An Interview with Bold Love - Dancing & Loving Their Way Into Ireland’s Next Big Sound

Interview by Desh Kapur (All Music Magazine UK)

Fast-rising Dublin six-piece Bold Love are having a moment. With the release of their debut EP Dancing & Loving on October 17th, the band cement their place as one of Ireland’s most exciting new acts. Led by the emphatic single All The Lives — a track that perfectly captures the band’s powerful blend of emotion, atmosphere, and swagger — the EP arrives on the heels of standout festival appearances at Latitude, All Points East, and All Together Now, and sold-out headline shows in London and Dublin. Produced by Richie Kennedy (Interpol, Celeste, White Lies), Dancing & Loving brings together Bold Love’s most defining work to date: sweeping cinematic textures, heartfelt lyricism, and a deep sense of place and purpose. As frontman Cian Ó Maonlaí puts it, “It’s about youth, love, death and a sense of place and belonging… life is mad and we’re just dancing and loving our way through it.”

All Music Magazine UK:

First of all, congratulations on the release of your debut EP!

How does it feel to finally have Dancing & Loving out in the world, and what does this moment mean to each of you personally?

Bold Love (Jack):

Yeah, it's a wonderful thing. We're all super proud of it and delighted to finally have it out in the world. Now it belongs to everyone.

All Music Magazine UK:

‘All The Lives’ is such a powerful lead single — both sonically and emotionally. Can you tell us about the story behind that song and how it set the tone for the rest of the EP?

Bold Love (Jack):

We wrote that in the studio and then Brian Casey, the Cork-based producer, helped us workshop and fine-tune it.

The song is about realising you and your partner both want different things in life — and how you have that difficult conversation.

All Music Magazine UK:

Cian, you’ve said the EP is about “youth, love, death and a sense of place and belonging.” Could you unpack that a bit more — was there a particular moment or experience that brought those themes into focus?

Bold Love (Cian):

The songs on the EP are all written about core moments in my life up until now — from falling in and out of love with the place I grew up, to the chaotic blur of adolescence.

With these songs I was trying to figure out how I was feeling at these different points in my life, so yeah, it’s about all of those things.

I suppose it wasn’t just one moment that brought these themes up for me, but a collection of different pivotal experiences that inspired the songs.

All Music Magazine UK:

Jack, you’ve mentioned how the band’s cultural and political landscape inevitably shapes your art. In what ways do you feel growing up in Ireland has influenced Bold Love’s sound and worldview?

Bold Love (Jack):

Irish crowds for gigs are amazing, and that alone instills a real hunger to get up and do what we do — keep writing and keep performing.

There’s a real love and appreciation of the arts here, and I think you see that reflected in things like the cross-party support for the artist basic income.

(This is not an endorsement of the current government by any means — they’re shite and disconnected from reality. They just got this one right.)

For us, Ireland sits in a dichotomy where on the one hand we love where we’re from — the culture, the people, the land — and on the other, there’s so much we see wrong here.

How the government has let down ordinary families with the rise of homelessness and people feeling priced out of their own communities.

Also, the far-right has manipulated people into racist rhetoric that’s so at odds with what it means to be Irish — welcoming refugees and celebrating diversity.

I think that contrast is reflected in our music, in the tone and sentiment, without being too literal.

All Music Magazine UK:

The EP was produced by Richie Kennedy, whose credits include Interpol and Celeste. What did he bring to the process, and how did his approach shape the final sound of Dancing & Loving?

Bold Love (Jack):

Richie is brilliant. He really knows how to pull a performance out of you in the room. He pushes us in a really healthy way and always demands more.

He likes to get the whole band sounding as tight as possible before adding the sauce. He’s got amazing musical intuition, and that’s reflected in all of his work.

Also, big shout out to Matt Glasbey who produced “Easy” on the EP — another amazing producer who helped us find our sound.

All Music Magazine UK:

The tracklist moves from intimate reflection to widescreen cinematic textures — songs like ‘Feel You Close’ and ‘That’s Where The Heart Is’ feel deeply emotional but expansive. How did you balance vulnerability with that big, ambitious sound?

Bold Love (Jack):

I don’t know.

All Music Magazine UK:

You’ve already played major festivals like Latitude and All Points East, and now you’re headlining your own shows in London and Dublin. How has performing these songs live shaped or deepened your connection to them?

Bold Love (Jack):

Good question. I think we all change our opinions on what our favourite song is, and so much of that comes down to how the crowd receives it.

It’s the audience who really breathe life into the music.

It’s easy to forget that music is supposed to be played and enjoyed as a live experience when you’re in the studio — playing them live is how we really get to share the experience with everyone.

All Music Magazine UK:

Megan, your vocals and synth work add such atmosphere and emotional colour to the EP. How do you and Cian find that balance between your two voices and perspectives in the songwriting process?

Bold Love (Megan):

Thank you so much, first of all. It allows me to really express myself in the music when keys and synths have such a primary place in these songs that we’re all so proud of.

It’s so easy to sing with Cian — our voices have always belonged together. It comes from our love of our native language and culture, and I think that allows us to understand each other.

We both come from musical parents, and to take it really poetically, both of us have part of our souls in two Gaeltachts — Rann na Feirste and Dún Chaoin — and that will always connect two people creatively.

All Music Magazine UK:

There’s a real sense of community and shared purpose in Bold Love’s music — six members, all contributing to this rich tapestry of sound. What’s the creative dynamic like within the band, and how do you make decisions together?

Bold Love (Jack):

It’s a very open, diplomatic exercise — balancing different tastes and trusting everyone else’s intuition.

Sometimes a song is born in the rehearsal room, or sometimes myself, Adam, or Cian will bring something in and let the rest add their own unique contribution.

In the end, every song is covered in everyone else’s fingerprints, which makes for a nice musical mosaic.

All Music Magazine UK:

Finally, Dancing & Loving feels like both a statement and a beginning. Where do you see Bold Love heading next — musically, emotionally, or even philosophically?

Bold Love (Jack):

There’s so much we want to do that it’s hard to put into words.

I think we want to explore every facet of our songwriting in as much depth as we can — wherever that may take us.

CONNECT WITH BOLD LOVE

WEB SITE

FACE BOOK