Despite being associated with the genre label of “indie folk” for convenient associative categorisation’s sake (something which this publication is guilty of, too, if you read our description for the podcast companion of this article!), Orwells ’84 have created a nonpareil sound that is uniquely and distinctively them. “That sound, that wasn’t the intent from the get-go,” explains the band’s vocalist and guitarist Damien McKenna, in conversation with Post-Burnout. “Originally, the idea was that, you know, the band could take, or the sound could take, many incarnations, and it originally was myself. So, by calling myself ‘Orwells ’84,’ or calling the project or the band ‘Orwells ’84,’ you know, the idea was you could interchange parts, depending on what you wanted to come up with.”

The band then expanded outwards, to the expected instrumentational foundation of guitar, bass and drums, and then went even further, to also incorporate cello and violin in their sound; making the band, as they exist today, a sextet. Over the course of the band’s lifespan, since its founding in 2015, there have been various line-ups, with artists from different musical backgrounds, from trad to orchestral to rock. But, for Damien, what brings them together is their shared intent.

“I think everyone just bought into the music,” explains Damien. “Well, first and foremost, actually, I have to say, it was probably that we all got on, you know? It’s hard to be in a band, in general, with two or three people, if no-one gets on. But we’re still all friends, you know? And, at the end of the day, we’re always going to be friends. For example, Friday, we were gigging in Derry and our bus broke down, so we had to load two cars, drive to Derry, and be late, and play, but, at the end of the day, we were still laughing about it and joking about it. And I think the commonality, in terms of that, is just that we’re human and we enjoy each other’s company.”

Heavily inspired by poetry, theatre and literature, Damien cites the likes of William Blake, Brendan Behan, Flann O’Brien, W. B. Yeats, Seán O’Casey, George Bernard Shaw and, of course, George Orwell, as inspirations for his work, for both their use of language and ideals. Beyond music, the band have experimented with multimedia work, best accumulated in their performance at An Táin Arts Centre in Dundalk, where they worked to create an elaborate stage performance with many moving pieces to coincide with their music, which was later released as a live album. “It’s a piece of art,” says Damien of the band and their intent. “It’s always a piece of art, and it encourages people to think.”

In April of this year, the band released their debut album, The Crucible. Written during lockdown, the album is both a personal tome and a critical reflection of modern-day Irish society, written from Damien’s experience as a social worker in Dublin City.  Over the course of the album’s 50 minutes, we get tracks dealing with the drug epidemic, urban squalor, the social and economic failures of the Irish Government, the dehumanisation of the less fortunate, and how these issues trickle down to affect us on an individual level, but while also possessing a spark of an optimistic outlook for the future.

On writing the album, Damien says, “It’s a real focus on society, and I’m not saying that to try and be this kind of artistic…’We’re trying to spotlight society’ or whatever, that wasn’t…that’s not what I’m trying to say, but, genuinely, they were the themes that came out, you know? And I think we drew on this idea of Orwells ’84, of this 1984 thing, you know, and this dystopian outlook. Now, we were very lucky that, you know, [Laughs] that some would say that the Government of Ireland is not doing the best at their jobs, you know? So, we were kind of very lucky that that was the case, and we could build on it from there. But these things kept coming up, and especially during lockdown. Lockdown, for a lot of people, highlighted things that they didn’t have time to focus on before. So, you know, ‘The Social Contract’ was originally called ‘Lockdown Demo,’ and in that, all I wanted to do was just highlight the homeless issue, and just as I was starting to write the song, the #MeToo movement started again in Ireland. So, the first and the second verse wrote itself, and, of course, watching a lot of television. So, it was easy at that time to draw on a lot of these things. There was no intent to do it but, when it started to happen, it just kind of all fit into place.”

When asked if he felt there’s a responsibility for artists to speak on societal issues and injustices, Damien says, “As artists, and songwriters, and painters, and poets, we constantly need to be highlighting these things or at least looking at them, because there’s just a way of expressing them…That’s where my head would be at. I definitely think – and I said it before; I’ve expressed it before, in other interviews – I definitely think, as an artist, it’s something that you should strive to do, in some shape or form. And you don’t have to; like, it doesn’t define who you are as an artist; that mightn’t be your MO, but, if you have a voice and you have a platform, then, yeah, you should be making some comments about something. Maybe. If you want to. [Laughs]”

Garnering acclaim from the outlets which reviewed it upon its release, The Crucible still had some worries from the band during its creation. “Even now, on this album, we’re still trying to experiment with, ‘How do you make everything fit?’” says Damien. “When you have so many members, it’s hard to make everything fit, you know?” Indeed, as he and the members are still working outside of the band, in addition to members living abroad, getting everyone together, Damien admits, it can be challenging, but always worthwhile.

Before we wrapped up the interview, we asked Damien, given the band’s name, what was his opinion on terms like “1984” and “Orwellian” being misappropriated in political discourse. He responded, “I don’t think you can actually have a go at someone for having an idea about a form of art; it’s what they take from it, you know? But, yeah, it’s even funny, sometimes when [people] say, ‘What’s the band’s name?’ ‘Orwells ‘84’ ‘Oh, yeah? Like 1984? That’s what’s going on right now!’ and you’re like, ‘Is it? Yeah, OK. Cool.’ [Laughs] And, yeah, it’s funny, a lot of them don’t even know the rest of his works, either, which is quite hilarious, as well, but they know the name, for some reason – and it’s not like it’s a common name, or whatever [Laughs] – but 1984 just seems to be the big thing out there. I wouldn’t…I don’t really bat an eyelid at anyone. If they’ve got an idea about a piece of art, so be it. Like, who am I to say that they’re right or wrong?”

Orwells ‘84’s debut album The Crucible is available to stream and purchase. The band are crowdfunding to press copies of the album on vinyl, which you can contribute to until the end of June. You can follow the band on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Post-Burnout talks with Damien much more extensively on the topics discussed in this article, as well as on the artwork for The Crucible, the reasoning for their album’s title, the difference in perspectives he sees while touring Ireland, politics, art, philosophy, the band’s future intent and more, on the latest edition of POSTBURNOUT.COM Interviews…, which premiers today at 17:00 on YouTube, and will be available on all other streaming platforms afterwards.

Aaron Kavanagh

Aaron Kavanagh is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Post-Burnout. His writing can also be found in the Irish Daily Star, Buzz.ie, Totally Dublin, The GOO, Headstuff, New Noise Magazine, XS Noize, DSCVRD and more.