Peter Richardson is a 23-year old singer/songwriter from Dublin. An avid songwriter since the age of 15, Peter grew up surrounded by music. After testing the waters with his original songs at a college open mic, Peter began properly recording his music at home in the summer of 2020. A few months later in October he released his debut single, “The End of The World”, an indie folk ballad filled with choral vocals and stirring, apocalyptic lyrics and instrumentation.
Peter’s dramatic acoustic sound draws from a wide range of influences, drawing on the poeticism and varied sounds of artists such as Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, Hozier, Lorde and Ben Howard among countless others. Peter also draws influence from great Irish folk singer/songwriters, such as Paul Brady and Declan O’Rourke.
Peter’s second single, “Please Don’t Believe Me” released in March of 2021, and further expanded his ambitious home-crafted sound. The “Gripping sophomore track” (Hot Press) was featured on RTÉ Radio 1 and Hot Press’ “Track of The Day” upon release. Indie Buddie remarked the track “oozes passion, compelling melodies, and cinematic appeal”, describing it as “a refined display of contemporary pop marking Peter Richardson an artist to keep an eye on.” Since the release of “Please Don’t Believe Me”, Peter has been working on his debut EP, ‘Then & Now’, which will be releasing June 10th.
Working with Cork producer Cian Sweeney (1000 Beasts), Peter released the first single from the EP, ‘The Coast’ in February. Praised by Hot Press as “Gentle, soaring and full of nostalgic comfort”, the track received incredible support, and continues to build excitement for what’s to come – “it’ll be monumentally exciting to see where Peter Richardson goes next.” (Hot Press).
The second and final single from the EP, ‘Pray’ released on April 15th and reached support from HotPress, RTE 2XM, Second Wave Blog, IMRO, The Acoustic Yard, Golden Plec, KFM, Flirt FM, Shannonside FM, Dublin South FM, LMFM and many more.
With the release of Then & Now set for June 10th followed by his debut headline show upstairs at Whelan’s on June 12th, and his debut festival appearance at Kaleidoscope festival at the end of the month, this summer marks an exciting next step in the career of this emerging artist.
Villain is the central track of Peter Richardson’s debut EP, ‘Then & Now’. Brought to life by prolific Cork producer Cian Sweeney (1000 Beasts), ‘Villain’, is an ambitious, menacing departure from the largely acoustic, uplifting folk worlds of ‘Pray’ and ‘The Coast’. It is by far the biggest and boldest track on the EP, exploring a much darker, more brooding aspect of his sound which in stark contrast to his earlier works, is laced with an anger magnificently brought to bear through the lyricism and production.
The collapse of love is rarely black and white. Amongst the roiling wreck of broken love the world shrinks around us and we see only strongly defined certainties. The broken trust, the longing, the unrequited, perhaps unwanted love. It’s easier to see a cold-blooded killer- a cursed shade of the person we once loved, stripped of all goodness and humanity. We often unload our pain this way, contorting every idea we ever had of them because our hearts cannot take the reality that our love died. It is far more gentle on ourselves to believe it was purposefully killed by a cruel Villain, a monster.
Beautifully realized with haunting backing vocals and crushing emotion, this dramatic track serves as a cathartic release of pain and anger, with each cutting lyric and bold verse building to a final, emphatic conclusion.
‘Then & Now’ is the debut EP from Dublin singer-songwriter Peter Richardson. The ambitious four-track project boasts both a refinement of Peter’s folk-rooted sound, as well as bigger and bolder tracks such as Villain, beautifully realised and brought to life alongside producer Cian Sweeney (1000 Beasts).
Across the EP, the tracks describe the end and beginning of a journey, from a place of darkness to a place of light, from ‘Then’ to ‘Now’. Peter explored this idea both in subject matter and instrumentation, with the melancholic, dark opening two tracks drawing a dramatic contrast to the uplifting worlds of ‘Pray’ and ‘The Coast’. The bold, fully realized project is set to release on June 10th, shortly followed by Peter’s debut headline performance at Whelan’s on June 12th, marking an exciting next step for this emerging artist.
