Experimental Dingle/Cork-based band Pinhole released their debut album 'Sweet Spot' on Friday October 11th featuring the single ‘I Want Desire’ which was hailed as RTÉ.ie’s single of the week upon its release.

We caught up with Ciara O’Flynn and Mark McLoughlin to peel the curtain on their eclectic debut album 'Sweet Spot'.

How did you two first meet?

Ciara: I moved to West Kerry in 2011 after finishing art college in Cork and being made redundant. The plan was to learn Irish properly and set up my visual arts practice (which I did) and continue tipping away at solo songwriting.  Someone recommended that I talk to Mark and so we met and became aware of each other and Mark subsequently asked me to join his music project Pinhole.

How would you describe your music to someone who's never heard it?

Ciara: Always a hard question to answer... I'd say if you like the ethereal in Portishead and Kate Bush and you enjoy the crunch of Tom Waits and the quirkiness of Björk, then we deserve a listen. All those references are quite old but I'm not sure I've heard many contemporary acts that sound like us.

Your debut album was delayed due to the pandemic. How has Sweet Spot transformed over those four years?

Mark: Well we wrote lots of new material and it gave us more time to figure out what we wanted to do and perhaps make a better album.

Ciara: In many ways it allowed us to return to the original artistic vision we had for the project because it was pared back to the two of us for much of the pandemic and the songs became more personal and introspective.

How do your respective musical histories inform Sweet Spot?

Ciara: I've sang a lot since an early stage between cathedral choirs and teenage bands. In college, I really started to explore the voice and toning using the voice as an instrument rather than just a word and melody deliverer! I think this has certainly influenced the record.

Mark: Well I come from a non-lyrical musical background so I guess there is a filmic element to some of the music. We have also both shared careers as visual artists which fuels our creative approach to songwriting.

There's a big emphasis on imagination in the album. How do you like to exercise your imaginations outside of music?

Ciara: Well I can be a bit of a spacer anyway! I like to write, imagine stories about people I see, and visual art is always in the mix.

Mark: We're both naturally creative and inquisitive people I think. I am still very close to the visual art world and that informs many of our ideas. Also our respective passions for human rights issues plays a role in being incorporated in a more imaginative way into the music.

What's your favourite song on the album and why?

Mark: ‘Sweet Spot’ and ‘I Want Desire’ because they feel complete and give a little spine tingle now and again.

Ciara: This changes day to day for me.  Today it’s ‘I Want Desire’, I enjoy the intensity of it.

How do you hope people feel after listening to Sweet Spot?

Ciara: Lovely question! Maya Angelou used to say judge people by how you feel after you leave their company. I would hope that folks feel refreshed with their curiosity for life turned up a bit... our unreleased previous album was called Come Curious (or don't come at all)—I feel curiosity is essential to enjoy life.

What can people expect from a Pinhole live show?

Ciara: Great tunes and some interesting approaches to instruments... I sing into my fiddle a lot and send it through an effects pedal and Mark’s ancient Fender Rhodes has some broken keys that create wonky sounds.

Pinhole debut album Sweet Spot is out now