“Enigmatic” is an adjective often used to describe the Tallaght native producer and musician, Dan Ryan, who has been performing for well over two decades. Since transitioning to electronic music in the late 2000s, Dan has garnered a loyal fan base despite minimal coverage.

In a rare article on his music, Max Heyraud, writing for Four/Four Magazine, juxtaposed Dan to his contemporaries, and stated, “Dan Ryan, however, is a refreshing contrast. Rarely heard from and content with letting his music speak for itself, he emerges infrequently but always delivers a masterpiece when he does.”

“I don’t like doing promotion, you know?”, a more media-willing Dan tells Post-Burnout, when we asked about the clandestine reputation he has become associated with. “It’s just always been a thing I do, and I don’t know, I just find it hard…I think it’s an Irish thing or something, trying to talk yourself up and big yourself up.

“I always felt like if you have good music and you put it out there, it will do the work itself, but I don’t know. I guess I should finally bite the bullet and try and do a bit of it, you know? And put it up on as much platforms as I can, and kind of go that way and, hopefully, get it out to more people.”

As a teen, Dan was inspired by punk music and culture, which he admits is incongruous to the style he’d become known for, but more so from a production standpoint. “Punk music, the stuff I was listening to… – Minor Threat, and all that – …it’s so badly…like, I love it, but it’s so badly recorded, and, like, these guys couldn’t really play their instruments, and it just sounds like a mess to someone who didn’t really get it,” he says.

“Then you go to dance music, and dance music is all pure polished, and so clear and crispy and everything. I don’t know why that is, but it’s the same with a lot of my mates; we were all mad into punk, into metal, and then we all kind of started…when we got to eighteen/nineteen…maybe it was because of fuckin’ drugs or something? [Laughs] That might have helped! But we all ended up going into dance music, and it’s funny, because we’re all going back, now.”

Dan had been playing with local bands throughout his teens, but then wanted to focus on becoming an electronic producer. He soon found that some of what he learnt from the punk ethos carried over to this new direction. “I didn’t even know what I was doing when I first started it, you know?” he admits.

“The first few tunes that I made that people liked, like… – there was one called ‘Housewerk’ that people seemed to really like. And when I say ‘People,’ I mean a few people around Dublin; nothing that big. But, like, I made that song on a PC that my dad gave me, and what it was was, do you remember, back in the day, you’d put a coin in, in a supermarket, and get the internet? It was one of those. Me dad owned one.

“So, I had that one. We got rid of the coin bit, obviously. So, it was just this bogey computer. Then I had old-school stereos, but I only had one of them, so I had to cut the wire, and I had to attach it to a jack. So, it was as low-brow as you can go, but it’s a good tune, you know? I listen back to it. So, it goes to show you, you know? You don’t need all that.

“And that kind of goes back to that punk stuff. You get that with some artists; the first few albums that they make, where they don’t really know what they’re doing, but there’s a magic to it, and then when they know what they’re doing, it’s never really as good, you know?”

In addition to being able to create new and interesting music, Dan also loved the freedom that crafting on the PC allowed when compared to traditional instruments. “I used to be in bands and everything,” he explains. “From about the age of fourteen, I was in bands, and it was great craic and all, but it isn’t very easy, like. Dealing with a load of people is a pain in the hole, you know? And I see bands, and they’re lugging their equipment to gigs and all, and it’s a lot of work, but doing the music I do, you can just sit at a PC with a few little bits of kit, and you don’t rely on anyone, and you can just get into your zone and do it.

“That’s what I like about that side of it, where you can just work in your own time, and fire away, and you don’t have to have mad amounts of equipment and rehearsal rooms and all that craic. So, there’s definitely something very alluring about that side of it, to me. I love just getting locked in on a tune and just being able to do my own thing on a few little bits of kit.

“You pretty much have a studio. If you can afford software and a few bits of MIDI synthesisers and stuff like that, you have the guts of a recording studio in your bedroom, you know? So, it’s crazy how far it’s come along in that regard, and that’s amazing, and that’s why we’re seeing so many good producers and stuff coming out, because, for very little money, you can just get this incredible set-up in your bedroom, and away you go.”

From 2010, Dan had been consistently and exclusively releasing his music through SoundCloud, but, last September, his discography found its way onto every music streaming platform, as part of Dan’s plan to expand the listenership of his project, which coincided with the release of his music video for the track “Cromags.”

While the project initially began with Dan trying to emulate the dance music he was into in his late teens and early twenties, as it’s continued to exist, the sound has evolved with Dan’s tastes; now featuring elements from classical music, folk, world music, and film scores, with slower tempos that allow them to breathe.

“I had a kid about ten years ago, and I stopped going to nightclubs, and I’ve noticed, as time goes by, that when you’re not going to nightclubs, dance music…I still love it, but it’s not what I listen to, you know?” says Dan, explaining this shift. “Like, I’m not chilling on a Tuesday, listening to house music, you know? I’m kind of more into electronic stuff.

“I’m leaning more towards wanting to make more of what I call ‘Earphone music,’ like stuff that you just listen to when you’re out and about, rather than heavy dance stuff, which I don’t really listen to as much anymore. So, that’s what I want now. Ideally, I’d like to get more instruments… – like, live instruments – …and put them into it, and more actual vocalists, and strings, and stuff like that, and blend them, but always have those drums, essentially.

“I just love the drums out of electronic music. Like, I think they’re so fuckin’ tribal and just big, and I just think that I can get all of these different genres that I like, and find a place where they all come together, that’s what I’ve been aiming for, the last few years, you know?”

This change can be heard on Dan’s most recent single, “Lagan Love,” which was released last week. It’s a rendition of the traditional Irish song “My Lagan Love,” which has been covered by acts including Van Morrison, Kate Bush, Sinéad O’Connor, Hozier, Horslips, Dusty Springfield, and many, many more over the years. It was a cover of the song by the young Irish alt-folk duo Lemoncello that inspired Dan’s rendition.

“With that one, obviously I know the song, and I know it’s got loads [of covers], but I didn’t go digging around,” Dan says of crafting his version. “I was kind of fairly confident… – maybe I’m wrong – …that nobody has done it with big, banging breakbeats behind it! [Laughs] I don’t know! I have to, maybe, check that. I don’t know about that. Maybe someone else has done a really good electronic cover of it.

“With this one, I figured, ‘It’s a trad song. It’s been done trad-y, and maybe this is something that could be an interesting twist on it.’ And I actually quite like it. I don’t usually like my songs when I finish them, I’m normally kind of sick of them, but I do like this one, so I’m confident enough to be like, ‘No, I think it’s decent. I think it’s decent with the rest of ‘em.’” After this release, Dan claims that he has no major plans for the rest of 2025, but adds, “I’m looking forward to getting into my new place and really getting stuck into some new tunes. I would like to get an EP out. So, I’m hoping over the summer and into fall, I’ll get some good music going and, hopefully, make another good video and just get something out there.”

Dan Ryan’s latest single, “Lagan Love,” is out now. You can keep up with Dan through Instagram.

Tune into POSTBURNOUT.COM Interviews… tonight at 21:00 (IST) to hear this interview in full. Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music Podcasts

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.