Texas-born, Laois-raised, London-based artist Kean Kavanagh returns to talk about his debut album The County Star. An introspective work, it finds him examining all those sides of his being: USA, Ireland, and London as he adopts the dual persona of a cowboy county star/GAA county star. Kean, who many will know as a close collaborator of Kojaque (they co-founded Soft Boy Records) released his debut project Dog Person in 2020. He suffered a vocal injury on tour with Kojaque in 2022 and had to undergo vocal therapy and relearning how to sing. It's something he examined on the 2023 EP Wrestling Music. It is also inherent on this album. 

We talk about all this and more in a 40-minute chat. We talk about community, traditional music and GAA, making videos with Kojaque starring comedian Peter McGann, collaborating with Karma Kid and Baz Kaye in making the record, and why he's not counting Dog Person as his debut release. 

Buy The County Star: https://heaven-sent.ochre.store/

Kean on TPOE 192: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6DaEf882Y1VjoWBQVeuTOP?si=ecbf6ddd8c2046bb

TPOE 355: Kean Kavanagh

Aaron Smyth aka A Smyth released his second album Hello Goliath via Lover Records on June 13. He joins to talk about previous band Vann Music and feeling "blacklisted" in the music industry. From there, we talk about A Smyth's journey, with a deep focus on songwriting and simply just trying to get better at it. Working with producer Darragh Nolan was key and he also became a dad - how did that affect him personally and musically; he also explains how his son should have a  co-writing credit on the opening track on Hello Goliath. We discuss releasing debut album Last Animals in 2021 and talk through some of the deep tracks on Hello Goliath. 

Buy A Smyth - Hello Goliath: https://asmyth.bandcamp.com/album/hello-goliath

A Smyth album release party at Annesley House, August 23: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/a-smyth-hello-goliath-album-launch-the-annesley-house-tickets-1429020261069

Vann Music - Electro Shock Dreams: https://soundcloud.com/vannmusic/sets/electro-shock-dreams

TPOE 357: A Smyth

The Point Of Everything is a podcast based out of Cork that tackles the biggest issues in the music world, near and far, every week. Expect chat, music, and interviews every week

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