New Release – To Better All Things (album) by Myles McCormack
New Release – To Better All Things (album) by Myles McCormack: Writing impactful songs with a delicate touch, the music of Myles McCormack based in Belfast (Northern Ireland) is quietly impressive. He finds influence in everything from earthy ballads to psychedelic rock, but has also been immersed in the local traditional music scene for the best part of a decade. His songs are lyrically nuanced and poignant messages which deftly describe the tumultuous nature of life. His playing has been honed through the traditional music scene.
Myles released his debut album ‘Real Talk’ in 2019. His follow-up album ‘To Better All Things’ is due for release on the 26th of January on CD and vinyl, with a launch gig at Out To Lunch festival in Belfast. ‘To Better All Things’ comprises 10 carefully crafted songs which are characteristically philosophical, playful, introspective and moving.
“So, although this isn’t a concept album in the 70’s prog rock sense, I have chosen the songs in order to create something which I think creates a cohesive train of thought. It does clearly touch on some real issues, so in a quite abstract manner I suppose it’s a collection of intersectional protest songs. I wrote about twice as many songs as I have included in the end, so these are the ones which I thought created a sense of a balance when presented together.”
“The genre is generally fluid, but is guided by the lyrics and melody, so some songs are slightly ‘heavier’ whilst others are particularly sparse.”
“‘To Better All Things’ is essentially an aspiration. It’s not that music will save the world, or anything like that. It’s more of a description of our collective aspirations to improve society. It’s to do with how we all in our own separate ways are trying to improve something, for better or worse.”
“Coming from what is essentially a traumatised part of the world, there are certain continual issues, the influence of the church on education, for example, which frustrate me regularly. The title track was inspired by some detail to do with the local education system but it’s long since changed meaning for me.”
“There is an animated music video for the song ‘Julie’, which I’m really excited about. That song is a bit of an environmentalist outcry with a nihilistic tone which involves a degree of playfulness. I think the video, created by local animator and comic sketch artist Paddy Maguire, captures all of these elements without being too overt. He has used multiple mediums and essentially depicted a beautiful world full of colour being gradually covered in empty bottles, cigarette buts and burning oil rigs. Somehow he managed to do all this with subtlety. It’s on my Instagram and YouTube!”
Myles is also currently working on a new album with the internationally acclaimed trad band Réalta scheduled for release in Summer 2023.