Shaun Warner: “Seeing how Ireland is responding to Palestine makes me proud to be Irish"

As it turns out, Galwegian DJ and producer Shaun Warner is one of the few people enjoying the winter-like summer holding beachgoers captive at home across Ireland. Yet, he assures me that if I resided in Dubai, I, too, would welcome the cold breeze.

"Look, it's 42 degrees at home. In that scenario, you have two options: 1. You can try to go inside for the whole summer - not really an option - or shower more and wear less."

Shaun Warner is practical, hardworking, and quite singularly minded. These qualities can be seen from the genesis of his electronic music career, a genre which he almost stumbled upon by accident.

"It was 1994, and RTÉ played a clip of Paul Van Dyk playing at the Berlin love parade - it was mental!" Shaun explains a sense of excitement in his voice as he reminisces on his first introduction to the electronic music scene.

"The very next day, I made my way into town and was trying to describe the track I heard through memory alone…I didn't even know what to call that kind of music, but in the end, we found it, that's how I bought my first record… I don't think I even had turntables."

The obsession only got worse from there, and it wasn't long before Shaun became wholly immersed in the vibrant world of electronic sound.

"At the time, I had been saving for a motorbike; my parents weren't a fan of the idea," the musician proudly admits, "I thought, you know what would piss them off even more? If I bought something that makes lots and lots of noise - turntables!". This act of teenage rebellion fell flat on its head when, to his surprise, his dad revealed a hidden family secret.

"He turns around to me and says that he had set up the first nightclubs in Galway", Shaun explains, the disbelief still ever so slightly present in his tone, "and then revealed these epic turntables in the shed for me to use".

That's how it all started. Since that fateful moment, Shaun has gone on to become one of the most successful electronic sound engines in the Middle East and just released his fourth album, Morning Light.

Shaun reminds me that these credits don't just happen naturally; they are the by-product of hard work and hell of a lot of resilience.

"When I first moved over to Dubai from Australia (a result of his travelling days) I wasn't really impressed with the nightclub scene or the clubbing situation in general, so I decided not to take gigs I didn't enjoy," Shaun explains. "I spent that time producing music independently and allocated that time to listen to music production. That went from like one night a week to nearly every night."

It's through this method that the artist decided that he just had to "go for it" and saw him deliver his first album in 2013. Despite this work method, which may read like an all-work, no-play situation on the outside, Shaun promises me that this is not the case.

"Don't get me wrong, it can be knackering, but it depends on how sharp you are mentally, if I go into something sharp, I will probably be better at creating.

"If I'm knackered, which is sometimes the case, I have two young boys at home, then it's better to move on to some of the more boring things. But for me, this is better than watching TV, any day."

Speaking of his children, it's evident how much of a family man the musician is. Although he maintains that his latest album doesn't have a specific theme (other than "hopefully being better than his other albums"), it certainly does emphasise the people in the producer's life, with his youngest son featuring on one of the tracks.

"Featuring may be a bit of a stretch, actually! He just started hitting keys, and I was like, 'Can you do that again?' So, I just pressed record. He's thrilled that he's on one of the tracks."

His lyrical talent also shines through, a trait of his music that he holds in higher esteem and equates to his personal ownership of the LP.

"On my first album, I wrote everything top to bottom; on the second one, I probably did 70%. There were many more collaborations in the third one, but I didn't feel the same sense of ownership.

For this one, I've taken back most of the lyrics written by myself; it's a bit more personal, and I like that element."

The track 'What Things Could've Been'—which was released off the album earlier this month—was one of the more lyrically emotional tracks - a recurring theme in the recent LP and was inspired by his co-writers spotting of an old ex bringing up wonders of what "might have happened if things went differently."

Whilst the lyrics may mostly be Shaun this time around, his desire to collaborate has never been stronger. Morning Light has welcomed an impressive range of artists, from Ireland's own David Owens—the product of a chance run-in on Grafton Street—to J Nana, an esteemed South African music producer.

These credits , from lyrics to collaborations, although entirely meaningful and undeniably boastful in light of the album, are all tied in with the musicians sense of perspective, which is the essence of the latest LP, an essence that he puts down to his current environment and past experiences.

"Becoming a young parent completely changed my perspective on my own parents and has inspired a few writing sessions, and now, looking at what's happening in Palestine, over here in Dubai, you're exposed to more unfiltered and less curated news.

"For some reason, we think that these parents don't feel the same way we feel, but it's the same pride and joy when a child is born, the same pain when a child is murdered, and it's all so terrible, so how can it not affect what you're writing.

"Seeing how Ireland is responding makes me quite proud to be Irish, it's really well recognised in the Middle East that we're not following the same lines as a lot of other countries so there is an element of pride that comes with seeing how our country is doing.”

Morning Light was released last Friday, June 21, and is available for streaming now!