Originally known as the lead singer of Mongooz and the Magnet, Ian O’Sullivan has long been contemplating doing a solo project. Finally an unexpected turning point in his private life urged him to share his solo songs exploring more intimate topics with the world – with Little Bird being the first stop. The song debuted with a special video, co-produced by miki357 and Géza Vadas, amongst others. Interview.
Born in Ireland, Ian O’Sullivan moved to Pécs 11 years ago, where he became more and more popular with his band while attending medical school. He already had fragments of songs in his head at this time that he considered so personal that he decided he had to show them to the world alone. His solo project finally came to life under the name O’SULLIVAN.
“Music has always been a shelter to me. I loved the piano in the corner of our home, as a child I also wanted to play it like my brother… but I could never really fit into the world of classical music, I didn’t understand why I couldn’t learn the pieces I wanted to. (…) Thus I quit piano lessons quite early on, and then at the age of fifteen I started to learn how to play the guitar, mainly in an autodidact manner, which was a huge deal to me. I was finally playing music for myself.”
Little Bird was born eighteen years later, on a summer evening, in approximately 25 minutes. However, this does not take away anything from how many things it expresses at the same time. On the contrary.
“Sometimes a song just comes to me and I think about its inspiration after I have already written it. Little Bird is a sultry, hot and happy summer love song. It’s about the person whose personality and freedom inspires me every day, and about me, the fire inside me and the cage that I many times feel closing in on me, but which is perhaps more inside than out.”
The music video is a result of an all-arts collaboration: it was directed by miki357, however, Ian, one of the characters of the video, Annamária Kaptay, editor Géza Vadas and Dénes Pécsi-Szabó also played a prominent role in making it. The song evoking the world of Peter Bjorn & John was made partly in Ireland and partly in Hungary, and Asta Kalapa as well as Kama (Mary Popkids) helped Ian make it, with the collaboration of Gergő Háló (Mongooz and the Magnet, Meteo) and Zoltán Szőke (Tape Delay, ex-Deep Glaze).
“I perfected the song for a long time, a total of two years went by between the first and last recordings, this is why it was especially important to me that the ambience of the clip be close to the song. The images and vibes I have in my mind appear in the video, infused with sultry, sweaty summer air, powerful but not at all cheap sexuality and a bit of intended recklessness. As I am more familiar in the world of music, I wanted to have miki357 direct the video. I am especially grateful to him for liking the song. The output is a result of our teamwork with many ideas and stories, and I think ultimately we managed to take a slice of the summer vibes of the Káli Basin and incorporate it into the music video.”
Ian is also working full steam at the moment, and his Irish producer Asta Kalapa is already working on his two new songs. Until then, he says we should keep an eye on his Instagram because soon we’ll get to hear his new releases.
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