Having released one of the finest Irish electronic albums of 2016 in For Every Silence, Derry’s Ryan Vail is back with one of his strongest single efforts to date, ‘Shadows’. Released via Belfast imprint Quiet Arch, the track’s warm synth lines and glitchy textures forge strong bed for Vail’s words to hit home with masterfully restrained force.
Released via Belfast imprint Quiet Arch, the track’s warm synth lines, glitchy textures and subtly propulsive beats create a quietly rapt bed for Vail’s words to hit home with typically restrained force. Sealing the deal is an outro blending the aforementioned with cello courtesy of Laura McCabe and Rachael Boyd on violin.
Speaker of the track, Vail said, “The song deals with my initial personal struggle to become a full-time artist. While I was before in a job that was comfortable, music haunted me at every turn. I’d kept my passion subdued as I was led to believe that its currently impossible to survive as a full-time musician nowadays. The lyrics refer to music as a person. “My love cuts like a knife” refers to the fact that it hurt not to be able to follow my love for music.”
