Australian musician opens up about miscarriage, grief and finding strength

You may not have heard of the 34-year-old from Fyansford in West Geelong, but you’ve likely heard of his work.

In addition to his work as a solo artist, Riordan also composes music for television and cinema. He has worked for Universal Music, Atlantic and Roc Nation, composing songs for many major projects. Home and AwayThe theme music for the AFL grand final and the Disney Channel, as well as a Kia commercial that aired during the 2018 South Korean Winter Olympics.

This second music career really took off with his song: I am in love with you, Appeared in the Netflix show Cable Girls and won the 2017 Mark Award, what Riordan calls “the Grammys for film and production music.”

Despite his resume, Riordan is still pleasantly surprised to hear his work has been featured in major productions.

“You often don’t know what your comps will be used for until you receive an invoice from APRA,” he says.

Riordan admits it might seem strange to some that she recalls a moment when she miscarried as beautiful.

But Daisy, the daughter he lost that night, seems to have a track record of turning tragedy into beauty.

While continuing fertility treatment in 2022, Riordan wrote the song that changed the course of her life: daisies.

“You’d be kind/you’d be helpful and kind/you’d be so creative/I hope you’d blow her mind,” the lyrics begin.

Riordan explains how daisies came and said: “I don’t think so [Daisy’s loss] It was really anything I processed. Since we were still going through all these fertility treatments, I had to take it to the next step. In my mind, this is how I’m going to deal with it.

“Many years later, I was sitting at the piano working on something and I made a mistake,” he says. “But that mistake was actually really beautiful and sounded so good that I wanted to write a song around it. There was an hour between me making that mistake and you hearing that mistake.” daisies.

“It’s just like, ‘Look, this [song] That’s who you’re going to be.” I think that was me making it work.

Understandably, Riordan was at first afraid to share a creation detailing such intense, intimate pain outside of Daniel.

“[He] “He was at work and it was probably a bad decision on my part, but I took a screenshot of the lyrics I wrote and sent it to him,” he says.

“’I just wrote: I think this has to be something for us.’ I said. He told me he needed to get away from his desk and dispersed in his office. And I was like, ‘Oh my God, I never thought of that!’ I thought.

“But when I put [the album], Songs I wrote as therapy Together, I knew I had to talk about this to help other people because if I didn’t share my story, there would be another person going through this who needed to hear it. daisies But I wouldn’t.”

During the three years he has been performing daisiesRiordan saw value in the decision to share this with the world over and over again.

It’s very common for women to come up to her after shows and share their own experiences with miscarriage.

“They tell me about themselves [children’s] “Take their names and share what happened to them,” he says.

“I was a speaker at an International Women’s Day event and I had older women come up to me and say, ‘I lost my baby, I can never talk about this.’ That’s the most special [thing] to me: When someone feels strong enough to make room for their own experiences.

Recalling this memory gives Riordan goosebumps and his voice trembles with gratitude rather than sadness.

daisies won the Australasian Pop category at the 2025 Intercontinental Music Awards, designed to recognize the best music from around the world.

I have to constantly remind myself to taste what I’m eating as he talks; I need to pull my mind back to the here and now, where the roasted cauliflower, tomato salsa, tahini, and red pepper in my pita pocket are making my taste buds pop and crack with approval.

Riordan chose Miznon’s veal breast pocket with mozzarella, mustard, sour cream, onion and pickles. According to Riordan, it is a creation called Deep Satisfaction, named after the facial expressions of those who consume it.

Mediterranean street food spot Miznon on the CBD’s Hardware Lane was where he would always choose to meet me. Riordan has fond memories of eating street food like these pockets on previous visits to Jerusalem with Israeli-born Daniel.

Perhaps inevitably, our conversation turned to the topic of the Israel-Hamas war. As with miscarriage, Riordan is candid and frank in dealing with the issue.

“I wrote a few songs in Hebrew, but they are not pop music,” he says. “The synagogue will commission me to write something. [services].

“I’m currently with a community in Caulfield and making music for them, especially when we have festivals like Yom Kippur.”

Riordan says the songs he writes for Melbourne’s Jewish community have become more reflective since October 7, 2023.

“The last thing I wrote Scheme Box“It means ‘hear me,'” he says.

“We are waiting with hope, God, you will definitely answer. Hear me, hear me, forgive me, hear me.”

“This was a reflection of how we wanted to make our voices heard as a community. [in the song] I say ‘Slach li’ – ‘forgive me’ – [that means] We know that there are innocents on both sides and that this is a very complex issue, and I would like to be forgiven for anything I might portray that is not someone else’s story or someone else’s perspective.

“I hope some of the community is uplifted by the song, empowered, and allowed to suffer through our experiences. I feel like we often have to diminish what we’re going through to avoid taking on something negative.”

In January, Riordan was asked to perform at the launch of a nonfiction book imagining a more peaceful Middle East. She sang Joni Mitchell’s song Now on Both Sides.

A lot has happened since I met Riordan: Anti-war protesters targeted Miznon, and police eventually charged the three of them.

Australia officially recognizes the state of Palestine. Two years and two days after the Hamas attacks, a ceasefire agreement was announced on October 9, after which Hamas released Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Riordan’s story reflects how terrorism and war impact lives even half a world away.

Even so, his life is not defined by conflict. It is defined by strength despite one challenge after another.

Luck finally smiled on Riordan and her husband when their son, Archie, was born happy and healthy after trying to get pregnant at 31 months.

But the difficulties were not over: Riordan also had to face the fact that he could no longer have children.

She needed a hysterectomy when she developed adenomyosis (another common condition that occurs when tissue grows within the muscular wall of the uterus, similar to endometriosis).

“I had to make this decision so I could live the best life I could for Archie. [so] “I wasn’t in pain every day,” says Riordan.

“We had six embryos at the time and my husband and I decided… that they would be cremated and buried with Daisy.

“All our babies are together in the same cemetery and on my piano. I have eight children, but I only have one in my house.”

Archie is now five years old and is already incorporating drums into his mother’s compositions. Riordan told him that he had siblings that were like playmates at daycare, that they were in heaven.

Whenever Archie sees an orange butterfly, he says, ‘Look, that’s Daisy.’

After 10 years of professional triumph and personal challenges, Riordan says he’s now happy with where he is.

“I am truly grateful that my experiences have put me in a position where I can hear these stories and help more people,” she says.

“My biggest passion right now is to really make an impact through my music.”

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