Ryan O'Reilly, from Southampton, England, is a songwriter whose Irish parentage and English upbringing combine to create a passionate storyteller, with dark humour sewn deep into the fabric of his searingly honest lyrics. It all began at the age of 10 when Ryan's dad gave him a guitar saying, “You'll never impress anyone with your looks or your charm, so you'd better get good at this!” Since then, Ryan has followed a uniquely meandering path on his musical journey: starting by performing at open-mic nights in Toronto as a teenager, graduating to street busking in London. This quickly grew popular enough to inspire fan-booked European tours and paying for studio time with the crumpled fivers made when not running away from the police.

Ryan's reputation as a songwriter grew and the adventure took another unexpected turn, which recently resulted signing to Qatar's first indie label, DNA records. His music collaborations with producer David Granshaw and band mate Tyler Kyte have lead to a depth of sound that takes the songs into a world of their own and far beyond the simple tag of singer-songwriter. Ryan's style of writing delves into detail and circumstance, fatalism and symbolism, like open letters, told unfalteringly by Ryan's unmistakable vocal. Creating a tension between melancholy and defiance whilst possessing a swirling undercurrent of a wistful and twisted worldview that manifests itself in the schadenfreude Ryan unleashes at his live shows and the poetry of his records, reviews often mention tears of laughter and sadness in equal measure.

Currently living in Berlin, 29-year-old Ryan O'Reilly is about to release his first full studio album 'The Northern Line' after a winter of touring Europe with Lissie and the UK with King Charles. Recorded on the Isle of Wight at Chale Abbey Studios, 'The Northern Line' explores myriad experiences and the mixture of emotions that come from living with and leaving a city, a person and the odyssey of your 20's. Ryan's music has moved beyond wearing its influences on its sleeve, but there are echoes both musically and poetically of English angst, Irish nostalgia and classic Americana.

‘The Northern Line’ is out everywhere 6th May 2016 (Digital and 12” Vinyl)

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