OISIN MOD: “CANARY”

With his spellbinding 2022 debut Honeycomb, Oisin Mod established himself as a songwriter capable of creating worlds that feel both timeless and otherworldly. Now, on his second album Canary, the Galway artist ventures into darker, more nocturnal territory. Drawing on the cinematic unease of David Lynch, the bleak humour of John Healy’s The Grass Arena and the raw intensity of Rowland S. Howard, Canary is a brooding, atmospheric collection shaped by jagged thought processes and a willingness to embrace the unknown. Reuniting with producer Bill Ryder-Jones, Mod has loosened his approach, allowing for a more muscular, instinctive sound. We caught up with him to discuss the record’s origins, creative collaboration and the appeal of darker worlds.

1. You wrote Canary over the course of just one month in a rundown house in Cork. How much did that isolated environment shape the record, and do you think the album would have sounded different if you’d written it anywhere else?

I didn't actually write anything that ended up on the album during that time, to be honest. But the time I spent down there was essential to locating the records tone, in that the isolation and time gave the opportunity to explore where the record wanted to go and wanted to feel, as well as where it didn't.

2. There’s a real tension throughout Canary between isolation, self-doubt and a growing sense of confidence. Did you feel like you were confronting those things while making the album, or did that only become apparent when you stepped back and listened to it as a whole?

I wouldn't say I was confronting any of those things necessarily. A lot of it was an exercise in observing and examining people's behaviour, others and my own, but in a way a person might watch a film or tv show they're frightened of from behind the couch or through their fingers or something like that.

3. Bill Ryder-Jones has produced both Honeycomb and Canary. What has that creative relationship allowed you to do with this record that perhaps you couldn’t have achieved on your own?

It's made me excited about collaboration and allowed me to become perhaps less rigid than I may have been previously. All of my favourite moments on the first record were Bill's ideas, and the same thing happened with this one.

4. Your influences on this record range from John Healy’s The Grass Arena to Rowland S. Howard, while your music has drawn comparisons to artists like Elliott Smith, Neil Young and Leonard Cohen. What is it about those darker, more introspective worlds that continues to pull you in as a songwriter?

The Grass Arena is hilarious. Like it's outrageously gas. But it's shocking and brutal enough as well. Leonard Cohens songs can be both of those things too. I think that's what I'm drawn to mostly.

5. You’ve built a really interesting following while remaining relatively elusive as a live artist, having only played two headline shows so far. Does Canary feel like a record that might push you further into the spotlight, and how are you feeling about that next chapter?

I don't know. I'd say realistically probably not. It would be nice to play some more shows.