Barry Moore

Before being signed to Spookland Records (Jain), Irish singer-songwriter Barry Moore was a jack-of-alltrades. From factory floor to executive boardroom, various jobs helped support his pursuit of music over the years as he moved between Ireland, the US, UK, Spain, and now France. His taste in music reflects this diverse cultural background, idolising the likes of Bob Dylan and Paul Simon since childhood, but adding influences like Eminem and Biggy Smalls as an adolescent living in California. His music combines influences from folk and pop as well as rap/hip-hop. "I went through different phases when I was growing up depending on the music I was listening to – I was an emo with a long fringe, then a punk with a mohawk. Once I found my sound – what you’re listening to now – I kind of cut all that out and stuck to the basics. I took out my piercings, shaved my head, and put my glasses back on."

As a teenager, he grew up in an industrial town in Ireland and juggled a factory job, his studies, and of course, visits to the local pub. His debut single Hey Now and the accompanying clip tell this story – the unfiltered (and sometimes harsh) reality of life and where it can lead us. "Films like Trainspotting or Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels came to mind as inspiration while we were making the clip. However, it’s a bit of a personal timeline – you see the factory where I had my first job, the pub where I drank most of my Guinness…" The era of the internet has made way for a generation to voice their opinion in an attempt to wrestle back the receding moral and social standards in society. Barry Moore belongs to this generation; one that wants nothing to do with elitist or mainstream ideals or clichés. The divisions between folk-pop and hip-hop have never been so blurred. "My music is pretty flexible", jokes the Irishman.

As with so much pop music, in the widest sense of the term, an undeniably urban sound has crept into Barry Moore’s music, but without forcing the issue. The production never overpowers the songs themselves, which are well-preserved by meticulous songwriting. The art of crafting songs is a bit of a given for Barry, with music being a veritable family tradition. In his native home of Ireland, music is inescapable; omnipresent. From a very young age Barry was being taught to play his first chords on his dad’s guitar. He was surrounded by songwriters, and his father’s library contained hundreds of CDs and vinyls, making sure that music was an intricate part of his everyday life from the off. By the time he and his family moved to San Francisco, the choice of becoming a songwriter was a conscious one, and Barry wrote his very first songs there on his father’s guitar, often in secret, instead of preparing for his piano lessons. Once settled in California, he dedicated his life to surf and music. Returning to Ireland at the age of fifteen, he quickly abandoned his Californian look. "I would have been beaten up back home", he laughs. "I had to bulk up a bit and sort out the hairstyle". He slowly emerged from his shell and started performing his songs in the local town pubs before taking them to the streets of Dublin, London, Salamanca, and Paris. "To capture attention in a rowdy Irish pub is not always easy so I started playing cover songs as well as my own originals. At one point the list of covers I had was approaching 70 songs. The most successful was always Hotel California by the Eagles."

Six years of Business and Economics studies, financed by part-time jobs and busking, distanced him from the dream of creating his own music, to the point where he totally abandoned songwriting for over 2 years, working in recruitment for a Wall Street bank and eventually for a music streaming platform in France. Crossing paths with Yodelice would prove to be a key turning point. "I met him by pure coincidence. He was instantly intrigued by my songs and we decided to work together within the week. He was a great influence in the recording process and kept me to the motto "less is more" when it comes to songwriting and producing. I was mostly a guitar player and a writer of melodies/ lyrics at the beginning, whereas I’ve learned to do a lot more now." Barry Moore’s sophisticated songwriting rubs shoulders with a more, experimental, urban production.

His unique musical style is born out of a friction between tradition and modernity. Whether acoustic or electric, the Irishman’s music is rich in pop, with strong beats, and devilishly efficient hooks. His EP Lost Boys has been released in May 2019. His debut single Hey Now appears alongside the equally addictive track, Everyone Knows. Songs like The Little Things provide some respite on the EP, revealing a more melancholic side to Barry Moore. That doesn’t stop him from restoking the fire with Lost Boys, an anthem that should send his upcoming audiences berserk. His music varies from high-adrenaline beats to more introspective ballads – "Flexible", as he said. Like The Streets or Plan B, this world wreaks of bad blood, cold kebabs, apathy, trips to the bookmaker, warm beer and half-price Tacchini tracksuit bottoms. All the attributes of a drama without the acting – it’s just life as it is for many in 2019, with music often becoming a life jacket. Sweet and Tender Hooligan, a song by The Smiths, comes to mind when we take it all in. It sounds like a perfect description of Barry Moore and his music. "Yeah, tender hooligan suits me fine."