Originally introduced to audiences as a member of the Waterford-via-Cork outfit O Emperor, the band emerged as one of Ireland’s most distinctive groups of the 2010s period. During an 8 year period the band released three critically lauded albums which garnered Choice Music Prize nominations and culminated in a win for their final 2018 release Jason.
Under the Whozyerman? moniker, Savage ventured into new sonic territory as a solo-artist with his 2022 debut album Blink (4 stars, The Irish Times). The work embraced a more lo-fi electronic aesthetic, blending vibrant effluent textures around pulsing kosmishe beats. The album, inspired by the peculiarities of time and place drew comparisons to Air, Stereolab and Broadcast – all delivered through Savage’s acute lyricism to the here and now.
The album was warmly received, earning a place among The Thin Air’s Top 20 Releases of 2022 and outlets such as Totally Dublin celebrating its unique blend of ‘balmy and captivating electronica’. In 2024, he shifted his creative process, aspiring to expand his skills as a songwriter and producer. Returning to a band format — a departure from the solo nature of Blink — he embarked on crafting new material, showcasing a a broader range of shifting dynamics.
Recording sessions at Black Mountain Studios in Dundalk during the summer of 2024 yielded tracks that reflect this evolution. A pivotal change in his process was Savage’s embrace of the piano, a development that has profoundly shaped his new compositions. The tracks are imbued with harmonic vibrancy and a newfound urgency, the work of an artist rejuvenated by creative discovery.
Single ‘Miles Away’ is the first output of this new material released 02/04/26. The song is about nostalgically reminiscing the boredom of teenage years – days spent swaying in the breeze and mindlessly doodling away the summer malaise. But this reminiscing is also relational to how the older self now finds themself, perhaps also battling boredom but in a different way, now warped by technology: “And we’re falling again and again, Through those smudged screens, waiting for life to begin.”