A decade could have handed between albums, however Iwan Rheon by no means really left the artistic orbit. Greatest identified to international audiences as an Olivier-winning stage actor and because the unforgettable antagonist Ramsay Bolton on Sport of Thrones, Rheon’s musical return isn’t marked by fanfare—however by one thing way more attention-grabbing.
Now, his long-awaited second full-length album, I Simply Want I’d By no means Gone To House (out now through AWAL Recordings), lands with a dry, darkly witty wink. It’s not a comeback—it’s a continuation, filtered via time, expertise, and a pointy, satirical gaze on ego, isolation, and the quiet mess of being human.
The Billionaire in Orbit
The lead single, “Hashtag,” launches the album with satirical chunk—sharp, punchy, and eerily on-point in at the moment’s world. Set in opposition to a muscular pop-rock backdrop, it imagines a tech billionaire drifting endlessly via house, his fortune meaningless within the void.
“I used to be watching some tech billionaire’s phallic rocket taking off,” Rheon says dryly. “And I remembered vaguely, one thing about Newton’s legal guidelines of movement—how, in a vacuum, the speed of an object will at all times keep the identical. So if something goes flawed on the market, they’ll be simply floating away endlessly.”
The picture amused him: somebody with unimaginable wealth, all of a sudden so powerless. “I may simply think about this billionaire floating round, all his wealth on Earth pointless, and he’s wishing he’d by no means gone to house.” The absurdity struck a nerve. That imaginative and prescient caught, developed right into a metaphor, and ultimately crystallized into the tune that gave the album its identify.
Writing From the Margins
Though I Simply Want I’d By no means Gone To House comes almost a decade after Dinard, Iwan Rheon by no means really stopped writing. “I by no means actually deliberate to have this large hiatus,” he displays. “It’s simply type of the best way issues occurred. Performing roles got here alongside.” However at the same time as scripts took priority, music by no means disappeared—it merely moved to the margins. Over the previous 5 years, songwriting turned a quiet, regular rhythm within the background, till the artistic buildup may now not be ignored.
“It will get to some extent the place you simply must get the music out, in any other case it simply lives in your head. And that’s not essentially wholesome,” he says. Ultimately, returning to the studio felt inevitable—and welcome. “It was beautiful to get again within the studio and report some new tunes.”
Songs That Stayed, Songs That Didn’t
Nonetheless, not the whole lot written throughout that interval discovered a spot on the ultimate tracklist. A couple of songs, formed throughout a breakup that coincided with the pandemic, have been consciously put aside. “There have been just a few songs that I didn’t really feel I needed on this album as a result of I assume loads modified since then, and I needed to do one thing a bit extra forward-thinking and related to now,” Rheon explains.
Some remnants of that period linger—“Fever” and “Get together” specifically carry echoes of that earlier chapter, although even these span completely different timelines. “The latter is a very previous tune, however it felt related,” he provides. The result’s an album formed by reflection —one which nods to the previous with out being outlined by it. No, this isn’t a breakup album; it’s one thing extra refined. It charts a quiet transformation, a shift towards the current.
Crafting House: Sound & Collaboration
Produced in collaboration with Chris Hyson and that includes Welsh twin musicians Lloyd and Alex Haines, I Simply Want I’d By no means Gone To House is a sonically various but emotionally cohesive physique of labor. From the biting satire of “Hashtag” to the swelling optimism of “Ahead Movement,” the album toggles between irony and intimacy, with out ever straying from its emotional core. “The sound got here collectively within the room,” Rheon recollects. Practically each monitor—“all apart from ‘Agor’”—was already written earlier than he entered the studio.
The remainder unfolded organically, via intuition and shared musical language. “Chris and I mentioned numerous references, bands and artists we appreciated,” he explains. “He actually will get it, and I actually loved creating the sound with him.” Very similar to the themes, the emotional contrasts weren’t premeditated both. “I don’t assume you actually know what you’re gonna begin writing about till you begin,” he displays. “The songs and themes simply type of occur.”
In Welsh, Inward
Two tracks—“Agor” and “Y Gwenyn”—bookend the album in Welsh, anchoring the mission in Rheon’s heritage and providing a quieter, extra introspective form of emotional launch. “Welsh positively provides me a unique freedom with writing,” he shares.
“It’s like accessing a unique a part of me.” Although he didn’t plan for “Agor” to be bilingual—or to open the report—as soon as it was completed, it merely felt proper. “It felt like the proper opening,” he provides. “Y Gwenyn,” however, was at all times destined to deliver the album gently to an in depth.
Character vs. Self
Although a lot of the album feels intimately autobiographical, Rheon carves out a stunning detour with “Hashtag”—a biting, satirical monitor voiced via the persona of an absurd tech billionaire. It’s a uncommon second of character-driven storytelling for him, and one which supplied sudden artistic distance. “It’s one thing I don’t actually do that usually, writing from the angle of a unique character,” he admits.
