New To Hot Press: Peter J. McCauley

Not many artists would put a successful music career on hold to work with the elderly – but Belfast multi-instrumentalist Peter J. McCauley isn’t like many other artists. In his former incarnation as Rams’ Pocket Radio he made appearances at Glastonbury, SXSW and Electric Picnic, and toured with the likes of Snow Patrol and Foy Vance.

While he was chasing his dreams as a solo artist, however, Peter describes feeling “a wee bit selfish”. He soon found himself embarking on a new path, in which collaborating with some of the country’s most exciting talent, writing for children’s theatre, and working with older people took centrestage.

“I did gigs and workshops with older people, but they weren’t requesting ‘Galway Girl’ – they wanted songs from the 1930s,” Peter recalls. “They helped me unlock a new style of writing.”

The influence is most striking on ‘Anywhere My Love Will Go’, a gorgeous single that blends a breezy English music hall sound with indie-pop undercurrents. It follows ‘I Don’t Like Monday’, also released under his own name back in February.

“In the past, I spent ages trying to craft masterpieces, but with both of these of these tunes, I just sat down at the piano, and had them done by the end of the day,” Peter says.

“They just flowed out.”

‘Anywhere My Love Will Go’ is out now.