Writing songs and then touring the world with them: that’s the dream for any singer songwriter. And for many years that was the dream that Ryan McMullan was chasing. The Portaferry native is blessed with a voice that can shift effortlessly between the ethereal and the guttural, and a prodigious songwriting talent to match. Since the early days of his career he garnered significant attention from industry heavyweights, including Ed Sheeran, who called Ryan’s voice a ‘rare jewel’, and Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, who likened his voice to that of an angel. From playing in stadiums supporting Ed Sheeran, to a string of hit singles, and selling out headline tours throughout the UK and Europe, Ryan’s rise was nothing short of extraordinary.
In 2022, just after lockdown, Ryan was poised on the brink of stardom, ready to release his debut album Redesign and embark on a world tour that would surely secure his place as an artist with real staying power. There was even a film made documenting the album-making process: Debut directed by
award-winning filmmaker Brendan J. Byrne and shown at Galway Film Fleadh and on the BBC.
But suddenly Ryan had to cancel everything due to a severe mental health crisis.
In his own words: ‘When Covid hit, I was left with a huge hole in my life. My identity felt like it had been taken from me and during that initial six-month period I felt imprisoned in my own home. But we were all in it together and that’s what I continued to tell myself to keep the demons at bay. In 2021, we were allowed to tour again and this was my chance to start to put things right again within myself. Calling the tour The Margarita Tour probably tells you just how far away from putting things right I actually was, and all of a sudden, not only had I lost myself, but I was running away and completely spiralling out of control. Then it came time to release the album, something written an entire lifetime ago. I was spent and I knew it.
‘At this point something had to give. And it did. I had my first ever panic attack while trying to say my wedding speech. I knew I couldn’t go through with releasing the album and touring. Running away hadn’t worked; I needed to face it and speak to someone. I spent the following six months in therapy and it turns out, therapy really works, because in 2023 I felt a shift occur. I knew I owed it to everyone to at least try. So that spring I decided to tour. I needed to know if I was really done. I owe a lot to the audiences that came to those shows, because the truth is they brought me back around on this music thing. I felt an ownership and obligation to the debut album. I mean, it had a documentary made about it! I sat down one night and listened to it front to back. Somehow this five year old, out of time album that I felt had nothing to say for so long was speaking loud and proud. I listened to it through the week and it never diminished. It kept talking. The fog had lifted and it was time to pick up the phone and get back to work.’
The version of Redesign that you hear today is down to a recalibration of Ryan’s sound and aesthetic, but it also refers to a redesign of his mind, too. There are undoubtedly some upbeat pop bangers on Redesign, not least fan favourite ‘Bowie on the Radio’, a song that Ryan holds dear to his own heart, the gleeful canter of ‘Us’, and the rousing ‘Real Love’, a song that came about when Seán Óg Graham and Niamh Dunne of Northern Irish folk band Beoga invited Ryan to their studio in Portglenone, Co. Antrim to write. The session went so well that Graham was soon installed as the producer of the new version of Redesign.
The sensitive side to Ryan’s songwriting is exposed in songs like ‘Flailing’, which was written in an anxiety-riddled evening in front of the TV, in ‘Monarch’, written as a tribute to his mum after a falling-out, and in ‘Episodes’, a song containing the telling line, ‘I feel like I’m drowning in all my famous friends.
Having already established himself as a talent to be reckoned with, even bigger things await Ryan McMullan once Redesign is finally released on August 26th. Writing an album about love in its various forms - love for his family, his new wife, his friends or even his business associates - has aptly set the scene for an illustrious future, and there is talk of how album number two will take another creative leap forward.
Let’s leave the last word to Ryan himself: ‘So with all that said, here comes an album, an EP, and then another album after that. And I’m only getting started. It’s good to be back. Thanks for your patience!’
