‘If I ever need to figure something out, I write about it ... It’s how I straighten things out in my head’

A singer/songwriter from Ardbraccan leads an interesting double life that could be straight from a novel, pursuing his music career while tending to lighthouses on a ship along the Irish coast.

In fact, Cuan just released his new single, 'On A Ship', earlier this month. Being the son of Jan Muyllaert, one of Ireland's few remaining Irish harp makers, music most definitely runs in the family. Cuan grew up in Ardbraccan with his parents, Jan and Marie, his brother, David, and sister, Mieke.

Now based in Donegal, Cuan enjoys peaceful days at home and creating music with other musicians, whether that be in a pub or around the kitchen table.

“I kind of fell into working on the ship around four years ago," he says. The music side of things have been going on for a lot longer. I’ve been writing songs since I was a teenager and I played locally a lot wherever I lived. If I ever need to figure something out, I write about it. It’s how I straighten things out in my head.”

Cuan has been playing guitar since he was a young boy, and he has brought music and songwriting with him wherever he goes. Despite growing up between in the countryside, he has lived in Cork, Galway, Dublin and Donegal and has always got involved with the local musicians in his area.

“At the moment I live in a place where there’s a lot of sheep and mountains and I’m near the sea. It’s very peaceful.”

Cuan attended secondary school in St Patrick’s Classical School in Navan, where he always showed a keen interest in music and started his own band called 'Ninted and the Skinners'. He was the front man and he and his band mates were mainly into punk music.

“The name of the band came from getting mistakenly made fun of in school by some of my peers who thought I was someone else, in classic Navan style,” he laughs.

The band dispersed but Cuan kept persisting with music as the genres he performed molded and changed. He has been working as a deckhand on the ship while also pursuing his music career.

"I had to start from scratch and learn the ropes of the ship. Its a strenuous job. You have to able to drive these large boats into quite difficult situations at times to tend to offshore lighthouses that are situated on rocks, for example, the Fastnet Lighthouse in Cork.

"You bring a hose from the ship to the lighthouse which can be tricky at times. Dropping the anchor, which can weigh about three tonnes, causes a lot of vibration and noise. The ship is full of tricky operations. Everyone does a bit of everything. There's a lot of different skills involved in maintaining the ship, too."

"You could be helping the cooks on board with the cleaning or you could be taking watches, listening to radios and to keep watch around the ship to make sure everything is okay and running smoothly."

"Being on the ship is four weeks on and four weeks off, so it's a long time to be on board. It can be tough when things aren't going smoothly and some trips can be long and difficult, but others can fly by."

While Cuan enjoys his time at sea, his passion lies with making music and performance, having even studied theatre in Dublin Institute of Technology.

"My passions are part of keeping myself healthy, and writing music and songs is my way of dealing with things and it makes me feel alive. It is a very cathartic experience."

"You have to make your own opportunities these days, which is what I'm trying to do. There's a lot of people putting out great music, it's just about people hearing your music. I try to play wherever I can."

"I try not to do covers any more and just perform my own stuff. Playing with other musicians is great because you can play your own music and people discover you that way. It's a relaxed and creative environment."

He describes his own music as fitting into the country-folk singer-songwriter category. Cuan is multifaceted and also plays the guitar and harmonica.

'On A Ship', now on all streaming platforms, combines his life on board with his music and song writing, telling a story of his own experiences, almost in a light-hearted, lyrically raw manner at the beginning on the song, moving into lyrics that listeners can interpret in their own way and apply to their own situations and lives.

To listen to Cuan's new single 'On A Ship', click here and to access Cuan's Instagram, click here.