“So it’s form of releasing in a approach—trying on the scenario from the skin. However I believe it truly helps with the absurdity of it, writing within the first individual.” Nonetheless, no character is ever fully separate. “It might be unattainable to say there aren’t parts of my private experiences inside this one.”
The Vulnerability of Inventive Management
What makes I Simply Want I’d By no means Gone To House land with such readability is how unmistakably handcrafted it feels. Iwan Rheon wasn’t simply the voice or face of the album—he was within the thick of each choice, from songwriting and arranging to manufacturing itself. “There’s nowhere to cover,” he says, acknowledging the vulnerability of such deep involvement. “However I assume that’s empowering.”
For Rheon, music is as a lot in regards to the course of because the product—a uncommon house the place he isn’t simply deciphering another person’s imaginative and prescient, as he usually does on display screen, however steering all the artistic ship. “Having that artistic management is de facto vital to me,” he says. “I actually get pleasure from each a part of creating an album.” It helps, too, when collaboration clicks—particularly with producer Chris Hyson, whose partnership introduced instinctive synergy to the report’s sound.
From Ramsay to ‘Males Up’: Navigating Roles
On display screen, Iwan Rheon continues to maneuver fluidly between contrasting worlds. From the uncooked tenderness of BBC’s “Males Up” to the blood-and-sand chaos of “These About to Die”, he gravitates towards roles that spark one thing visceral.
What guides his selections? A quiet, inside click on.
“You learn a script with an attention-grabbing character,” he explains, “after which instinctively begin fascinated with the way you play the function—and that’s at all times a superb signal.” It’s much less a formulation than a gut-level recognition, one which has lengthy formed his various and unpredictable display screen trajectory.
Ramsay Bolton: Ghosts of Westeros
In fact, for a lot of, Iwan Rheon will at all times be remembered as Ramsay Bolton—the merciless, calculating and sadistic villain of “Sport of Thrones”, who turned considered one of tv’s most terrifying figures. It’s a legacy he carries with out letting it weigh him down. “I strive to not take the characters house. I believe it’s actually vital to depart them within the room,” he says. “I’ve at all times been fairly good at doing that. It’s simply enjoying.”
When requested whether or not Ramsay was misunderstood, he doesn’t sugarcoat it: “Unsure if there’s a lot to be misunderstood about him. He was a really dangerous boy.” Spoken like somebody who’s lengthy since made peace with the ghosts of Westeros.
The Stillness Between Initiatives
Nonetheless, there’s usually a wierd weight that follows as soon as a mission ends, not fairly the character, however one thing more durable to outline. “The overall is a type of shadow of the character that might linger,” Rheon admits, “however I believe it’s usually simply the depth of the work—the dedication, focus and vitality that goes into creating one thing.”
When that abruptly vanishes, it leaves a peculiar void. “It’s at all times a bit unusual once you’re now not doing it,” he provides, matter-of-factly. That’s the place music is available in—not as escape, however as tether. “It’s an exquisite method to stay artistic after I’m not on set.”
Solitude, Stillness, and Tune
In contrast to appearing, which he describes as “a small a part of one thing a lot larger… a cog in an enormous machine,” music presents Rheon one thing extra private and sustained. “You are available in within the center, when a lot work has already gone into attending to that stage. Then after I end my bit, there’s a complete load of labor left to finish the mission.”
In distinction, songwriting is a full-circle course of—begin to end, soul to floor. “It’s a few single artistic concept that I’m part of from starting to finish,” he says. “I get pleasure from having the entire artistic management.”
Within the quiet stretch between scripts and classes, Rheon gravitates towards simplicity. No highlight, no strain, simply the world as it’s. “I like strolling round in woods or a cliff aspect or no matter,” he shares, virtually offhandedly. “Making music is definitely one of many issues that I like doing as nicely. Even simply sitting by myself in a room enjoying the guitar.” There’s peace in that solitude. Within the mushy ritual of being alone with sound. Or, typically, not being alone in any respect. “Hanging out with associates, household,” he provides. That, too, is sufficient.
The Album Belongs to the Listeners Now
Now that “I Simply Want I’d By no means Gone To House” is lastly out on this planet—streaming, spinning, echoing throughout headphones—Iwan Rheon is preserving it grounded. “I’m simply actually happy to have made it,” he says. “And I hope that individuals can sit again and luxuriate in it and get one thing out of it, no matter that could be.”
He hints at dwell performances forward. “Some reveals can be nice. We did just a few tunes on a dwell session just a few months again so that they’ll be launched—and let’s see about the whole lot else.” For now, the album belongs to the listeners.
And possibly, someplace, even a lonely billionaire is listening from orbit. Stream now!
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