Conn Thornton Releases Affecting New Single ‘The Ballad of McKinley Park’ (Irish Indie Folk)
Growing up as classical pianist, playing Russian Romanticism and French Impressionism, it wasn’t until the world ground to halt in 2020 that Conn Thornton took the melodic language they forged in the classical world and melded it to more contemporary influences such as Talk Talk and Sufjan Stevens. This melding gave Conn a voice and musical vocabulary they used for exploration and expression. Over the course of the next 4 years Conn released several singles and 3 albums, most recently 2024’s ‘Meteorite Season’. An album that moved from delicate soul baring acoustic to trip-hop inspired beats and synths. Never one to idle, Conn now returns with a new single ‘The Ballad of McKinley Park’.
“Wondrous, sometimes inexplicable moments”
Dig With It
‘The Ballad of McKinley Park’ was a song that felt like it had been waiting to be written as it seemed to come to Conn almost fully formed. It was written following a trip to Sacramento, the setting for Greta Gerwig’s film ‘Lady Bird’, from which the song takes its inspiration. Musically it leans into the sundrenched California sound of the 70’s while lyrically parallels Lady Bird’s disillusionment with her hometown and attempt to find her identity, against Conn’s love affair with Sacramento and the impact the film had in shaping their own identity. With this in mind, there are two narrative voices running in parallel, one speaking from experience and the other, a fictional character rooted half a world away. Like calling into an echoing tunnel with only the faintest bit of light visible on the other side.
Conn Thornton – The Ballad of McKinley Park (Spotify Link)
Conn Thorton – The Ballad of McKinley Park (Official Video – YouTube Link)
The beauty of the song lies in Conn’s ability to build emotion through layering different instruments, often subtle sounds provide seismic emotional shifts. The quietly insistent drum loop gives the song it’s pulse, while cloud like reverb pads provide an ethereal underpinning for the lyrics, further imbued with poignancy as Conn intones, ‘The morning is yours to take, so the evening will conceal me”. Lap steel on the song comes courtesy of Belfast’s own Joel Harkin, also responsible for mastering the EP. Not since REM has a song benefited so much from a mandolin lead.
“Conn’s has as much literacy as a romantic poet,
their music like 1970s piano ballads written by John Keats”
Yeo Magazine
The song was entirely recorded and mixed by Conn at their home. Working in isolation is an approach that Conn has become accustomed to, with the project coming to the fore during the pandemic, there was no access to rehearsal spaces or indeed other musicians. While initially daunting taking on responsibility for each element of the writing, production and release, Conn now sees this as a powerful position, as releases are a testament to work and perseverance each project requires.
The art for the single release was shot by Conn’s partner, using their SLR film camera. Experiments into figuring out the mechanics of the camera led to beautiful, hazy shots that mirrored the songs on the EP. Conn says, ‘All complimentary colour palettes, all vaguely decipherable imagery that fits into the project’s ethos’.