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Juno Falls
12+ albums
irishfolkindie folkindieTippspiel
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Feature from THE SUNDAY TIMES written by Mick Heany As far as Myles O’Reilly is concerned, when it comes to performance, it’s good to talk. The front man of the Dublin band Juno Falls has long been afflicted by a crippling nervousness when playing his folk-tinged, pop-inflected songs. Once, in front of a tiny audience in a west Cork pub, he had to stop the show in order to be sick, such was his anxiety. But when, last year, he was invited by Travis’s singer, Fran Healy, to support the Scottish popsters on their British tour, O’Reilly found a way to overcome his fear and make the most of the opportunity. He made himself, rather than his songs, the centre of attention. “I went on stage and immediately told the audience, ‘Listen, I’m dead nervous, I don’t know what I’m doing here, I’m just going to throw some songs at you.’ I actually found that talking worked better on stage than singing. It was a soother for me, because if I got a reaction from the audience between songs, suddenly it didn’t matter how good or bad I was playing, it was a good vibe. “So that did huge things for me. To stand up in front of huge numbers of people and face up to who I was, with all those faces looking at you, it really focused all my energy into one spot. And I totally have that confidence after that.” It seems an odd admission for a man who is the singer, guitarist, songwriter and occasionally sole member of Juno Falls : throughout his career, 33 year-old O’Reilly has frequently left behind thos
