
OWEN DENVIR New Single: “Bad For You” + B-side “The Lie That You Think I Am”
Bad For You is the latest single from Belfast singer-songwriter and producer Owen Denvir, following a memorable year of TV performances (BBC’s “Nolan Live” + UTV Life), supporting Dodie & Ryan McMullan, and radio playlisting (RTE Radio 1, Downtown Radio, Red FM) on singles ‘Jackhammer’, ‘Human Touch’ and ‘Crush’. His DIY approach to music-making has totalled over 80,000 streams on Spotify and 2,000,000 views on videos across Facebook and Youtube, even drawing the attention of Coldplay on Twitter and gained him a spot at the prestigious Hard Working Class Heroes music festival.
Somewhat of an anti-romantic song for Valentines Day, Bad For You was written about the anxieties of emotions rather than the expression of them. The bare bones piano underpins a raw and powerful vocal performance, building to a rousing choral climax showcasing Denvir’s maturity into his voice and songwriting, which Hot Press magazine have previously described as “honest, personal… complex and affecting”.
B-side “The Lie That You Think I Am” was inspired by the documentary film ‘Catfish’, in which a middle-aged woman adopts a false persona to seduce a New York photographer she admires. However, with Owen having spent the last year collaborating with the charity Live Music Now (which brings professional music to care homes and special schools), he noticed how the fantasies of the movie’s catfisher closely correlated to the personalities of the dementia patients he performed for on a regular basis. “It’s a bittersweet position,” Owen says, “to warp your perception of reality in order to keep yourself happier, while being dismissive of your family and friends in the ‘real world’ as a consequence”. Nostalgia was the primary theme throughout the song’s production, and is captured beautifully in the animated music video (releasing 26th Feb) by Brighton artist Maddy Salgado:
“Bad For You” + b-side “The Lie That You Think I Am” are released independently on 15thFeb and will be available via Spotify, Apple Music and all major streaming platforms.
OWEN DENVIR LIVE:
1 Mar – UTV Life 8:00PM
9 Mar – Belfast Nashville Festival
10 Mar – Róisín Dubh, Galway
12 Mar – Sandinos, Derry