Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Owen Denvir

From a bedroom studio to appearances on TV, Owen Denvir’s career has skyrocketed. With a musical background as a viola player, he has created soulful, catchy music that fans are ravenous for. In fact, he has over two million views (and counting) on his music videos. With his new trio of EPs—Sticks, Stones, and Bones—Owen takes listeners on a complete exploration of the stages of love, drawing parallels with the id, ego, and superego. His thoughtful approach to crafting these is just another reason why he’s a musician to watch.

We chatted with Owen about his new single, “This Could Be Love,” and new trilogy of EPs set to be released soon.

PC: How did you discover your passion for music?
Owen: My dad introduced me to Lindsey Buckingham playing “Big Love” on a Fleetwood Mac live DVD when I was little. It blew me away. Music was the only thing I was really interested in when I was at school, after accepting the fact I was never going to get into the NBA.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Owen: I don’t think I could put it down to one person or thing. It’s lots of little moments that keep you going. It was the fear of finishing full-time education that got me into writing, recording, and producing flat out. Then my first real live experience came with playing viola for Rams’ Pocket Radio’s live set at Glasgowbury, which was so much more special than any orchestra concert I’d ever played. Now every gig I play is a big motivator. And I don’t feel like I do much social media very often, but seeing the same faces reappear to like or comment what I do is really motivating.

PC: You’ve had a lot of success already in your young career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out?
Owen: Probably the craziest moment was when Coldplay shared the mashup video I made of their tunes. I didn’t have much of a following at all back then. I used to put so much time and effort into the live split-screen videos I made then, but it really burnt me out. I tried to make them as complicated as possible, so it wasn’t really sustainable. I knew every Coldplay album inside and out though, so it was genuinely fun to make. Ultimately, I was aiming to build my own tiny social media following by playing covers, but getting shared to the entirety of Coldplay’s Twitter following out of the blue just felt so surreal. I’d been listening to them since primary school, and suddenly I was there, singing on their Twitter feed. I barely slept for a couple of days.

PC: What’s one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you started your career?
Owen: It’s actually possible to have a career in music, so stop trying to work in IT.

PC: You have a new single out. Tell us about “This Could Be Love” and the inspiration behind the song.
Owen: I’ve realized a lot of my songs come from weird dreams. Two of the songs were about dreams I’ve had, and one is about someone else’s. “This Could Be Love” is my own personal freaky dream about seeing someone in a different way through no conscious decision of my own. I’ve actually had the song for about two years. It’s actually had three different choruses. Every time I recorded a version something just wouldn’t feel right about it. It wasn’t until this version—the third version—that I was really happy with it. I stripped everything back and layered up loads of vocal tracks, and it immediately transformed into something so much more special. I’d also badly edited the project file a couple of times, and I accidentally made glitchy sounds from leftover vocal takes. I quite liked them, so instead of taking them out, I looped them and used them as drum samples. The weirder the better was my aim, so I threw in some vocoder tracks and used my bin as a drum for good measure.

PC: You’re set to release a trilogy of EPs. What was the concept behind this body of work? If you had to pick one song in this collection that best encompasses you as an artist, what would it be and why?
Owen: Essentially I wanted to stop feeling like I had to solely release short radio-friendly singles and instead focus on a bigger body of work as a whole. It was a lot more motivating for me to work on a project beyond just “hopefully this one will get Spotify/radio’s attention” and do something more respectful for the people who already follow my music for what it is. Weirdly, in not trying to solely write the breakthrough hit, I think I’ve managed to write more singles than I expected. But for the most part, the tracks I love the most aren’t 3:30-punchy radio-friendly songs. So this was a good vessel to do that.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Owen: I listen to lots of music from video games. Does that count?

PC: First album you bought?
Owen: Gorillaz’s Demon Days

PC: First concert you attended?
Owen: Stereophonics in the Odyssey Arena, Belfast

PC: An album that changed your life and why?
Owen: Damien Rice’s O—every song is amazing, and it’s such a beautiful and cohesive album.

PC: A venue on your bucket list to perform at?
Owen: Glastonbury

PC: A must-have on the road?
Owen: Chocolate

To keep up with Owen, follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Spotify. Pick up or stream “This Could Be Love” today.