It seems the Side Saddle project, helmed by Ian Mcguinness, has had some rough goings throughout its progression with just getting jump-started. The easiest route to take would have been to give up on his own music and instead, living a life with his fiancé without worry. But that wasn’t in the cards.
Although Mcguinness’ job moved him from Queens, NY to Boston, MA, with lots of traveling in between to make it disorienting, music was never separated from his spirit. Couple that with his fiancé’s move to Austin in order to finish up school and managing a long-distance relationship could prove challenging all on its own.
But after she finished school, he settled with her in Providence, RI, and with his bandmates still in New York, music goals were back on track. The band recorded the new Watermelon EP (out Friday, September 6) in New York over two weekends and to say there’s an array of emotions just within its 5 songs would be an understatement. Filled with sweet pop intonations, tenderness, as well as hard-edged guitar rock; there’s a lot going on here.
Side Saddle premieres the single “Chemistry,” which explores the highs and lows of chemical imbalance many people go through. Lightly distorted guitars lay against jangly ones, with keyboard washes that make this atmospheric track expansive.
On naming the EP, Mcguinness offers, “Walter was my fiancé’s dog before he became our dog. Having now lived with Walter for 2 years, I love him more than any other pet I’ve ever had (and i grew up with dogs). He went missing a year ago for about 36 hours and it was one of the hardest things I’ve gone through and the truth is I didn’t realize how much I cared about him until he was gone. Watermelon is a reminder for me to make sure I’m taking stock of the people around me that I love and learning to actually see what I have before it’s gone and realizing it too late.”
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