Leaving home to realise your dreams is a bittersweet change of lifestyle and routine that doesn’t come easy and needs a lot of adjusting – an experience the upcoming singer-songwriter Katie Phelan used as inspiration for her brand new dreamy EP ‘Blues and Greens’. The Irish native left behind her beloved seaside town to move to England’s busy capital and dive headfirst into her music career. Inspired by the likes of Billie Marten, Adrienne Lenker and Niamh Regan, Phelan reflects on her life-altering decision and describes the finished product as “cosy, vulnerable and sweet”. We talked to the young artist to find out more about her songwriting and creative process, her musical childhood memories, and bonded over expressing gratitude for home so far away from it.
What’s your first memory of enjoying music?
Oh, that’s a really good question! I have really strong memories of being in the back of the car with my brother, cousin, and my dad playing music and everyone singing along to the songs. That was way before I even played music or anything.
Do you remember what kind of music you listened to in the car?
A lot of Irish bands, like Villagers, and a lot of stuff that I would listen to now, like indie-sounding. My dad has great taste in music!
Did your parents do music as well?
Not really, my dad plays guitar a little bit, and he’s quite creative; he writes poems. Other than that, there weren’t loads of musicians in the family or anything, which is funny because my brother and I both do music now, so obviously, there was love for music!
When did you realise that this was what you wanted to do as a career and not just as a hobby?
Quite late on, actually. I went to college for music, and I only decided in my last few months of school that I was actually going to do that. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do in college, and then I ended up going to BIMM Dublin. I studied songwriting there, and I only had a couple of songs ready when I actually went into the course. It felt a little bit risky at the time, but it was the only thing I thought was going to be fun. I wasn’t even 100% that that was going to be my career; I just chose it because it felt right at the time. But I probably realised that this was what I wanted to do in my first year.
Were there any signs at all, very early on, that led you onto that career path?
Yeah definitely! As a child, I used to sing a lot to myself, and I would write songs in these journals that I had, but I didn’t play an instrument at the time, so I would basically just write lyrics. I would come up with melodies and I would sing them over and over again until they were ingrained in my memory because I didn’t have a phone, I was, like, eight or nine, so I didn’t have anything to record them on. I was trying to write songs at such a young age! I then tried to learn guitar. When I was probably around 10 or so, I gave it up after a while, and then I took it back up again when I was in secondary school, so around 14. From then on, I had an instrument to actually use in writing things as well. It’s funny to look back at when I didn’t even have an instrument, I was still trying to write songs!
Did you have any musical idols when you were young, or anyone you saw on TV that you wanted to be like?
All those Disney girls! Most probably Hannah Montana, to be honest!
What inspires you to write songs? And do you remember what inspired you at eight years old?
I don’t know what inspired it when I was eight years old, I think I was kind of mimicking other things that I saw on TV, or maybe what I was hearing around me. But now, I write a lot of songs based on my personal life, so a lot of my songs are quite intimate and narrative. They don’t always end up being about me or based on 100% truth, but they usually start from something I have experienced, and then expand from there.
As a fellow BIMM graduate, I’m curious to know if BIMM Dublin impacted your songwriting process or if you used the school as more of a stepping stone?
It did impact it, I met loads of people in music for the first time! Before I went to BIMM, I didn’t really know people who also wanted to play music or work in music in some way, so that’s obviously a stepping stone, but I think it did impact my songwriting as well. I think I got introduced to a lot of new music genres and other people’s songwriting that I didn’t even know existed before. I’d say it did play a big role!
What’s your songwriting process like?
Usually, if I’m feeling like I want to write something, I’ll take out my guitar and start strumming and humming something over it. Then the lyrics and the melody kind of come to me around the same time, and that’s my favourite thing when it goes that way. That’s my favourite way to write! Sometimes, something doesn’t come, and I have to go back later.
Can you think of any artist or any piece of music that inspires your songwriting?
I love Billie Marten! I love a lot of indie, folky women in music. Every single song that she’s released from her album, I’m like, I wish I had written that!
Could you talk me through the creative process behind your new EP ‘Blues and Greens’, sonically and lyrically?
I wrote a lot of the songs back home in Ireland and in anticipation of moving away, but I didn’t really have an exact date in place. A lot of the songs were written during that time. I guess it was a transition period, because I was still at home, but I knew I wasn’t going to be there for much longer. I think they kind of portray overthinking, anxiety, and change. The whole EP is called ‘Blues and Greens’ and the main track is about moving away from the sea. I’ve lived beside the sea my whole life in Ireland, and I didn’t realise how much I was going to miss it, or how big a part of me it was, until it wasn’t going to be there all the time anymore. That’s what the EP as a whole is about, and coming to terms with that and just reminding yourself that things will work out.
It’s six songs and I wrote most of them, if not all of them, in my childhood bedroom at home, just on the floor with my guitar. I recorded the EP with Pete Robertson when I moved over to London. I went straight to him. He lives in Somerset, and we recorded it in his studio, which is basically in his shed in his garden. It was just him and me, and he played a big part in crafting the EP as well. We had demos of the songs, and then we were building them; that was the process.
What’s your favourite song on the EP?
I really like ‘Blues and Greens’, just because it kind of stands for the whole EP. I also love one called ‘A Bad Thing’. Usually, my songs are quite sweet, and this is one of the first almost angry ones. I’m really proud of that one!
What inspires you as an artist visually?
I really like keeping things very DIY! For the first few tracks that I ever released, I did pretty much everything on my own with my boyfriend. We wrote the songs, recorded them, did the artwork, etc. I try to stay close to that, even when I’m working with new people. I think there’s just something really nice about the simplicity! So for the artwork, I got my friend to basically just doodle on the film pictures. We didn’t end up using any pictures from the actual professional shoot that we did; we just used the behind-the-scenes film ones. Videos I’ve actually found a little bit difficult. This is the first time that I have put video stuff behind the music properly. And I actually found it hard to be in front of a camera, but we also had a lot of fun! I worked with these guys called Big Tent Films, we went to the beach and filmed a lot of the stuff there. I like nature and very simplistic scenery, always coming back to basics.
Do you think being from Ireland has any impact on your creative identity and your sound?
Yeah, I think so! A lot of the musicians that I listened to growing up were Irish artists and bands, like Villagers. I think that identity of being Irish and being Irish away from Ireland is a huge thing! Now that I’m living away from home, I can kind of feel it seeping into my writing.
Do you think London impacts your artistry as well? Have you noticed any changes so far?
I think I sometimes find it a little bit harder to write because it’s very busy here. And louder! And, like I said, I love nature, and where I’m from in Ireland would be a lot quieter than where I’m living here. It’s definitely a completely new environment to be in! I wrote most of those songs before I moved, so I don’t think it impacted them, but I’d be interested to see if there are any changes now that I’m writing more. We’ll see!
What are your plans for the rest of the year? Do you have any live shows planned?
I’m playing a couple of festivals in Ireland, one of them is called All Together Now, which I’m really excited for. I love the lineup, so I’m just excited to be there! I’m playing another one called Another Love Story, which is actually in the county where I’m from in Ireland, so that will be fun as well! And most importantly, the plan is to start writing some new music!
In the meantime, stream Katie Phelan’s EP ‘Blues and Greens’ below.
Written by Vicky Mazdak // photography by Olivia Sofia Ferrara
GEM Magazine 