The Goo 1
MAR '25 It all sounds very visual – you’re almost
seeing the music. I remember once you used the word Expressionist to describe a song, which sounded really interesting. I hear an echo in what you’re saying. I’ve always had an interest in visual stuff; I have maybe something to explore there. The songs feel very natural in a visual sense. Music is all-encompassing – it takes so much to actually land the thing. It takes a lot of focus and dedication to pull together all the elements. The full light of Expressionism comes out in the live playing: how it cuts across everything like in a painting. And there’s definitely potential for me to explore this further when the time comes. Your album Cala felt like a quieter release to this one; these days, however, you seem more visible. Is that a deliberate thing? I can’t really recall the time around Cala. There was a whole lot of touring that halted around that period. Then the cycle moved over and I started something new. I actually started working on two albums; then it was just one album. For a while, it felt a bit like writing two books at the same time. But then it changed into something new. I started writing two or three new songs – and these dictated where the sound was going. And they become the magnetic north that guided the whole album. Your lyrics are a huge part of what you’re doing. When I was in college you won the ‘Trinity College Dublin Literary Society Gold Medal’. Have you ever published any writing? Yeah, that’s interesting. Overall there are a lot of things that I’d like to start doing. I could definitely see myself writing a collection 17 of something. That would be cool. It would also require lots of focus and discipline, and I’d have to really carve out a certain space for it. It could take some time. I guess many things have a ‘poetic’ quality to them, and I’m trying to express them as best I can. It’s about finding the right lightening rod to make it all happen. Music is this mad weather system that comes in without warning; then you have to respond, it’s all hands on deck. I have to stretch my songs to the best of their artistic potential. It’s not always easy. But I basically just love songs – those crazy, chaotic headwinds I’m trying my best to navigate. What’s your favourite part of being an artist? I love it when there’s nothing, and then there’s something. And the simplicity of not understanding what’s going on. All of a sudden there are all these songs, almost as though they were always there. And some of them you don’t even realise at the time if they were decent, but then you listen back weeks later and they’re incredible. It’s a privilege to be able to have a shot at that. So I guess it comes down to engaging with the form – whatever this may be, at any given time. And your guitar playing – are there any guitarists you admire? I’m sometimes drawn to instrumental Irish stuff; sometimes it’s Spanish. The way I imagine these things is probably different from how they actually are. The Spanish sound has always been something that I’ve kind of understood. You just have an understanding of something without necessarily knowing why or how. Everything I do is instinctual. And there’s mystery there; that’s the exciting part. Fionn Regan’s album O Avalanche is out now.