Kevin making waves in music scene with debut album

Kevin making waves in music scene with debut album

8 July 2020

FIVE years after taking up playing the guitar for the first time at the age of 40, local man Kevin Young is releasing his first album.

Better known as the former owner of Saints Cafe in Saintfield, Kevin has found a new way in life through his music and career in working to help people deal with unresolved emotional trauma.

His debut album, Lonely Demon, has already been hailed by BBC Radio Ulster presenter Ralph McLean as a “great collection of heartfelt, emotional and honest songs”.

Ralph has played several of Kevin’s tracks already ahead of the album’s release on his Local Voices show.

Kevin was one of the local performers who took part in the virtual Rock Down concert recently which raised £7,000 for the mental health charity Downpatrick PIPS.

He is fast making a name for himself on the local music scene and already has amassed some devoted fans.

Like many artists trying to get funding off the ground for a new creative project, Kevin opened up a crowdfunding appeal on Kickstarter. He raised more than £1,000 in just six days from funders, some of the subscribers coming from as far away as Australia.

Kevin says that part of his journey into music is really about understanding what would give him joy in life.

He explained: “I now work as a professional practitioner of compassionate inquiry after selling up the cafe. That’s really about helping people improve their emotional wellbeing and to deal with any trauma-based issues they might have.

“When I was running the cafe, I would also do business consultancy and advise people on business aspects of opening a cafe. The more I did it, the more I realised that there was a lot of emotional problems that some people had which were holding them back and that’s where they really needed some help. I began to study this type of psychotherapeutic approach developed by Dr Gabor Maté and realised that I wanted to do more. ”

Tapping into his innate ability to connect with people and understand them also reawakened long-held creativity in Kevin and a desire to express himself.

“I often tell people that it’s never too late to do what you really want to do and change your life,” he said. “I’ve always been into music but never got involved but I decided to learn how to play guitar when I turned 40 as I thought that if I don’t do it now, I never will. I also felt that I needed to practice what I preached.”

Over the years, Kevin has slowly emerged as a songwriter and has written some deeply personal lyrics to his alternative folk sounding album.

“The songs are about issues such as addiction, darkness, depression, loss, lost love and death. The album is quite dark in them but I’ve been told that people really relate to the music and words and find it uplifting.”

One of Kevin’s earlier tracks released was Painted Son, which was well received.

His first single off Lonely Demon, called I Love Only You — one of the rare love songs on the album — was written with his wife Sharon in mind, who has lent her voice on backing vocals on all the tracks.

The single is now available on the music platform, Bandcamp.

Kevin has worked with music producer, Michael Mormecha of Tree Son Studios in Hillsborough, to record the album.

Kickstarter funders will receive the album in a few weeks’ time ahead of its general release.