New release takes a look at the other side of love

Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

In the early 2000s, minimalist acoustic acts were dominant forces in popular music, as the likes of Damien Rice and Declan O’Rourke proved that success on stage could be found in the form of one singer and one guitar.  As with any genre, folk acts have evolved over the course of the last two decades to experiment and mingle with other genres. From hip hop to electronica, the modern troubadour finds themselves in a different, ever-changing landscape.

Ryan McMullan is one of the major success stories of the contemporary Irish singer-songwriter scene – and certainly, when it comes to adapting and diversifying your sound, he sets an admirable example.

On April 10, the Portaferry native released his fourth EP, Ruthless Cupid. The tracklist consists of four anti-love songs – Ryan draws on heartbreak and the unhappy side of romance.

Since 2015’s Listen EP, he has been one of Ireland’s most active artists across streaming platforms with a string of successful singles.

“I went nearly eighteen months from one release to another and I said I’d never do that again,” Ryan recalls.

“Since then, it’s just been release, release, release. This one I recorded with a producer friend of mine. He goes under the alias of Elma Orkestra. He’s just released a single himself actually called LOVE.

“I’ve known him for a few years and I was thinking about him one day so I reached out to see how he was. I said we should work together and he said to send him over a song to see if I like what he does and I loved it. I had this idea of the concept EP of Ruthless Cupid and he jumped on board straight away. We made the EP together and I’m very happy with it.”

EPs are usually considered a precursor to an album and, for Ryan, an eventual LP has long seemed inevitable. The concept for Ruthless Cupid was one he wanted to explore and its release bolsters an already impressive repertoire. Still, he admits that a debut album is very much on his mind.

“Anti-love songs would be a good way to describe them,” he notes. “It’s basically an attack on Cupid just to vilify him as opposed to making him the hero. Everybody praises him for his matchmaking but we never talk about all of his failures.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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