MacD on Music: KOBACK’s debut album 'Graphic'

Music can be a great tool to get us through life when things get hard. Since the beginning of time, people have used music to face life’s struggles head on, either through creating it or just listening to it.

This week, I’m talking to Caolán Irvine, aka KOBACK, who has recently released his album ‘GRAPHIC’, which deals with issues that have touched so many of us, including depression, drug addiction, heartbreak and building yourself back up when these things pass.

I met with Caolán to talk about the album and his journey to get to this point: “I’ve been in music for about ten years now. I started as a producer, in behind the scenes making the music, working with a lot of people all over the world, working with record labels and then started coming back into my local scene. I started working with a local group and started expanding into my own original stuff and its sort of taken off from there.”

“I’ve always had an ear for music. Ever since I was a kid everything about my life revolved around music. From CDs to checking tapes with my granda back in the day, there’s never been a time when music hasn’t been the biggest thing. Everything I’ve done has been self-taught. I’ve never learnt how to play an instrument. I’ve had to build it along the way, but it’s always been at the forefront of my life.”

Talking about the album, Caolán describes it as “very raw, angry. It’s unfiltered. A lot of people now feel that their speech is cut back, they don’t have enough freedom that they can say what they want. I’ve had a very rough life.

READ MORE: MacD on Music

"I’ve experienced it from every side, and the one thing that I’ve always felt, especially in this day and age, is that men get it tight. They are hated nowadays. Because I have certain views, that I stand up and say the world is so bad from every aspect that it’s not just down to one person or one thing. I’ve got that look of a toxic male, as they would say [laughs]. I feel like this album is to let people know that you can still go through your pain and get it out there. If you have to scream some absurd stuff into a mic, it’s better than putting it into physical pain or causing harm or actually doing stuff to yourself. The biggest push I have, it might be hard, what you’re saying, or it might be hard for other people to hear it, but as long as you’re getting it out, it’s the biggest accomplishment you’ll have.”

I asked him about the reception the album’s had so far: “This is the first time I’ve ever done anything on the microphone before. It’s always been behind the scenes but the main thing I’ve heard is, for someone who’s just started this, it seems like I’m doing it all my life. For the album, it seems like people really resonate with it, with the pain that goes behind it. The main thing is, there’s not a lot out there like this, especially on our scene.

"It’s just a shame that we’re in a world now that’s so focused around music, that a lot of the best artists in the world fall through the cracks of an algorithm that’s completely driven by money. If we’re in a city like Derry that has such a low income that we can’t pay the distributors to get our stuff out there on playlists, that music falls down.”

And that’s it from Caolán. KOBACK’s debut album ‘GRAPHIC’ is out now on all good streaming platforms.

Now, onto other business. Yesterday saw the release of ‘Mother’s Day’, the new single from GRIM17. The song is about “how men often feel sorry for their lot, yet, by and large, it is still women who bear the mental and emotional toll in life” and can best be described as a mix of Tom Waits “with heavy nods to grunge and Radiohead” and as “a glitched out, Bon Iver-esque ode.”

Also, long time readers may remember Ethan Hollan. Ethan has recently adapted the monkier Touzai (rhymes with toads-eye) and last week released his new single ‘Tiger Song’, a track that “explores identity and belonging from [his] Asian-Irish upbringing. Inspired by Asian folklore, it contrasts with the reality of growing up as a “foreigner” in [his] hometown.”

Both the above tracks are available now on all good streaming platforms.

Finally, time for the socials. GRIM17 can be found on Instagram @touzaiband, GRIM17 @grim17again and KOBACK @itskoback.