,”
Kevin has been living in Australia ( currently in lockdown ) and has found the pandemic particularly difficult because he couldn’t get home at all to see his family.
“ I haven’t been home in four years. Usually, I go home every two years, every second Christmas. I was scheduled to go home, Christmas of 2019, but I said, you know what I’m sick of going home in the middle of winter. I’m going to wait for a nice Irish summer I want long twilight evenings, walking on the beach in Lahinch. So I decided to go home July, 2020, being like, what’s the worst that can happen. It’s a cliche but you don’t really realise what you’re missing until you’re gone and I think that’s seeped itself into the songs in a huge way. I’m really looking forward to getting home and playing some of these songs to people at home.”
“It was really scary for me and my girlfriend. It was really scary for us because rightly or wrongly…we grew up as this generation of what’s a border, what’s a country, we’re global citizens all that kind of thing…It was a real stress and I guess it’s still kind of is. It’s tough, not getting home to my family…but yeah I’m really looking forward to going home. One of the songs on the EP, the opening track is called ‘Home Home’. It’s I guess about that joke, that idea in Ireland, you know, you’ve got your home, where you’re living, but you’ve got your home home, where your parents live or you go home to at the weekend or whatever.”
When Four in the Morning finally get to perform live in Ireland it will be a big deal for the band, and Kevin told me what he is looking forward to the most.
“The dream plan at the moment, is a realistic plan I guess, to head back around April next year. I don’t think we’ll get back for Christmas unfortunately but I think sort of April, March, May hopefully, we’ll start opening up again and yeah I’d love to get home and play these songs. It’s funny, I haven’t seen Fontaine’s DC live, I haven’t seen Pillow Queens live I haven’t seen all these great Irish bands that I love and I’ve been following from over here, whatever about me getting to play songs at home, I would love that and I really look forward to doing that. But yeah, just getting to some good Irish gigs will be exciting as well.”
Four in the Morning are a talented band. Their proficient musicianship crafts time stopping tunes laden in depth and meaning. ‘Keep It Together’ displays this superbly through beautiful melodies, eloquent songwriting and rich instrumentation. Looking forward to the EP.
Jamie Noone has released his new single and opening track of his upcoming EP, ‘In’. Jamie Noone is a singer-songwriter, producer and poet from Dublin, Ireland. Noone writes, produces and mixes all of his music from his home studio based in Berlin, where he is currently living.
Majestic and melancholic, ‘In’ presents Noone’s chilled and atmospheric sound spectacularly. The track is a dense endless pool of mellowness that ripples with warm guitar and retro keys while R&B beat adds an edge and bounce to the songs tranquil nature. The singer-songwriter subtly layers the song with soft twinkling bells and foot-tapping percussive textures that wash over the fluttering synths and laid back lo-fi tone of the song to create an instantly pacifying listening experience. Noone’s approach to songwriting is one of deep thought and poetry as his rich velvety voice croons the thought-provoking lyrics “Happiness falls right in your lap, Like a panic attack, I’m afraid to say, Embrace the change in the mess you’ve made”. A little trippy and boasting a plethora of sublime subtle textures and sounds, ‘In’ is a wonderful new single from Jamie Noone.
Co. Down artist CeeV (pronounced like ‘leave’) has released her new single ‘Twenty Three’. CeeV, who’s real name is Caoimhe McAleavey, is based in Newry but began her music career in Manchester studying songwriting at BIMM. Although immersed in music in one of the most creative and musically rich cities in the world, CeeV was reluctant to showcase her own songs and instead took a more backseat role while playing in several bands in some of the most recognisable venues in the city. Although she didn’t perform her own songs live while in Manchester, CeeV plucked up the courage and shared her work with real live people on Soundcloud and was astonished when her music reached over 30,000 listens.
