Young musician Cillian Fynch‘s debut EP ‘Growing Older’ is not by any stretch the first time he’s headed into the recording studio, which in his case, is very consciously set at home and entirely under his own control.
Having fused his more recent compositions with some older tracks, Fynch’s EP is designed to showcase his progression and change in style, as he takes his first steps into a career that he finds it hard to look beyond.
I caught up with the Dublin-based singer ahead of the launch…
The EP, ‘Growing Older’, kind of suggests a retrospective of your early years. Is that what the recording is to you?
Yes, I wanted to show the growth I have made as a Musician, so, the songs on the EP are ‘First Dance’, ‘Growing Older’, ‘Crazy’ and ‘In My Head’. The first two were written for the EP and the last two were written at other separate times, so I used them to show what I used to write like, and what I now write like.
It’s hard to grab attention in the music industry these days. If you had a single track to sell yourself with, which one would you play people, and why that one?
I would play ‘In My Head’ because it’s a feel-good upbeat song and I feel people respond more to songs that sound happy or buzzy.
How has your writing technique change over the years?
The way I approach writing has more or less remained the same, however, I would say my writing has improved when it comes to word placement and how I play along with what I have written.
It seems like you use quite a lot of conceptual storytelling in your work. How did you end up writing about World War I, and hospital stays?
I just like making up stories and sometimes something I would watch on TV or the internet would inspire an idea for a story. Like ‘Crazy’ is about a mental patient in a Psychiatric Ward, that detail was loosely inspired by the movie “Girl, Interrupted” starring Winona Ryder. But again just that one detail.
How important has it been to be able to record at home?
Very important. I have in the past recorded in professional studios, but I have never liked how the finished products sound, hence why none of those recordings has ever been released. I like the freedom I have with recording my music myself, and I feel you will always do a better job at your own sound because you yourself know what It is you want.
Can you tell me a bit about your live show?
For Live Performances, I tend to just wing it mostly like I very rarely have a set-list, I usually just decide what songs to do as I go along, but more recently I have written set-lists to seem more professional.
My stage presence isn’t great, which is something I’m always trying to improve, for instance, I was always very against going on stage without an instrument, but on my trip to Germany in February of 2020 I was on stage twice and did a rehearsal with my band over there every day, and I only played the guitar for one song, all the rest I was just hopping around with a microphone, so I feel that improved my Stage presence a lot.
Your cover art is beautiful. What’s the story behind that?
Well I wanted It to look good of course, and the style was very important, I wanted a dark kind of stretchy effect to the drawing which was excellently achieved by @sabrie.art. The actual composition itself was one that I had, and the idea is that is is me leading my younger self down the path of music instead of the path of darkness (meaning the path to the wrong career choice). And in having that cover I hoped people would understand it alongside the title ‘Growing Older’.
What are your hopes for the future?
To release more music, single’s, ep’s, maybe even a full-length album. To have fun doing it, to play shows, and to be financially stable in being a Musician and not have to get another job that I won’t enjoy, because Music is all I want to do, and I feel it is all I will ever want to do.
