Cian Ducrot is new to releasing music professionally, but certainly experienced in terms of his ability as a musician.

His move from Cork to Camden came at a time where he was accepted into the London Royal Academy of Music, on a full scholarship, which instantly shows what a huge talent he is as a musician. ‘F**ked Up All The Time’, as the title suggests is full of strong sentiment, and takes Cian Ducrot back to the time when he decided to quit the Academy, and was more of a lost soul, feeling isolated from his family and pondering his next steps. 

A rhythmic piano brings the song in, with purity that echoes around your ears, this is soon joined by Cian Ducrot’s vocal bringing honesty to your ears straight away. He has a very pure vocal, that is similar in places to other male pop artists at the moment, I can hear Ed Sheeran a little, but the way the song is crafted and created is totally unique to Cian Ducrot. The melody is beautiful, yet serious as this song has a message to carry out. The production initially is stripped right back, possibly because Cian Ducrot is happy as a musician on his own, but as it moves through phases, more is added. Starting with synths that ring out around the piano, then vocal effects to enhance the main melody and more orchestration builds gradually and works to really take the song to new levels. The vocal moves from the main, mid level pitch to a fulceto, with effective dramatic percussion that suddenly drops out to leave the vocal and piano alone again to reinforce the message of growth, self discovery and at points disappointment that ring throughout the lyrics. 

Whilst as the title suggests, this isn’t a song to listen to loudly with your Grandma, but strangely she might enjoy it. She’ll like the way the melody is classic in construction and the vocal is honest and powerful with the piano, accomplished and smooth as the main instrument. I doubt she’ll like the edge to this track though, this is definitely a sound of 2020 and it has lots to offer and will get Cian Ducrot a new group of fans who’ll appreciate the lyrics, the structure, but most importantly the general class that this song gives us.

 Singer-songwriter 

Author: Phil Arnold

Phil Arnold is a musician, producer and music reviewer from Devon, in the South West of England. Whilst not writing music reviews, Phil also writes and records under the name of Ugbrooke.