Let’s just cut to it: this song is a heartbreaker. Because of the lyrics, because of the melody, and most of all because of the way Ryan Daykin sings it. From the start it really feels like he reaches right into your heart, to show you his own, and show you what’s broken inside it. Because of that feeling of connection, and the immediacy that comes with it, you feel like your heart breaks right alongside his – then both are put back together again.
Daykin, an artist from Victoria, took a break from music after releasing his EP Keeping Secrets in 2019. He wrote ‘Broken Feathers’ with Felicity Urquhart, whom Daykin has known for several years and who is no stranger to a heartbreaking song herself. The sensibilities of the two artists clearly meshed, and the result is this unforgettable song about love and loss and recovering from both.
‘This was the first song I’d been a part of writing after I took a bit of a break,’ says Daykin. ‘I got lost in somewhat of an identity crisis with my writing and was dissatisfied with what I was creating because I was struggling to connect to anything.
‘I needed the right opportunity and circumstance to be open and vulnerable enough to tap into that part of myself so I could write a song like this. As soon as we finished the writing sessions, I just lay on my bed and cried – but that’s the beauty of songwriting.’
The emotion that clearly arose for Daykin in the writing of this song is all there in his performance of it. And while it is a heartbreaker, it’s also the sort of song that makes you gloriously glad that music exists.