Myriad Things – Sanctuary (2025)
Aptly named Myriad Things, the Belfast-based trio brings listeners a myriad of different styles and sounds with their genre-diverse melodies. Each listen is like holding a kaleidoscope to your eye and watching the pretty colours blend – greens for rock, reds for psychedelia, and the occasional blue for the blues. Holding fast to their roots of vintage rock and roll, but slicing it with a contemporary lilt, Jonnie Rice (vocals and guitar), Brendan Doran (bass), and Jimmy McCrory (drums) came together in 2018 with their “first foray onto the live scene…”; then the veil of Covid pandemic fell and everything was held in a quiet pause. The lads continued to stoke the passionate embers for music, and in 2022, they released singles alongside a slew of live dates. Join us as we delve into the most recent addition to their discography, Sanctuary.
The first release since the well-received 2022 singles, ‘Let It Come Down’ and ’10,000 Miles Away’, the three-track EP, Sanctuary, is a bold evolution in Myriad Things’ music. Retaining the rawness of their 2022 singles, Sanctuary offers a more sophisticated, mature and well-polished package. Produced by Neal Calderwood, each track is a silvery concoction of soaring guitars, dynamic drums, a bold bass, and the eclectic infusion of synths wafting throughout the tunes. Similar, yet dissimilar, each track on Sanctuary expresses the innovativeness of the group held together with originality and genuineness.
Opening with the title track, Myriad Things shoves you into a bubbling of music with the guitars meeting you in a flurry of notes – it’s like fairies dancing across your skin with the imps peeping from the sonic trees as the melody intensifies in an almost frenzied urgency. Interestingly, amidst the bounce of sound, Rice’s vocals hold your hand as an anchor in the soft but feverish dream.
‘There Is Nothing There’ ups the ante with a crashing of drums laid across a bold bass and soaring guitar. Keeping the pace from the fevered ‘Sanctuary’, ‘There Is Nothing There’ pulls you along a sonic path, trying to escape the imps but simultaneously leading you deeper into a dark forest. Whereas the first track captured the isolation and “hermit at the end of his tether lifestyle…”, the building rambunctiousness of ‘There Is Nothing There’ is all about “power and drive”.
Coming in at 6 minutes, the final track appears calmer, more soothing, and twinkling as you take a deep breath after the madness of the earlier songs. Spacey and somewhat psychedelic, Myriad Things infuse traditional eastern instruments – Tibetan singing bowls, tingsha bells, chimes and a tank drum – building a soothing Eastern flavour in ‘Colours of the World’. From the hectic opening to the bolting crash and finally, a wash of calm, Myriad Things offer a journey bound in vintage rock.
One major aspect of the EP that makes it unique is the interplay between each member – a shining expression of the charismatic camaraderie, making the songs comfortable but with a flair of sparking individuality. Moreover, the music drags you on a journey through vintage rock in a way that you feel you are in the studio, listening and laughing along with the group instead of just blasting it through your speakers.
Find out more about Myriad Things on their Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, YouTube and Spotify.
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