‘Twenty Three’ is a lushly arranged tune that displays CeeV’s mature songwriting and beautiful musicianship. CeeV crafts a bittersweet tune laced in rich instrumentation as elegant piano laments through graceful strings and warm guitar refrains to create a wholesome and soothing backdrop for her emotive vocals to drift upon. She coos, “I’m only twenty-three. Got my whole life ahead of me. And I don’t want to waste it. I don’t want you to waste yours on me” over a soft melody while the instrumental backdrop builds with cinematic tones and heartfelt melodies. The song exudes a timeless grace while dipping in and out of contemporary pop with ease. CeeV has created a moving tune filled with emotion and refined musicianship, marking her as an artist to keep an eye on. Looking forward to hearing more from this talented artist.
About her latest release, Twenty Three’. CeeV says… “Twenty Three is a story. But it’s also a lesson. It shows two different perspectives of leaving a relationship. One might think it’s the end of the world but the other knows there is a future out there for both of you even though it’s apart. I wrote this song as a lighthearted reflection. With influences from musical storytellers like Picture This and The Jezebels, I felt this meaningful story was best told alongside uplifting melodies and heartwarming lyrics.”.
Hard-rock band ModernWelfare have released their new single, ‘Death Of Me’. Based in the USA, but with members from around the world, this alternative rock outfit combines the angst and raw power of hard rock, with the immaculate melodies of electronic pop.
‘Death Of Me’ erupts with ModernWelfare’s raw and all-consuming alternative rock. The band create a heavy and mosh ready wall of sound filled with pummeling drums and jagged guitar riffs to accompany the tracks catchy melody. The verses sear with tension and stop-start backdrops while the chorus builds to a dynamic outburst and brawn-filled onslaught of alternative rock. With expressive vocals bellowing emotional lyrics through an instrumental assault, the track runs on a thrilling concoction of adrenaline and emotion. Touching on themes such as mental health and substance abuse, ‘Death Of Me’ is a powerful tune that display’s ModernWelfare’s bracing and compelling sound.
‘Just Let Me Be’ is the brand new debut single from four-piece rock band, FIGS. The first release under this name, ‘Just Let Me Be’ was initially written as a joke – until they realised that they might have been onto something big. The new band’s artwork for their debut single is intensely symbolic, with the wasp symbolising the need for growth, and for the old to give way to the new which represents each band member’s journey to becoming FIGS. FIGS are a rock band, formed in London, by Chris Makh, Edward Kaane, Alex Saleh, and Alex Hoff. Chris and Ed are originally from Venezuela. In 2015, they started playing as a two-man band, or sometimes with session musicians as a trio, touring small venues and opening for artists like Adam Wakeman, Rawayana, and The Second Sons. In 2019 Chris and Ed decided to make an album, and in 2020 they met Hoff and Saleh, who were long-time friends and joined the band.
‘Just Let Me Be’ is an upbeat and vibrant tune that boasts the fun and rich sound of FIGS. Blending jazz-infused piano with driving rock n’ roll, the band create a musically lush soundscape sure to have you up and dancing in no time. With jaunty classic rock guitar bouncing between punchy drum progressions, ‘Just Let Me Be’ rides on infectious energy and swagger. The band weave psychedelic moments into the track. It builds to an explosive crescendo filled with twinkling guitars and harmonies, creating a trippy prismatic backdrop before the chorus returns for a final hurrah. With lyricism inspired by their own personal relationships, FIGS present a catchy and thoroughly enjoyable listening experience with ‘Just Let Me Be’.
Paddy Casey is set to release his fifth album ‘Turn This Ship Around’. The double album is set for release on 6th of August 2021. I caught up with the singer-songwriter to talk about the album and the return of shows, the prospect which has been giving the artist dreams about getting up on stage and forgetting his songs.
“Well, for me, I had a lot of songs that I didn’t think they really fit but, I haven’t released an album in a few years, so I didn’t want to wait a few years more, I suppose. I had these songs and I really liked them, and I know that sounds naff, saying that about your own songs, but I did. Some of the songs, I didn’t think they fit together but I thought they were strong songs, so I decided because it’s been so long, to just split them in two and make one side kind of folky, stringy and piano-y or whatever and then the other side would be more full-on and upbeat.”
The first half of ‘Turn This Ship Around’ is energetic and lively while the second half of the album is a lot more laid-back and boasts wonderful use of elegant piano and strings or guitar and strings. Through the use of lush melodies and rich instrumentation, both sides flow into each other perfectly while allowing each track to maintain its own identity.
