Meet Mr Regan

Fionn Regan is as much an extension of his songs and artwork as they are a projection of himself and his environment. Ria Poole meets the man responsible for the future of Irish songwriting.

There’s something magical about Fionn Regan whether it be noted in his aura of fairytale innocence or his childlike, wide-eyed gaze; yet beyond this quasi-porcelain exterior is a passionate, confident and worldly musician capable of capturing the diversity of the human spirit in songs, poems and paintings.

Upon first meeting Fionn you may be struck by his tendency to drawintricate analogies between anything and everything; from the crypticand mystical to the mundane – a bit like his songs, all of which havea relaxed, narrative feel: “Words, where they come from… Like whenyou’re standing on a seafront at seven o’clock with all the lights turned on at the beach.”

Fionn’s almost synthetic perspective on his songs is perpetuallyfluid: “When I sing the songs I see a slideshow of images, and I feela certain way about the songs, and that’s always changing, y’ know?

That slideshow changes.” Similarly, the diary entries posted on hiswebsite are poetic ramblings in a stream of consciousness style.

Like an artist gathering photographs and sundry paraphernalia inpreparation for a painting, Fionn reaps his creative harvest from theinspiration of those around him: “The songs arrive – some of them are fully formed, and sometimes they present themselves when the timecomes. But when it comes to a formula… it just comes (down) to people sitting around tables talking, or travelling around the place meetingpeople… People you’ve grown up with.”

With regard to the subject matter of the lyrics each song paints aportrait of a particular situation, landscape or action. I say

“portrait” because the human element is intrinsically represented inevery song: “I have become an aerial view of a coastal town that youonce knew” (from Be Good or Be Gone). In his own words: “There arecertain things and certain characters in there (the songs) that dohave dates of birth, and they are real people, but I don’t think it’snecessary to trap that. It’s like trapping a bird in concrete – it’sbetter off letting it fly.”

So what lies ahead for this enigmatic charmer? Amidst an extensive and exhausting tour across the UK, Ireland and Australia is the prospectof the prestigious Irish Meteor Awards, held on February 1st. Hailedas the most talented Irish artist to emerge in years, Fionn has beennominated for both Best Irish Male and Best Newcomer, which issomething he welcomes if it means “someone wants to shine a light onthe record.” Speaking of which, all the songs to comprise thefollow-up to his highly acclaimed debut album (The End Of History) areready to set sail, with a view to being more experimental in terms ofinstrumentation – Fionn cites “a collection of songs that would lenditself to a band.”

Perhaps the prospect of emulating Dylan’s electric era is a bitpremature in terms of Fionn’s career; still, there are so many ideashe has yet to explore. Beneath his heavy mop of hair his shining eyesreflect all the sensitivity and excitement that pervades his stageshow. Akin to his Irish forefathers, with an acoustic guitar in onehand and a hot toddy in the other, Fionn looks set to gain therecognition he deserves.