The Goo 1
Interview Words: Christian Wethered FIONN REGAN F
ionn Regan’s music is eclectic, hard to put into words. His songs are intimate, deft, and impeccably crafted. Every few years, he tends to come out with a new album, tour it, then disappear again. There’s an abiding mystery to the whole thing. He’ll often bring it all down to a whisper, with only the subtlest inflection in his tone, where the slightest interruption or extraneous noise could break the spell. Like a Freewheelin’ Dylan, his voice hovers above the guitar, holds you, there. His sound has morphed – particularly in the ambient production. O Avalanche boasts a highly rhythmic sound that echoes foot-steps, distant nightclubs, and dreamy, faraway summers in Majorca. It’s an escapist feel: songs morph into cinematic soundscapes. It is very much a world in itself. 16 ‘Headphones’ is deftly addictive – like Sufjan Stevens playing Leonard Cohen. The choral, reverb-y ‘June Song’ is beautifully orchestrated: full of spacey harmonies. ‘Islands’ has a highly rhythmic, ‘Babushka-Yai Ya’ vibe. We chatted on the phone as Storm Eoghan raged outside. The album feels quite different from before – has a slightly disco, dreamy-feel. Would you agree? Majorca crops up quite a lot through the names of songs and sunny soundscapes. I think I know what you mean by that. There’s a rhythmical thing that’s going on. The sequence of songs has a climate to it. In a different climate, there’s a sort of rhythm to everything – from the background atmosphere to the sounds of people walking. I actually imagined the words of O Avalanche being something visual: like 20-foot high buildings. It all felt very visual. So yeah, the album has a distinct rhythmical quality. It’s funny, I’m still getting my head around it. And when you play the sogs live, a whole new life starts to happen. Maybe I only understand the songs when I start to play them live.