Silver Branch: "It can be difficult to talk about yourself in the first person. I thought changing my name would help with some of that"

Kieran Mulvihill first introduced himself with his 2017 EP From The Outside Looking In. After six years of using his birth name, he’s now launched his self-described alternative indie-folk project Silver Branch.

“It was freedom, really,  from my own name,” Kieran explains. “I wanted to start something new. I find it can be kind of difficult to talk about yourself in the first person. I thought changing my name would help with some of that.”

The emotional distance offered by the new moniker can only go so far, though.

“Essentially, it’s still me – can’t get away from being myself,” he chuckles.

Silver Branch was also a way for Kieran to try his hand at playing with other musicians, after so many years of being a solo artist. He had the occasion to fully try it out on his Irish spring tour, which ended on May 10 in Dublin’s Anseo.

“We did McHugh’s in Drogheda,” he reflects. “It was Rí Dunne on cello, so it was more like a solo/duo kind of tour. It’s part of the name change - bringing more musicians to play with me.”

After playing by himself for so long, working with other musicians can be challenging, even though Kieran is eager to open himself up to new opportunities.

“I’m used to playing alone and writing alone,” he notes. “If I met the right people, I could make Silver Branch into a band. And if we were playing together for a while, I’d be open to it. Bringing more musicians in is obviously so much fun. You get to share with other people, and get their ideas about things that work and don’t work. It’s another milestone to get to write with somebody else, and actually get to collaborate as a band.”

Silver Branch’s debut album, The Long Goodnight, is a vulnerable ten-track alt-folk record, where Kieran takes the listener on a journey of self-exploration and experimentation, both lyrically and musically. And, according to the singer, it was a true labour of love.

“I started it in late 2021,” he explains. “There was quite a lot of pre-production that went into it. I recorded it with Karl Odlum. It was a real pleasure working with him, but there were definitely some ups and downs trying to twist and turn things to get them right. I actually had a full album when I went in there, and then I realised I had outgrown the songs.

“At that stage, I hadn’t changed my name yet, but I basically scrapped half of the album, and wrote new songs that I was much more happy with. I just knew I wanted to move away from what I was doing before.”

The Long Goodnight is indeed a departure from Kieran’s old sound, showing a clear keenness to experiment with new instruments and sounds:

“I like a vast array of different types of music,” he says. “I love metal music, hip hop, pop music, a lot of different things – but I have to narrow it down to something that’s gonna bring people, a certain audience.

“I just tend to go with whatever feels right. I definitely went for more something grungy, on this album – more with the band songs. I wouldn’t say ‘The Setting Sun’ is a grungy song, but ‘Even Out’ or ‘The Long Goodnight’ sort of are.”

The closing title track has a heavy, guttural feel. It’s certainly an ending that leaves a strong impression.

“I brought it to Karl,” Kieran says of the first version. “He had notes. He said, ‘There’s something there in that song.’ There’s a lot of yearning in that track, it’s like a release. It’s also a very nice way to round off the album.”

• The Long Goodnight is out now.