Mahuna releases debut album

Hailing from Belfast’s storied Andersonstown, Mahuna is a singer-songwriter who filters lived experience through a lens of nostalgia, reflection and quiet reverence. Growing up during the Troubles, his early years were marked by a stark duality; violence and uncertainty cast long shadows, while 50s and 60s melodies offered fleeting escapes. That tension between beauty and hardship forms the basis of Mahuna’s artistic vision and it threads gently through everything he creates.

Before stepping out as a solo artist, Mahuna spent time wandering various creative paths, from studying Chemical Engineering at Queen’s University to fronting the London-based band The Deceivers, his story has been one of many chapters. But it wasn’t until Berlin, under grey skies and quiet snow, that Mahuna’s solo identity truly began to take shape and inspired by fatherhood and solitude, he started to craft songs that felt based in both the personal and the relatable.

His debut single “Underneath A Hazel Tree” arrived in September last year, capturing the meditative stillness of ancient Sligo woodlands. Followed up by singles two and three, he now brings us his most ambitious work to date with his brand new debut album titled Forever Is Mine, a record that spans decades of memory and feeling, a work as intimate as it is expansive.

The entire release feels like a sonic memoir, each track tied to a specific time and place, whether it’s Parisian dawns or Berlin winters, Monaghan fields or childhood echoes of Belfast, the album paints scenes that last like fading photographs. Started off with “The Road I Have Wandered,” a song penned in Berlin, the opening track offers a farewell to what was and a gentle nod to what could be wrapped up in a delicate folk outing of soothing rhythmic sway and lullaby-esque vocal leads backed by soft acoustic guitar, elegant flutters of piano and twinkling key tones.

“Far-Off Summer’s Night” delivers one of the album’s most eerie moments, recounting a spectral walk home across the fields of Monaghan, a tribute to Mahuna’s father wrapped in ghostly intimacy. Contrasting the song’s context with a graceful, subtly uplifting indie folk scene, his warm vocals glide above calming instrumentation to craft an enchanting listening experience.

“Dream Winter’s Day” is more grounded, a quiet meditation on fatherhood set against a backdrop of snowy Berlin stillness. Led by delightful piano arrangement, MAHUNA’s alluring vocal performance creates an inviting sound of timeless songwriting. Lead single “Shimmering Light” perfectly distils the album’s sound with a song written during the early hours around Kinsale Bay, it shimmers with warmth and lyrical charm, blending textured guitar work with reflections on familial bonds and the quiet awe of nature.

The album closes with “They Won’t Be Coming Home,” perhaps inspired by the writing of Walter Macken, conjuring lost souls, sea-bound grief and lasting sorrow in a nameless village. It’s a devastating coda, yet one that finds beauty in the act of remembrance. With Forever Is Mine, Mahuna crafts a deeply felt journey through time and memory, fusing Irish storytelling with folk pop appeal and a cinematic sense of place, resulting in a magnificent first full-length release from this truly talented singer-songwriter.

Commenting on the release, Mahuna shares, “This album is a series of lived moments. Each track is a map pin dropped into my past—whether in Berlin, Kerry, or Paris. The performances were captured live, preserving their raw spontaneity and emotional immediacy.”

Listen to Forever Is Mine below