Meghan Pulles “Coming Home”

Every line of instruments in “Coming Home” has so much heart in them, and collectively, they vocalise hope for the war and suffering to end and the resilience of Ukrainian people. Through poignant piano that transitions into a luminescent pads of warm strings, poised and mesmerising lines echo in your ears. Emotive violin then forms a duet with Meghan Pulles’ soulful vocals. “Coming home. I’m coming home. To a land that time forgets.”

“Coming Home” is a heartfelt anthem and a tear-jerking ballad that is destined to inspired and touch hearts. They’re not here to dazzle you with fancy sonics or show-off genre incursions. Instead, “Coming Home” remains a classic and simple form with universal appeal. But every layer of instruments would add something that elevate the collective energy.

With moving storytelling and meaningful melodies, “Coming Home” is exactly what good music should be. Its haunting chorus brings tears into your eyes and get stuck in your head. It reminds you of the war and suffering still going on in a very humanly relatable way. It makes you feel. It makes you care.”Coming Home” has a unifying power that burns a hole in the world of games, fuelled by powers and politics.

After seeing the plight of the Ukrainian people in war and meeting with them through film producer Susan Roberts’ lenses, Roy Benson wrote down the poem of “Coming Home.” And together with Eric Bay and Pulles, the poetic lines became a song. With spoken words and sung lyrics echoing along mellow heartfelt backdrop, “Coming Home” is intricate and sacred, genuine and tear-jerking. Like lighting up a candle and keeping them in your prayers, an one simple act of compassion sometimes has the power to move the world. From the hearts of three human beings to so many others, “Coming Home” has the power to transcend politics and inspire change.

“Coming Home” is a song of hope and change.

Read our interview with the masterminds behind “Coming Home.

Punk Head: I love how you use music as a creative
platform to influence positive change.
"Coming Home," dedicated to the Ukrainian people, speaks about their resilience. When did you first come up with the idea? Is there any event that inspired the track?

Eric Bay: The war in Ukraine was the original inspiration for Roy to write the poem that became the lyrics, and when he was introduced to my music he suggested turning it into a song.

Roy Benson: Idea first came to me from seeing the plight of the Ukrainian people. After meeting with them through my Film Producer friend Susan Roberts. I instantly wrote the lyrics for the song.

PH: "Coming Home" features a very unique
collaboration that doesn't come around very often. How did you guys meet?

Bay: I had already met Meghan in 2021 when we wrote and recorded another song together called “Song For My Angel,” although it was a remote collaboration- we’ve never actually met in person! I was introduced to Roy through a mutual friend who was heavily involved with the charity that we ultimately wrote “Coming Home” for. It was Roy’s idea to invite Meghan to be part of the project as he was impressed by her vocals on “Song For My Angel.”

Benson: Susan introduced me to Eric because of his favorite artist Paul McCartney whom I had worked with on several film projects. Instantly, we both had a lot in common and, hearing some of his work was completely overcome by his talent, in particular the recording he had written and produced with Meghan Pulles.

I told Eric she is the artist I would like to work with on the vocals.

Meghan Pulles: I’ve worked with Eric Bay previously on a collaboration that we wrote and recorded together as he mentioned and, we met through Twitter (haven't met in person yet but hope to someday :). Eric introduced me to Roy during this project and it’s been such a cool collaboration together especially getting to work with someone who is such a legend and has worked with The Beatles!

PH: What was the creative process like for this song? Are there any challenges that you faced?

Bay: Roy already had the poem written when I met him, and writing the tune to go with it only took one evening. The most challenging aspect was orchestrating it, which was something I’d only ever done on a couple of songs before and never to this extent. It took a while to finesse it, but I think the end result works rather well. We discussed having some Ukrainian singers and musicians contribute to the song, but trying to organise that was taking too long and we were eager to get the song out there, so the only outside musician we ended up using was a violinist called Irina (who, co-incidentally, is Ukrainian!)

Benson: The creative process just flowed bouncing ideas off each other. I really wanted the song to sound like something from a feature film, telling a heartfelt story, the music being enhanced with sound effects to put pictures in the mind of the listener.

No challenges when you work with talented people like Eric and Meghan.

Pulles: I wasn’t part of the writing of the song but once Eric told me about this project I was definitely onboard to be the voice of this beautiful important song that I knew would be changing some lives, and helping people heal through this terrible time.

PH: What do you love the most about the track? What is your biggest motivation as an artist?

Bay: I love how it’s a combination of the best of three people’s different talents - Roy’s poetry, my composing and Meghan’s singing - and how they all came together to create something beautiful and meaningful. My biggest motivation as an artist is to keep pushing myself to write and record as much music as possible without ever repeating myself - I love experimenting with different styles, different techniques and different lyrical subject matter.

Benson: That it sounds exactly as envisaged in my mind from the beginning, starting with the war taking everything away from all that you have lived for, ending with the silence of the violin solo returning home to rebuild your life.

Motivation is, to create works that can last throughout the years from the experience of a lifetime I had working with The Beatles.

Pulles: 
I love the lyrics, and the music in this song. I really love how they complement each other, it really is spectacular how this came together. I also really love that the daughter of the woman who the Babysyna Galyna Fund came to be is playing violin on the track and really just adds so much.

PH: What's coming next for you? Are there any plans to do more collaborations with these guys?

Bay: I currently have several collaborations with other artists in the pipeline which I hope to release over the coming months. Working with Roy and Meghan was a joy, so I’d definitely be interested in doing it again.

Benson: I really do hope so, it's been an amazing experience, we are a great team.

I'm presently working on the lyrics of a Ukrainian Aria for a full symphony orchestra and chorus with Soprano, Tenor, and Baritone in the same tradition of Carl Orff's “CARMINA BURANA.”

Pulles: I just released my first single off my debut album called “father, oh father.” I will be releasing the second single in July or August, and the full length album ear baby will be out in November with some other surprises along the way maybe :)

We will definitely collaborate again because it was so magical and cohesive. I would work with this team again in a heartbeat.