“Oh yeah completely. One song,’ You Are The One’, I really liked but I just didn’t feel like it belongs there at all. I played it to a couple of people, my daughter heard it and I know you can’t really ask your family but, she seemed to think it was great and then a couple of other people thought it should have even been a single. I really liked the sound but I didn’t think it fit but then I went.. do you know what, I don’t know where to put the song, so I’m just gonna plonk it in the middle. Honest to God, I didn’t know where to put it and I just went, well there’s no place it belongs, so I’ll just stick it there.“
“Honestly, I don’t have a plan when I write an album, I really don’t. I write the songs and then I just kind of go, well there’s some songs that I think people will like. I don’t do concepts, the only concept is, maybe like another thing I’m working on is a disco album, but there has to be only three instruments in every song. I know that sounds stupid but you know, it’s fun if you give yourself rules like that sometimes. You’re right, the songs, they all grew in their own little worlds. It’s me on different days, you know, everyone has their weird days and they’re up and down days.”
The album begins with energetic tunes ‘Won’t Take Much’ and ‘This World Is Stranger’ which are absolute bangers. Not only does the singer-songwriter lace the tracks in catchy melodies but in a true Paddy Casey style, thought-provoking lyrics resound throughout. A perfect example of this is in ‘This World Is Stranger’, where Casey croons over a bouncy melody “ I know some people say we’ve never been up to the moon. What difference does that make to me if that thing has no gravity or if it’s all technology that someone left for us to see What difference does it really make to me”. Casey hits the nail on the head with social and political topics taking a relatable and light-hearted stance that is charming and witty.
“I don’t really care either way politically. I mean I think it’s all nonsense, most of the time, what matters is the way people feel at the end of it, how they feel about themselves and how they look at themselves. When all that bullsh*t is gone, all that’s really left is how we treat each other. It sounds slightly pretentious but, I think at the core of everything, maybe for that song, ‘This World Is Stranger’, that’s all I’m really talking about, none of this bullsh*t matters. The world isn’t such a small place you know. Let yourself feel the things that you naturally felt as a kid, that you might have pushed aside. It’s not something, we all don’t know. I think sometimes musicians, point out the obvious, sometimes you need to hear the obvious. But yeah, for me it’s like, there’s enough people in the world trying to make it smaller for you without doing it to yourself.“
There are plenty of musical gems on this album. ‘Turn This Ship Around’ in particular exudes a cinematic atmosphere filled with synths, strings, piano and ethereal soundscapes that keep subtly building throughout. The song sounds as if it was written for a movie.
“I can’t remember, that’s a few years old now, I actually don’t remember how I started it. I think I just started with a piano. It’s a breakup song. I mean if I haven’t written it in the lyrics, I’m not really doing a good job, I suppose you find yourself out on that abyss, or like this kind of no man’s land and you know you’re hanging on to something that’s not really coming back, and you’re missing out on everything else because you’re doing that. I wanted that to happen in the chorus, that decision to happen. So it [the chorus] had to be big and it had to be like, f*ck it, let’s do this, let’s do something else, let’s go for another world. I’m not great at explaining my songs but there definitely had to be two different worlds, there was the guy who was, out there lost, and then there’s the guy who was like, I could spend the rest of my days looking for something.”
Casey blends an array of lush sounds that create subtle bursts of musical euphoria throughout his songs. From the electronic pulses and swaggering guitars in ‘Ready For The Good Times’ and the sugar pop rhythmic bop of ‘You Are The One’, each track is a delight to listeners ears. I wondered does he ever get overwhelmed discovering these perfect musical blends and moments of inspiration when creating his songs.
“I think this is the first time I’ve ever said this, but when I’m writing a song, I will sometimes start, and just sit there and actually sing the song line by line like when I’m recording it, and I won’t have any lyrics in my head beforehand bar, the first line. I’ll know where I want it to go. Sometimes I write like that and sometimes, the next line just feeds, how I want the music to feel if that makes sense. Sometimes I play it line by line because sometimes I literally don’t know what I’m gonna do. I know in my heart what I want the song to say, but I haven’t written the words if you know what I mean. So I will just sing it and I’ll know the line feels right, I’ll know it’s not perfect but it’s pure heart.”
