Talented Lorcan Donnellan (25) plays guitar, writes lyrics and vocals and is one half of ‘indie-electro’ band Martellos which he formed with his friend Kevin Gunningham from Mayo.

Lorcan is originally from Kinnaderry in the Glenfin area and is a former student of Dooish National School and St Columba’s College, Stranorlar.

The London-based band has just released their debut single ‘Card Tricks’ which was listed as Hot Press’ track of the day last week and ‘Glenfin’ even gets a mention in the single.

Speaking to the Donegal News, Lorcan said he is very appreciative of all the support he has received from the people of Donegal.

“I always reference Donegal somehow in tracks even if it’s well hidden, so I’m glad it’s been picked up on,” said Lorcan.

“I want the tracks to be authentic to myself and relatable to people in North West Ireland particularly, as it’s an area I don’t think gets enough coverage.

“That said, as long as we’re writing music we love I don’t really care how it’s received.

“There’s always a worry people won’t perceive your music the way you do so I think it’s important to have some tunnel vision in that sense and just hope that if you keep grafting and being authentic to yourself you’ll get the rewards,” said Lorcan.

Lorcan’s love of music started at a young age as his father also played guitar and he followed in his footsteps when he started playing when he was 10.

The young musician, who is self taught, explains that he first knew he wanted to pursue a career in music when he played bass for popular Donegal band ‘Delivery Men’ at the age of 14.

He explained, “When I was 14, by pure chance I sat beside Gareth Reynolds in an exam hall in St Columba’s and ended up exchanging guitar drawings/doodles for about a week to pass the time.

“When the exams were finished he asked me to play bass in the band he was in, Delivery Men, which felt like a dream come true at the time.

“They were a couple years older and already a band I was looking up at.

“I learnt bass as fast as I could and we started jamming, writing tunes, recording tracks and gigging together. s!

“I feel like that’s when I really got started. Since then if I haven’t been in a band or working towards something musically I haven’t been happy,” said Lorcan.

The Donegal man met Kevin at college in Galway eight years ago and during the pandemic, the two musicians started to collaborate remotely as Kevin was based in Galway while Lorcan was in London.

Their first single ‘Card Tricks’ was written remotely but Kevin then decided to move to London so they could pursue the project properly.

Lorcan continued, “We did all the recording of ‘Card Tricks’ ourselves between bedrooms and rented rehearsal spaces.

“We feel we had complete control over our sound from beginning to finish by not having anybody else in.

“Our good pal Ronan Lynch mixed and mastered the track and we were left with everything but a band name.

“Once “Martellos” came floating down a street off London Fields, we set a date and were off,” said Lorcan.

The band are hoping to have their next release out within a month or two and a music video for ‘Card Tricks’ is also in the pipeline.

Lorcan continued, “We are very much enjoying the writing and recording at the moment, so don’t have plans on a live gig.

“We want to have a collection of songs online before we do this so stay tuned, we’ll be releasing again soon,” said Lorcan.