Lifting the Vail: An Interview with Ryan Vail

Ryan Vail’s debut album For Every Silence takes an inanimate object and brings it brilliantly to life.
“It’s the story of a 90 year old piano,” Ryan reveals. “It came over to England back in 1927 and then travelled to Ireland, where my wife Katie’s grandfather, Dr Joe Cosgrove, purchased it. The piano spent its life with the Cosgroves (a family of 16), watching each child get older and eventually leaving the house. When my wife and I inherited the piano, I thought it would be a nice idea to tell the piano’s story from its own perspective. Trying to imagine how the piano felt during different stages of its time there. Writing tracks about wanting to be played, what it feels like to be loved or wanted, and even the passing of its owner.”
The concept is an intriguing one. But what elevates For Every Silence is the way Vail has infused the abstract with heaps of humanity and soul. A large part of the record’s success rests on its unique sound: old, scratchy, wheezing, distressed – at times you feel like you’ve been dragged into the rib-cage of the instrument.
“I recorded what I thought the mid 1900s would sound like. Dr Cosgrove’s house was in the country, so I recorded a lot of birds and the countryside. I also recorded a lot of the mechanical noises of the piano itself – the sound of the keys being struck and the interior workings.”
This isn’t the kind of stuff you normally hear when someone has a debut record to explain. But, even at such an early point of his career, Vail has already evinced a risky creative sensibility that sets him up as a musician who takes pride in being impossible to predict.
“I really wanted to take risks,” he says. “While most artists end up releasing an almost best-of of previous EPs and singles, I wanted to bring 10 new tracks. For me the most important thing was to challenge the standard way in which artists think an album should be these days – ie. 10 radio friendly singles. I also wanted to show all of my influences. I have, at times, been influenced by hip-hop, classical, ambient electronica, folk… it’s all in there, some in more obvious ways than others.”
And what next?
“Well, I’m open to new projects,” says Vail. ”I’d like to collaborate with more people. I will be travelling to Canada soon to start working with an artist there that I have been chatting to. I’ve also pitched in to score a few Icelandic crime dramas. I really enjoy that kind of work. I scored a BBC 2 documentary, The Longest Night, which following around people who worked at night. I’ll be touring Germany and playing at a few German festivals over the summer too. Keeping busy and creative is the main goal.”
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Ryan Vail plays Fumbally Stables in Dublin on April 28.