Sean MacLeod, the Irish songwriter and composer, has long explored the space where melody meets meaning. His work balances introspection with craftsmanship, blending a classic sense of harmony with a quietly philosophical touch.
There’s a warmth and calm to his music that feels timeless. It speaks to connection and reflection, so we were so pleased when he agreed to chat to us at BOPS.
There’s definitely a real craft here with your songwriting. How do you balance instinct with thinking about the craft of a song?
That’s an interesting question. A song usually start with something instinctive or inspirational and, hopefully, I can put some shape on it. The thinking part usually is more to do with the structure. Usually, asking if I should start the song with a chorus or verse or does it need an intro or is it too long and should I cut something out. That aspect of the song-writing process has a lot more thought in it than the initial inspiration. Also, the lyrics tend to be something I often have to think about. Hopefully, if I get a good lyric that has an interesting turn of phrase I can use it as a hook, which again is usually more inspirational or instinctive than something I think about.
If I don’t have that initial lyrical inspiration the lyrics can be quite forced and usually they are no good but if I get that hook line usually the rest of the words come relatively easy- even if they require more thinking about.
When does music give you the most joy?
That’s another good question because a lot of people get the impression that creating music is a joy. To be honest creating music is really a lot of hard work. If you get a flash of inspiration that in itself fills me with a sense of joy and there is an excitement in that you have something to work on and try and shape into a song that other people might enjoy.
The spark of inspiration is really probably the most enjoyable part of the whole song writing process for me, after that, though, it’s often a hard graft to complete the song.
Sometimes, the song just flows and comes out pretty much fully formed but more often than not, I only receive the initial spark that needs a lot of nurturing and careful moulding into the finished song.
Arranging the song, I mean trying to write the parts for each instrument, takes a lot of concentration and then recording of the song after that is even more of a challenge because now I’m moving into the area of sound engineering, which is not really something I like doing.
Sound engineering is an art in itself. The final finished product is often enjoyable but it doesn’t last long because I’ve usually moved on to the next song. Actually, it’s quite nice to listen to the songs a year or so later when some distance has been created and you can hear it without all the baggage- like I’m just a fan of the music rather than its creator or something like that.
Beautiful Star feels like it was written from a place of peace. Do you remember the first moment it started to form?
Yes. I remember it very well because the song was born after a friend of mine had the grave misfortune of having their first child still born. They were living next door to me at the time and after they told me the news, I just sat down at the piano and that song came out pretty much all in one sitting. Most of the lyrics – definitely the chorus “We Don’t Even Know Your Name but We’re Glad You Came Along. We’re Heading for a Beautiful Star” came out in that initial sitting.
I guess it was my way of trying to rationalise what my friend and his partner were going through. My feeling is that the song itself didn’t have much to do with me – it was just given to me for some reason.
I’ve got the sense that your songs often carry a quiet philosophy. What kinds of questions or ideas keep coming back to you as a writer?
Yes. I think the same questions we all think about. What is this crazy world and life all about. Where did we come from and where are we going? Why do we suffer? why do we love? Universal questions that we are faced with every day. However, it often seems to me that modern western culture – particularly mainstream culture – tries to discourage people from thinking about these questions. It feels to me as if there is an attack on thinking.
You know, like the “don’t think, stupid!” culture of modern western life. We are being convinced that we should just be having “fun” and gratifying the self and not to bother with anything more. But, I think, the human spirit has a huge need to ask these bigger questions so its not so easy to completely supress it with all the bread and circuses. Obviously, it’s important to have a sense of humour and a sense of joy and fun in life otherwise it would be dull and to say the least unbearable. I like to use the fun aspect of pop music to explore or at least hint at these deeper questions that live within us all.
You’ve drawn from 70s pop and prog influences before – what do you like about that era’s sound that still speaks to you today?
I’m not overly influenced by 70s prog rock. My main influences come from the song writing styles of 60s British and American pop music, like the Beatles, the Beach Boys and Phil Spector. Those songs are really well crafted and have something to say and they have a great sense of joy about them too, however in my late teens I came across Bowie’s Hunky Dory album and I think that really influenced me in that Bowie really expanded the pop song into something that was more overtly philosophical in the lyrics while the music extended beyond the traditional 3 minute pop song. Songs like ‘Quicksand’ and ‘Oh You Pretty Things’ and even ‘Space Oddity’ really impressed me. Some of the ‘Space Oddity’ album was also similar in that regard – songs like “Memory of a Free Festival’. It was more those early Bowie albums from the late 60s, early 70s that I liked and had an impact on my own song-writing more so than the 70s prog rock scene.
It’s the joyfulness of the 60s music that still speaks to me. I think pop music should be fun as well as thoughtful. The innovativeness of the 60s left an impression on me.
Those records, I feel, really captured the newness and excitement of what they were discovering in their song writing craft, as well as all the new recording approaches they were discovering too. I feel it’s something we don’t hear in music much these days, because pop music has become too clever, in a way. In the 60s and 70s it wasn’t cleaver, it was exciting and innocent but at the same time they explored themes that meant something, either political, philosophical or social, but always making sure the music was new and exciting ( not so much clever).
What do you hope people feel when they sit with beautiful star in a still moment?
I hope they enjoy the song on a purely musical level. That it effects them on an emotional and visceral level. If the lyrical themes inspire them or move them or make them think, then that’s good too but I don’t really write must to make people think about anything but to simply just have an experience of the whole song, which is the melody, the harmony, the lyrics and the sonic textures.
Sean’s work feels like an artist at ease with his craft. It shines with experience and quiet conviction, doesn’t chase the moment but instead reminds us why melody, honesty and grace never go out of style.
Check out Sean’s tracks below.