Ian Ring unveils Boku project

Eve Harrington

Cork music producer Ian Ring unveiled his debut solo project, Boku, and his debut single ‘Rise’, this week on 16 August. Best known for his group Young Wonder, he has also produced the likes of Talos and Daithí and established himself as an award-winning producer.

Now he has decided to re-emerge as an artist, having channeled his creative energy to benefit the needs of other musicians. He says: “Boku means 'l' and it is music that is personal to me. In essence, I want to create music people can dance too when I DJ, but also something that can musically sit on its own outside the world of DJ sets and clubs. I hope my music never really fits into one specific type of genre too comfortably.”

Talking about his new single, Ian says that he “wanted to create something hypnotic…with beats people can dance to. I always try to find something that shouldn’t really work, like these slightly detuned synths in ‘Rise’, I felt it brought a sense of danger and urgency. Music should never sound too clean or perfect in my opinion, it loses character.”

This track certainly has character with its chilled yet highly evocative beats that carry you away.

Ian’s musical creations have received multiple Choice Prize nominations, been crowned Radio 1 single of the week, Hype Machine number 1 and even being used in adverts by the likes of Calvin Klein and MTV.

He has also played support to Alt-J, Toro y Moi, performed on the Heineken stage at Electric Picnic, Longitude in Ireland, Latitude in the UK and many more locations.

Boku will continue with a number of releases via Soul Jamz records.

Stream ‘Rise’ at soundcloud.com/bokuofficial/rise-1 and follow Boku on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest updates.