“ I don’t know what people think about my songs. I know they love certain songs, and I don’t understand why they love them. It’s not a problem, but it used to get me. I was like, why don’t I get what they get off that song or why don’t I understand it or whatever. Now I’m just grateful that they do. You know, that’s their world and that’s the way they feel and I know why I wrote the song, but I always feel like maybe, I shy away from emotions a little bit sometimes. I’m not really great saying how I feel, I suppose. Maybe that’s what makes me kind of weird and uncomfortable about it.”
“I have songs that I wrote when I was a kid that people love and for me, it’s like if somebody read your copybook when you were in school or wherever, all the sh*t you’d written you know, to me it’s a little bit like that. But I put it out into the world so I should be able to accept that.”
I wondered if Casey often looks back at his older songs and thinks, if he could do it again, he would change them.
”Yeah, the first album [Amen (So Be It)], we literally went in and banged it out. I just picked up whatever instruments were in the studio. We had two days, it was supposed to be demos. So, it was just literally me just having fun for a couple of days doing demos, but that’s what I thought it was. So, there’s definitely a few things on that I’d love another go at but I’d ruin it for people if I recorded them”
‘There Will Be Love’ begins the second half of the album – radiating a mystical atmosphere and a captivating cello arrangement, Casey blends folk tones with warm guitar, ethereal soundscapes and Traditional Japanese undertones to create a timeless and beautiful tune that is simply divine.
“There is a Japanese girl playing on that and you can kind of hear the bit of a Japanese vibe and there is a girl playing cello as well so there is two string players on that one.”
“She was singing with us because she’s a friend of my daughter’s and she gigswith my daughter, So yeah, I’ll rope in anyone who’s around but they were doing gigs with me and so I was dragging her on stage in my set or whatever and she’d just jam in. She’s a great, great violin player and the cello player I’ve been playing with for years so I drag her away from her kids for a day or two, as often as I can, just to record stuff.“
Casey is hoping to do live shows soon to accompany the release of the album. However, the absence of gigging due to the pandemic has caused a sense of anxiety and nerves for the singer-songwriter as he anticipates the return of live shows.
“That’s the plan, It depends on what the government say, in their next rollout. I can live a little bit longer but they want to get it together soon. Even if it’s just outside, anything you know. It’s a long time to leave us in the lurch”
“I’m sh**ting it, excuse the language. I don’t know what’s gonna happen when I walk on the stage, I mean, it’s the stuff of nightmares. Gigging, for me, it’s like, I don’t think about what I’m doing before I walk on the stage, and somehow it just, comes together, like the first few songs I might be a little bit nervous but it kind of kicks in, I’m kind of hoping that the muscle memory, still kind of works, you know. I should practice because my voice is definitely not up for doing a few gigs in a row. I’d say I’ll have to sing a bit every day now before I start. I get hangovers from gigs, like the next day. I don’t know maybe it’s the breathing, I’ve always tried to figure out what it is but maybe it’s because you’re breathing, you’re singing and you’re breathing so fast, or something. Yeah, you’re breathing differently than you do normally. It could be just pure adrenaline for that long, maybe makes you feel a bit sore, I’m not complaining but I definitely get a weird hangover off gigging. I think you just give an energy that you don’t really use every day in your life, [ it ] sounds stupid because you don’t get a hangover from running around the block. But yeah, I’m nervous and I’m slightly anxious of doing a gig. I’ve definitely dreamt about getting up on stage and forgetting songs or not being able to sing a song or get through a song, and then the crowd just walking out and things like that, just weird things. There’s a certain degree of the unknown and fear factor when I walk on a stage. I think it’s a good thing to have it. If you walk on stage with no feeling at all, you might as well be sitting in your sitting room watching telly. You have to feel something. As soon as I start walking on stage, and I’m not a bit freaked out, then maybe it’s time to stop. “
The musician has been at the forefront of the Irish music scene since his multi-platinum-selling debut album ‘Amen (So Be It)’, His career has taken him all over the globe touring with acts such as The Pretenders, R.E.M, Ian Brown, Blondie and Tracy Chapman to name a few. He has played all over Ireland, including a record-breaking week-long run in The Olympia Theatre, alongside special guest spots with U2, Pearl Jam, Bob Dylan and more. His successful debut album ‘Amen (So Be It)’ achieved many international highlights including tracks being featured in hit television shows such as ‘Dawson’s Creek’ and ‘Roswell’ alongside extensive American and European tours. Further establishing himself as one of the country’s most successful artists, his second album ‘Living’ went on to become one of the biggest ever selling albums in Ireland (approximately 15 times platinum). I asked Casey if he had any advice for anyone who is embarking on a career in music.
