Review Fix Exclusive: Ultan Conlon Talks ‘Songs Of Love So Cruel’

Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter Ultan Conlon, who discusses his new album,”Songs Of Love So Cruel.” With over two decades of writing and recording his own material, Conlon has been compared to Roy Orbison and has shared the stage with the likes of John Grant, Eddi Reader, Patty Griffin and Richard Hawley, Ultan has also performed duets with Glen Hansard and John Martyn.

For more on Conlon and his tunes, click here.

Review Fix: What makes this album a special one for you?

Ultan Conlon: It was a while in conception. I thought of the title and only had one song but a vision for the rest of the album. I wanted it to be a cohesive piece of work. Unlike my first album which was a mixture of songs I’d written over about six or seven years.

Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you?

Conlon: Ha, that’s a good question. I always tell them ‘I’ve gotta come up with an answer for that!’ People usually expect it to be Irish folk. It’s singer songwriter in the classic sense, I feel.

Review Fix: How important do you feel Irish music is to the mainstream? Why?

Conlon: I think Irish musicians and songwriters have a lot to offer on the international scene. Especially songwriters. We’re a nation that comes from a long line of story tellers, also it rains so much you can’t
leave the house. Perfect for songwriting.

Review Fix: How does it feel to be compared to Roy Orbison?

Conlon: A reviewer made that comparison. It’s a great honour to have his name attached to a review, he could go a couple more octaves than me for sure but I’ll take the compliment nonetheless, haha.

Review Fix: Who’s an artist that inspired you that people wouldn’t expect based on your sound?

Conlon: To be honest anyone who inspires me to write these songs there’s usually a similar sound or feel there. I think that’s where the Roy Orbison comparison came from. It’s more a feel thing really. I was listening to a lot of music from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s when I wrote these songs. I wanted to capture that era but with the songs rooted in this time. I didn’t live back then so I can’t write about that era.

Review Fix: What are your goals for this album?

Conlon: I think the ultimate goal is to reach as wide an audience as possible. I’m guessing most artists would say the same thing. It’s always lovely when someone connects with an album, not just a track. Although for obvious reasons that doesn’t happen as much. Thanks to the shuffle option, ha.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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