Squareyes

Squareyes is a Dublin-based electronic dance-pop duo. The band consists of producer and multi-instrumentalist Ross Fortune (aka Benny Smiles) and singer/songwriter Colm Costello.

Colm and Ross were introduced by a mutual friend on a cold March evening in 2010. The two hit it off immediately and began working on songs together. However, their collaboration was interrupted and put on hold for two years when Colm bought a one-way plane ticket to the Amazon Jungle in 2011.

The two didn’t see each other again until the end of 2013. During that time, Ross continued to work alone, playing shows and producing under his Benny Smiles alias in Ireland, while Colm learned to play the mandolin in the jungle and began to fill a notebook with brand new songs. When he eventually returned to Ireland, he sent Ross a collection of barely intelligible demo recordings made on a pre-smartphone Nokia. Loving what he heard, Ross started producing the tracks straight away, and the pair took it from there.