“I think it’s different now. I don’t think you need a record label now. If you’re really good at pushing yourself online you can do as well as anyone. So it’s a different world. For me, the only rule, I had at the time was, just play everywhere and play to as many people as you can in the beginning. Don’t be a snob about gigs, don’t be a snob about anything because people are people and it doesn’t matter where they see you, you know, where you see them. I think the best thing to do is just put yourself out there in front of people because that’s where you learn everything when you’re standing there. You don’t learn it sitting in your room. You learn it forged in the fire. The truth is you really learn everything while you’re doing it and no amount of pontification is going to help you. I think the kids are brilliant now, lyrically people have come a long way. Maybe people are better at their feelings now or something I don’t know but it’s a good thing”
“They don’t rhyme anymore. Everything needed to rhyme when we were starting. Nobody gives a sh*t about rhyming anymore and it’s cool, it works. I still rhyme all the time. I don’t know are kids smarter, smarter in some ways, you know, the internet, Spotify as much as I hate it and it killed the business, it’s great for getting music out there because people don’t necessarily want to spend money but they want to hear your music, you know,”
Casey isn’t one to sit still. He is writing music all the time and even has a musical in the works.
“ I’m always writing songs. I’m writing some great songs at the minute. As soon as I release the album I’ll sit down and I’ll try and finish off a bunch of new songs. I’m gonna try and get a new album out by next year and even if it’s not an album, because they say you shouldn’t even bother releasing albums anymore. I mean even just EP’s or whatever, you know, people only want songs now. I always love albums and I love what people are trying to do with albums. I don’t necessarily do it myself, like I was saying earlier, my album is kind of a bit Higgledy Piggledy or whatever but I love when somebody gets together and the whole vibe of the album feels cohesive. But I am a Prince fan and Prince did whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. In the beginning, when I make it [an album], I want to make myself happy with it. I want to feel that excitement of a song, whether it’s the emotion or whether it’s the style, it has to be in there somewhere. Once I get that I’m like, Okay, I hope other people get that too or something. I don’t really know what I’m doing and that’s the truth. You’re not making the chair, you know, if all you had to do was somebody would sit and it was comfortable and it didn’t break, at least you know that’s what an album should be but it’s not like that. There’s no rule. Most of my favourite music is random. I love Parliament but, you know, from one album to the next, they’re a completely different band and that rubbed off a bit. You don’t want to write the same song again ever. I’m doing a musical and the best thing about the musical is I can write a love song. It’s not necessarily me, you know what I mean, I know that sounds stupid but I don’t want to write ‘Saints And Sinners’, again, or I don’t want to rewrite ‘Sweet Suburban Sky’ even though I think I could write it better now. I’ve just been doing it [the musical] in my head for years anyway. It’s only because of lockdown I kind of, consciously set out to do it. I’ve been writing and a guy I’ve been working with over the years he mixed one side of this album and he always thought I was writing a musical from the day we met. That’ll be two years at least. That will take a while, it’s actual work.“
‘Turn This Ship Around’ is a sublime collection of songs that showcase Casey’s deft musical prowess. Each tracks intricate instrumentation and emotive lyrical content are a fine display of beautiful musicianship. This double album is a real treat for listeners to indulge in again and again.
