Miles Graham‘s rocky road through music, which once saw his writing come to a grinding halt in the face of heartbreak, has brought him full circle.

Now using that heartbreak as fuel and his music as therapy, Graham returns with the single ‘Don’t Change’, a new EP, and the support of Laura Whitmore, RTE and the BBC. This could so easily never have been, as Graham’s success is testament to his ability to bounce back and express himself through emotive, soulful sounds.

I caught up with him ahead of the new EP, entitled ‘All The Right Things’…

Congrats on the forthcoming EP. Can you tell me a little bit of the story behind it?

I’d been working hard on promoting my music and creating music up to two years ago when I had a massive personal setback in the form of heartbreak. I can talk a little bit about it now but back then I was totally floored.

A couple of weeks after my relationship of 18 years broke up I was invited on The Late Late TV Show. It was a massive opportunity that my manager and I worked so hard to get, but I was in no state to go on live to TV to the nation. I told my manager ‘I’m not sure I can do this’. However, my family said to me that I’d worked so hard that I really deserved the opportunity and convinced me otherwise.

I did the performance on The Late Late in April 2018. It was OK but I don’t feel it was up to my normal standard personally. I totally broke down afterwards I told myself I cant do this right now. So I effectively gave up music. During what felt like a grieving process over next year I began to write through my experiences, I just couldn’t stop myself. It was write, or die. Seems strong, but that’s how I felt, maybe it was therapy.

A year later I had a bunch of songs that my friend Shane sent to a publishing company/ label in the UK. They loved the music and immediately hired a producer to record them, and here we are.

I understand a lot of your music is based around life’s more challenging sides. Is it a kind of therapy for you, and how does that work in practise?

It definitely seems that way now re: therapy, but previous records were never as close to the bone as this record. I would take stories I’ve heard and mix them up to create fictional narratives or moods. I think generally my songs have always held hope and I don’t think that has changed, but maybe I’m slightly more realistic on this record.