Conor O’Donovan
Staff Writer
It is a mild Cork evening as I make my way to the Pavilion (there is one in Cork too) to meet native indie-electro-pop duo Young Wonder. Their recent singles Tumbling Backwards (free to download from Soundcloud) and Flesh have garnered warranted attention. I’m flattered as veteran Cork DJ Ian Ring does his best to recognise me from our brief school days together. He makes inquiries as to the Trinity contingent of Young Wonder’s fanbase until Rachel Koeman, the voice of Young Wonder, arrives.
Conor: So how did this collaboration come about?
Ian: I was doing a single called Lose Control and got Brendan Canty (now manager of Young Wonder) to do the video for me. We made friends through making the video, and then one day Brendan brought his girlfriendto the studio…
Rachel: The ‘doing the girlfriend a favour’ sort of thing like. (laughs)
Ian: But then Rachel really surprised me with these huge vocals, which I didn’t think she would have at all. It’s very rare to come across singers which such talent that haven’t been picked up already. We decided to do a song together which was called ‘Orange’.
Rachel: (in an exaggerated cork accent) Orange!
Ian: Yeah we had a few arguments about the name. (laughs)
Rachel: It’s a lovely title, a lovely visual title. As in it is orange.
Ian: Yeah, when you listen to the song think of the colour orange.
Conor: So how have the other tracks taken shape?
Ian: She does all the tracks in one take.
Rachel: One take wonder! (laughs)
Ian: Unlike most other singers I’ve worked with who get better the more takes you do, Rachel does it best the first time and then it gets worse!
Rachel: I think I get bored singing the same thing.
Ian: She also writes very fast. Usually how it works is; I might have a draft of a beat and I’d send it to Rachel and then she’d come up with the lyrics for it…
Rachel: … in like five minutes…
Ian: … and then we might not see each other for two weeks.
Rachel:… and then we record it…
Ian:… in like five minutes. (laughs)
Conor: So, the creative process seems to have a certain urgency, would you agree?
Rachel: It just comes together that fast naturally, we’re not forcing it. It’s just started working out really well.
Ian: If the music is good there’s no need to be pushing it out there, like I seem to be doing… Good music speaks for itself no matter what. For example Rachel’s vocals on the last track we did were fantastic. It seems like every track we’re doing she’s getting more comfortable in herself and the music.
Rachel: Thanks bud! (laughs)
Conor: Given that your trying to do something original, was your choice to release ‘Tumbling Backwards’, a song concerned with renewal, a sort of statement of intent?
Ian: Well actually we had a few tracks done.
Rachel: Yeah that wasn’t the first track we recorded. I suppose we chose it because it combined all of our influences and was the first track that really clicked for us.
Ian: I feel it also brought out Rachel’s vocals very well… because she’s the lead singer and I’m the kind of… shadowy background guy. I’m the one with the big hairy face. Imagine me in a tank top, it wouldn’t look good.
Rachel: We should get Young Wonder tank tops!
Ian: For you maybe…
Conor: Do you feel people have been receptive to the new sound?
Ian: Yeah people have been very receptive, especially in the Irish electronic music scene. I mean to be honest I wasn’t really into this scene but Brendan showed me what’s out there. A lot of it is very underground.
Rachel: Yeah, because in Cork the music scene is so small. I mean you go to a gig and you see the same people there every single time. I think Cork people as a whole are very critical of bands and for them to really accept us is good. I hope they do anyway…
Ian: I suppose otherwise we might have to stop…
Conor: Are you happy with the amount of exposure you’ve gotten so far?
Ian: I suppose our music is more international. You wouldn’t hear one of our tracks and go, ‘they’re from Cork’ . I’ve been looking up blogs in China posting about the track. Brendan is brilliant at what he does. He’s really good in terms of getting it to the right people and the right blogs.
Rachel: Yeah, he knows what works and what doesn’t work.
Conor: Your videos are quite captivating in their own right and definitely add something else to the experience, was this something you set out to do?
Rachel: Yeah definitely, when we first started out I said to Brendan (who also runs a film company, Feel Good Lost) your doing all our videos! His stuff is amazing. Definitely the best filmmaker in Cork!
Ian: Yeah without a doubt, there’s no one to stand next to him in Cork. It’s lucky having a manager who’s also a video director. I feel his work really gives the music life too; it makes the music more interesting than just clicking onto a Soundcloud account.
Rachel: I also like dressing up for them. (laughs)
Conor: Given that Brendan is also your manager, do you think this visual element will be carried into you live shows?
Rachel: Yeah, loads of plans for visuals.
Ian: Well we need to get the music together first! But yeah, we want it to be a show not us just standing up there. We want it to be like ‘Oh my God I’m going to see Young Wonder tonight!’
Rachel: It’ll be like the videos but on stage, loads of stuff going on. We won’t give away too much just yet
Conor: When would you be looking to start gigging?
Ian: Well, realistically, Rachel is still in College and we’re trying to work as hard as we can, when we can. If something happens with Young Wonder then that’s a bonus.
Rachel: Then I’m gone out of college, screw nursing! (laughs)
Ian: Yeah, ‘Screw nursing I want to sing!’ (laughs) But yeah, when we get our lives and stuff together, hopefully, we can start to promote the stuff more. To be honest promoting through gigs is the best way to get out there.
Rachel: … and the funnest way of doing it to.
Conor: If I were to give you one word to sum up the Young Wonder experience to the student population here at Trinity what would it be?
Ian: One word that has been coming up a lot is the word blissful.
Rachel: I’d say energetic. That’s interesting that you say blissful and I say energetic.
Ian: Well our songs differ a lot. I mean I’ve visited a lot of different websites and they’re like it’s electric pop, no it’s indie… Everybody seems to have a different name for it. I mean the newest track we’ve done…
Rachel: It is bliss actually…
Ian: Yeah, it’s something totally different. It’s still got that Young Wonder vibe to it but kind of experimenting with some Indian instruments.
Rachel: … and seven grown men.
Despite their humility, it becomes clear, speaking to Young Wonder, that they have serious intent. Having created their own sub-genre, the energetically blissful, they are wasting no time in developing it. They have just finished recording their first EP (released April 16th) and sessions for their next effort have already begun. Rachel’s miming of playing the piano on the table towards the end of the interview suggests their minds are bending to the studio once more. The name Young Wonder seems to perfectly encapsulate the subconscious youthful drive of these two artists.
