LAST year, much of the talk in Barrow’s music scene was of a promising teenage indie band The Sides.

However, the five-piece went their separate ways before 2017 was out.

Their frontman, Mac Murray, wasted no time in getting to work on his next project, and his debut solo EP marks him out as one of 2018’s success stories.

The five tracks on Civil War include a title track that was written for The Sides before the split, and the rest were hammered out in a matter of weeks around the turn of the year, and he headed into the studio with Jamie Bragg, over at his JB Studios on Barrow Island – before his recent move to New York.

He says: “The material for this EP has been around since about Christmas. My idea was to record everything myself, but with certain things happening at the time - including the birth of my son – when I heard some of Jamie’s ideas that he put forward, I jumped on them straight away.

“He helped a lot with the songs throughout the whole process and made a big impact on my sound.

“The tracks that feature other musicians are simply there to fill the gaps that I couldn’t fill, and give it a full-band feel.

“Jamie and I decided to speed things up a bit and have James Carling play drums on five of the tracks, and I played drums on the title track. Jamie recorded bass as he has more experience on that side of things, but for the rhythms and lead that was both Jamie and I.”

He's already had a strong reception for the EP since its release at the start of the month, and plenty of plays on BBC Radio Cumbria.

It’s an incredibly well-rounded first effort, owing to some excellent production skills - and the fact that every bit of guitar was recorded on a 70s Stratocaster and the snare drum was originally owned by Phil Collins, perhaps giving it an extra bit of gravitas.

The resulting release is not too far removed from the later singles that The Sides were putting out, but there are bigger steps away from the straightforward indie sounds, with huge choruses and driving riffs akin to Foo Fighters.

If it’s a taste of things to come, then big things should be expected of Mac Murray in 2019.

“My plan is to eventually get a band together, but it’s hard to find the time with a new baby,” he says.

“I’m also very pleased with the results; Jamie did a fantastic job with the recording and the mixing, and Danny Stone did a wonderful job mastering the tracks. Music-wise now that the EP is out, I want to keep writing and hopefully head over to New York and stay with Jamie for a couple weeks writing and tweaking more songs.

“One of the tracks, Magic, I wrote in under 10 minutes, but the stuff that Jamie and I wrote together took a bit more time as we wanted to dive a bit deeper.

“I just love recording music and releasing it to the public. I don’t like the idea of doing gigs every weekend, playing the same originals and covers anymore, I just like to be at home with my son and my fiancée and enjoy the idea of someone somewhere in the world listening to our music.

“That being said, I do love the occasional gig, and I’d love to have a band ready to be able to play every once and a while so that people can hear the live sound of my EP.”

Civil War is available to stream and download from the major digital retailers.