• Maria Somerville @ Bello Bar, Dublin

    Maria Somerville’s on the edge of something big. The dreamy, soft-focus pop of her debut album is unlike anything else you’ll hear this year, and she’s picking up attention across Europe. So it’s not exactly a surprise that the Bello Bar is wedged this evening: it’s wall-to-wall hipster, the barman’s sweating and under pressure as the orders come in faster than he can serve, and there are local journos, scenesters and musicians bouncing from one side of the venue to the other to meet and greet. The Bello Bar’s a small basement room, with a low-ceilinged area near the bar…

  • Conor Walsh – The Lucid LP Launch @ The Sugar Club, Dublin

    Conor Walsh’s debut release, The Front, was a glimpse of a talent in development. Though Walsh’s playing was similar to that of other contemporary minimal musicians – most obviously Nils Frahm – his experimentation with treating and processing the sound of his piano showed how he was already forging his own path away from them. His untimely death just months after the EP’s release was therefore a huge musical loss as well as a personal one, as it seemed that we would be left with only that small glimpse. But Walsh’s family, after guessing the password to his laptop, found…