An Interview With Conn Thornton
- BuzzSlayers
- Oct 5
- 5 min read
Join us as we have a talk with Conn Thorton about the new EP release When Bethesda Lands They’ll Throw Us a Parade and find out where this wonderfully woven record came from and what may be next up for the artist.
Buzz Slayers: Let's talk about When Bethesda Lands They’ll Throw Us a Parade! These songs were spacious and had this almost classic songwriting that blended 50's and underground 90's pop songwriting! Where did this record come from?
There’s two places I can pin as the origin of Bethesda. I love writing about film, it’s something I have a real deep interest and appreciation for, so for a while I’ve had a strong desire to develop an album or an EP in which all the songs are based off of films. In addition, I had just finished the admin and final touches on my last full-length record, Meteorite Season, and had the itch to start another creative project. ‘Opening Night’, the first track on Bethesda and the first I started writing for it, began life as a jam the night after I had watched John Cassavetes’ Opening Night and from there the idea became more full-bodied and fleshed out. It started to fall into my lap bit by bit once that song started to fully take shape.
Buzz Slayers: I'm hearing a few different approaches to this record! Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
If I were to list them off, one of the biggest influences for the whole project was Sufjan Stevens and Angelo de Augustine’s A Beginner’s Mind, which is also entirely based around films. Other artists and records that played a big role in Bethesda’s development include Laughing Stock by Talk Talk, Flyte’s self-titled 2023 album, Jon Brion’s soundtrack to Lady Bird, Ex:Re by Ex:Re and Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen – all of these records were chosen primarily for their wide open and sparse soundscapes like an open road in different settings. As a songwriter beyond this one record, I take a lot of inspiration from acts like Adrianne Lenker, Angel Olsen, Cameron Winter and Arthur Russell – they all wear their hearts on their sleeve so fearlessly as solo acts and manage to craft sounds and stories that are so big and meaningful and I find that to be so inspiring.
Buzz Slayers: Did you record this at a home setup, or at a big studio?
Bethesda was done entirely at home in my bedroom. Over the years I’ve been learning the finer intricacies of music production to try and understand my craft more intimately and it’s led me to a more comfortable space to experiment and bend the rules in my own way, and that’s what I took advantage of by doing this record at home. This was, however, my first time collaborating with another artist – Joel Harkin is one of Ireland’s greatest songwriters and is a fantastic mastering engineer and pedal steel guitar player. I got him on board to do a gorgeous pedal steel line on ‘The Ballad of McKinley Park’ which elevated it to another place entirely, and the mastering work he did on the whole record breathed so much life into the songs I had sat with for months so he has a really big stake on this record. I couldn’t have done it without him.
Buzz Slayers: How did this all start for you as an artist?
In my younger years I was a pianist and playing almost entirely classical repertoire, alongside trying my hand at songwriting every now and then through the years of 18-20. When COVID hit and with that a chance to reflect and embark on new things musically, I started writing songs and then had enough for an album by the end of 2020. I just spent that whole time writing and put out two albums back to back in 2021, which made me feel like I had made a strong enough statement to give me firm footing in Belfast’s superb music community. I’ve never fully turned my back on my roots in classical music though – I still like to incorporate it where I can in my writing or in my live shows so it’s really informed my direction as a songwriter and a composer.
Buzz Slayers: Are you performing live right now?
I’ve just finished a long string of dates over the summer and into September so my live performances are becoming a bit sparse now. I’ve become so much more settled into performing live this year, with some of the highlights being my set at Output in late September, playing a Sufjan Stevens tribute gig a few days after, supporting Strange New Places at their album launch in June and doing three fundraising gigs for Trans Pride NI alongside performing at the event itself. I’m in the process of getting an EP launch gig sorted so watch this space, in the meantime I’m playing in the Ulster Sports Club on November 9th as part of the Sound of Belfast Festival.
Buzz Slayers: Now that this is out, what's next for you?
I can’t stay idle for long once I get in the thick of music admin, so I’ve already started writing songs with the aim of making an album. I’m really into the idea of old style songwriting so I’ve been trying to channel a lot of the Beach Boys, Cindy Lee and Jessica Pratt into the stuff I’m working on now.
Buzz Slayers: Who's in your headphones right now?
At the minute Joshua Burnside’s Teeth of Time has been in rotation quite a lot, it’s for sure my album of the year. I’ve been loving the new Geese album Getting Killed and Cameron Winter’s solo album Heavy Metal from last year too. Some of my other favourite albums this year include EURO-COUNTRY by CMAT, Ghostholding by venturing, Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory’s self-titled, You and i are Earth by Anna B. Savage and Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You by Ethel Cain. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Magic America, they’re a band from Philly that put out their debut album Get In the Truck which is a class fusion of shoegaze and trip-hop and self-described ‘hyper-rock’. Their debut single ‘Texting the Dead’ / ‘Andie’ from last year has been a constant obsession.
Buzz Slayers: What would you tell people they can expect on this release?
I’d say there’s certainly a big pivot towards electronica that wasn’t present on any of my previous records. It’s all big warm bass synth sounds and obsolete, polyrhythmic drum machines from the 80s and 90s. It was definitely new territory for me to explore but I feel very settled in it. I’d also say there’s more of a focus on sound curation over lyrical content – I felt like at the beginning when I was writing ‘Opening Night’ I had trouble trying to write lyrics, so I took the approach of translating the film’s atmosphere and narrative into a sound-world in favour of writing long verses retelling a story. That’s the approach I followed with the other two tracks on the EP and it felt very authentic, like I wasn’t trying to force the songs to be finished. They came very naturally.
Buzz Slayers: Before we go, what would you like to express to fans of the music?
This year I’ve seen such a wave of praise come in for the music I make and it feels so vindicating after feeling like some of the music wasn’t reaching the audience I wanted it to for years. That’s the journey of being an artist and part of that journey involves trying to find your own voice, and I certainly feel like I’ve found it. It’s so nice that the music resonates with people and that’s worth its weight in gold to me.
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