Hi! Can you describe the overall theme or message of your album “If Not Now, When?”
A: The album took a loooong time to finally bring together and that title kind of speaks to the reason why in terms of the fears and insecurities about whether the material was good enough, ready, would anyone want to hear it etc. And the pandemic gave me the space but also the motivation – the reminder that if I didn’t actually do this now, it might never happen. And there is also a bit of eastern spiritualism there which I was reading around that time when putting the album together about the importance of living in the moment, of really being present for whatever is going on in your life – that a focus either on the past or the potential future can really disrupt and hamper creativity and productivity. The album is informed above all by life experience, my own and those close to me, and with time there has been a maturing in understanding and perspective, whether in my development as a singer-songwriter or in terms of my understanding of relationships I have had. The album charts both themes, and tries to bring some coherence to aspects of life that don’t necessarily follow clear or coherent paths. Music and songwriting to me have always been a means of making sense of what has been going in in my life and the album reflects that – some songs are from quite a few years ago, others much more recent, but they have all evolved over time, and I always had the idea that if I was going to release an album it would have to have an overall narrative and thematic coherence and hopefully I’ve achieved that here. Saying all that, I do hope that there is enough space and ambiguity in the songs that they provide the opportunity for listeners to bring their own life experience to what they hear.
How would you describe your creative process for this album?
A: The album evolved over a long time, with some songs taking different shapes at different points (on the bandcamp release of the album (available at sanohill.bandcamp.com) there are some bonus tracks that capture 3 songs at different stages of development). In terms of my creative process, my songs begin as melodies that I usually come up with on guitar – though I’ve begun to write recently on piano also. I could carry those melodies with me for days, weeks, or sometimes months before words eventually emerge to complement the melody – sometimes this can happen quite quickly; other times, it can take some time. I usually play through the melody repeatedly, and usually, words eventually take shape. I sometimes drew on poetry or literature for inspiration, as in ‘The Climb,’ which was influenced by the poetry of William Blake and includes some lines from a later unfinished work, The Everlasting Gospel – and Time Out which includes lines from a W.B. Yeats poem. Other tracks took inspiration from events in my life or in the lives of people close to me.
Your album seems to depict the complex emotional process around a relationship that blooms and then comes to an end. Can you elaborate on this?
A: I don’t want to personalise this too much and in reaity in my own life there is not just one relationship that I’m mapping but moments in several relationships, and also experiences of those close to me. I’ve tried to capture the subtle intimacies of relationships in my songs – the moments of connection – ‘Dancer’ and ‘Beautiful’ – and those times when there is a real challenge in trying to connect. I think most people have experienced challenges in relationships, and I certainly have. Sometimes there are difficulties communicating, or perhaps a breakdown entirely in communication and a real struggle to rebuild trust and a space where a couple can connect again. ‘CircleWalk’ and ‘No Romeo’ are both about that frustration when two people have a huge amount they want or may need to say but can’t find the right words to say it, and keep walking around in circles without connecting, and maybe say things that don’t fully articulate how they feel or what they really want. And sometimes they just can’t reconnect and then it’s perhaps time to move on and that’s where ‘Starting Over’ comes in. That song is about starting again, agreeing to part, realising that life goes on, and moving on. I try to capture that as something potentially positive in the music and the lyric.
How has your origin from Cavan, Ireland influenced the music in this album?
A: Cavan is a rural county in south Ulster – I grew up on a farm there, in a very scenic area by a lake, surrounded by hills, including one hill behind the house I grew up in called Sano Hill, where my name comes from. So there is something in the space and beauty of that area that was important for my development as a creative artist. And music was a big part of my childhood – I grew up in a musical family (my mother is a traditional Irish musician and still gigs and performs regularly) and music was always around me. So Cavan definitely was important in influencing my music, and approach to music, which is informed deeply by folk music though with a strong rock sensibillity which was also a big part of growing up in Ireland.
The song ‘Dancer’ deals with the challenge of artistic creation. Can you share more about the inspiration behind this song?
A: The story is in the lyric I think but essentially I wrote that one morning with a dreadful hangover – and I had already ‘found the melody’ as I say in the song and had been struggling somewhat to put a shape on words, and then I decided to make that the song, that challenge – sometimes in going towards whatevere the issue is and articulating it, you can find a way through and into something else, something deeper maybe – and that brought me to a memory of a dance with someone I fell in love with, and then dance became a metaphor for the creative process itself and and the back and forth and ‘dance’ involved in trying to bring a creative work together – but also finding vocal sounds beyond words which is what I try to do as the song progresses towards the end and lifts and tries to capture the emotional intensity that one can feel in the early days of falling in love.
How does the album title “If Not Now, When?” reflect the content and mood of the album?
A: I think all the songs in one way or another speak to the importance of not either living in the past or obsessing about what the future might bring but fully living in the moment, and appreciating that every moment has the potential for something really special to happen, some deep connection with another human being – it could just be someone you pass in the street or meet in a shop – every moment can be incredibly important to allowing us to realise the enormous gift of being alive.
Can you talk about the significance of the song ‘Time Out’ in the context of the album?
A: ‘Time Out’ is a song that I’ve been working with for some time and I suppose it speaks to an ambition shared by many indie artists to ‘make it’, to actually live the dream and have a successful career as a singersongwriter – that’s not easy and happens to relatively few. And in the interim life can be tough, and can be about making ends meet, so to speak – but the dream is always there. And I’ve tried to capture that in the song. It’s also provides a way into the themes of songwriting and performing, and the relationship narrative, referred to and developed across the album
How has your music evolved from your previous works to this album?
A: Hugely. There are some early versions of tracks as bonus tracks on the bandcamp version of the album – available at sanohill.bandcamp.com – that probably answer that better than I can – it’s about a deepening of understanding of both music and lyric, finding the right way to bring all the various pieces together that go into making a song work, which can only happen with time and experience and trying different things, many of which may not work at first, being willing to fail, but as Samuel Beckett said, finding ways to ‘fail better’ – and also having the opportunity to work with an incredible producer and multinstrumentalist Larry Hogan and engineer Braddon Williams who helped bring the arrangements and final production to a level I could never have achieved on my own.
What was the most challenging part of creating this album and how did you overcome it?
A: Probably the final arrangement and mixing of songs – I write on guitar mostly and some piano and then try to add in arrangements working in my very rudimentary studio (literally a shed behind my house!) with pro-tools and an ancient Yamaha keyboard. Once I had put the initial ideas together, I then connected with Larry (who runs the Dublin Studio Hub that puts singer songwriters qwith producers and other musicians to realise their song ideas) and he was an incredible support in realising the initial song ideas I had. Latterly, I became involved in a indie artists’ music community called New Artist Spotlight and through that I got in contact with Braddon Williams – a fantastic engineer and producer also who has previously worked with Song and some of the top artists internationally – and Braddon helped bring the tracks on that bit further again. Those final stages of production, final mixing and mastering are always the most challenging for me and it was fantastic to have the input and advice of such gifted individuals.