Irish artist, Eoghan Moylan, has just released his debut single, Dark Disco, and we’ve taken several listens here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today.
For a debut single, this is an absolutely stunning piece. Dark Disco starts as a singer-songwriter feeling track which comes straight in with vocals and gentle single strums on the guitar. Songs that come straight in with vocals have a habit of winning the listener over instantly, and Moylan absolutely nails this. You feel instantly invested in what he has to say.
Dark Disco develops well. The guitar strums get busier and a bass and full drum kit are added into the song after a very short time and you start to realise that this isn’t the gentle singer-songwriter track you’d assumed. Shortly after, some extra guitar and more percussion is added before you realise you’re into a full on 80s/90s feeling disco track. In places very reminiscent of Pulp.
The rise and fall in this track is phenomenal. Breakdowns have wonderful harmonies and layered vocals and the changes in sections help to easily maintain the listeners interest throughout. There are places where the vocals are sung an octave below the lead vocal which really helps fill out the sound. There’s even a slightly driven effect on the vocals which helps them stand out well in the track.
Nearer the end of the track, some synth brass is added which helps to make the track feel even more authentic. This feels like a modern take on 90s disco at its very best.
For a debut single, this is really solid work. We had to keep reminding ourselves that this was a debut. This feels like the work of someone who has really studied and learned the craft of songwriting. The way the track develops isn’t the work of someone new to songwriting. This is a classy, well considered and well executed lesson in maintaining the listeners interest right to the end.
A very commercial sounding track which ticks many many boxes for us here at Send Me Your Ears. Perhaps at 4 minutes, it may be excluded from playlists on commercial radio (they can be so picky about length), but nonetheless, most definitely a track that BBC introducing/ BBC Ireland and local stations (at the very least) will pay a great deal of attention to.
This is a well produced track. To our ears we’d take a tiny dip out in the vocal track around 300-400Hz which is just slightly dominant in that area. Perhaps a little boost around 150-200Hz to add a little more fullness and warmth and maybe consider a tiny but wide boost of the top 2 octaves, centred around 9kHz to add some extra overall brightness. All of these are tiny adjustments to our ears, but without them, the track is still a wonderful piece of work.
Eoghan Moylan’s, Dark Disco is a superior piece of work. We’re very excited to see where this talented Irish singer-songwriter takes his career next and will be listening out for his progress.