Last October we were very impressed by ‘A Change’ by Dublin-based musician Stephen Tiernan AKA Participant. Smitten by the track’s “curious, otherworld charm”, our verdict could well be – and is, in fact – equally applicable to his new single, ‘Leave Me Here’, a wonderfully nuanced effort traversing more brooding, inward-looking territory for the artist.
An sublime outtake from his November, 2015 EP Content, Tiernan said, “[Its] lyrical ideas had served as the blueprint for Content for a long time. A fear of progress and happiness, the idea that you might need to struggle as an artist. I shouldn’t have been surprised when finishing the song became a battle in its own right. As I finalised the track listing of Content, I realised ‘Leave Me Here’ didn’t quite fit, but I felt I still needed people to hear it.”
Participant plays his debut headline show at Dublin’s Workman’s Club on Thursday, April 7.
