• EP Premiere: The Natural History Museum – Manmade

    February 22, 2016 - By 

    Following quick on the heels of their well-received debut LP, Attenborough, Dublin duo The Natural History Museum are all about momentum on their stellar new five-track EP, Manmade. Comprised of vocalist/writer Carol Keogh of The Tycho Brahe/The Plague Monkeys and producer/composter Dunk Murphy of Sunken Foal and Planet-Mu’s Ambulance, the duo’s pastoral compositions brood and placate in brilliantly musing unison. From lo-fi, funk-inflected opener ‘Jeweller’ to Kate Bush-esque closer ‘Little March Girl’, it’s an all-killer, immersive release that doubles up as a clear statement of intent. Stream our premiere of Manmade below and purchase your copy (out not on Countersunk) here. Manmade…

  • Video Premiere: Left With Pictures – Terra Firma

    February 22, 2016 - By 

    Having made fans out of BBC 6 Music’s Gideon Coe and Lauren Laverne amongst others, the music of London orchestral pop ensemble Left With Pictures is an exquisite proposition. Belying the classically-trained trio’s command of contemplative, layered textures, upon which vocals dance and harmonies entwine, their new single ‘Terra Firma’ summons a wall of gently swelling strings, ghostly church-pew background vocals and a gorgeous looped keyboard motif, evoking the quiet sanctity of Wild Beasts at their most ruminating. Taken from the band’s forthcoming album Afterlife – set for release on April 29 – have yourself an exclusive first peek at the video for the track, made by Jonathan…

  • Stream: Badlands – Echo

    February 22, 2016 - By 

    Badlands started off life as a duo, releasing an EP entitled Battles Within in 2012, before eventually becoming the solo project of Malmö-based musician and producer Catharina Jaunviksna. Things were quiet for a while after that first EP, but picked up last year as she began to air new material while touring in Ireland with Somadrone. Then everyone’s attention snapped back to Badlands when she dropped the first new single ‘Caramisou’, five and a half minutes of swooping synth-rush crafted into a soaring, widescreen soundscape. Her latest single, ‘Echo’, is a continuation of that streak. ‘Echo’, is an exercise in split…

  • Stream: VOXX – Glamour Puss

    February 22, 2016 - By 

    The wonderfully camp late 90s Bowie homage Velvet Goldmine credited Oscar Wilde as the original glam rock alien, so it seems appropriate that after the Star Man’s passing another Dubliner seems determined to pick up the flamboyant rock n roll flame. Enter VOXX frontman Conor Thornton, whose look channels so many androgynous rock legends he appears like the product of one of 70s Mick Jagger’s especially wild orgies. Debut single ‘Glamour Puss’ is an assuredly cocky introduction to the band: featuring a fabulously filthy Josh Homme-worthy riff, the band pile on T-Rex handclaps and sleazy piano to take the track into gloriously trashy retro nirvana. Thornton’s…

  • Premiere: Orchid Collective – Lay As Stone

    February 22, 2016 - By 

    Set to be launched at Whelan’s on March 11, ‘Lay As Stone’ by Dublin quartet Orchid Collective is an unwinding alt-folk meditation on weariness and reprieve that sees wonderfully-woven harmonies come to the fore across the track’s nigh on four minutes. Recorded by Mojo Fury’s Mike Mormecha at Lisburn’s Millbank Studios, it’s a similarly rousing, radio-seeking effort to previous singles including ‘Figure It Out’. Orchid Collective also play Belfast’s Eglantine this Thursday night (February 25). Have an exclusive first listen to ‘Lay As Stone’ below.

  • Stream: Slow Skies – Winter Night

    February 22, 2016 - By 

    The latest release on Dublin imprint Paper Trail Records, ‘Winter Night’ by singer-songwriter Karen Sheridan AKA Slow Skies wouldn’t sound entirely out of place on a high-budget, prime-time ad about a young couple, each battling their way through rush hour traffic, only to eventually – finally – fall into each other’s arms on a balmily-lit doorstep, before setting down a half a dozen John Lewis bags and petting an obedient little terrier called Alex that greets them upon arrival. Or something along those lines, anyway. According to Sheridan, the song – very deftly stripped back to her vocals and sparse piano work courtesy of Patrick O’Laoghaire of I…

  • Watch: Everything Shook – Bed Stain

    February 21, 2016 - By 

    Almost a year on from the release of their debut EP, Argento Nights, Dublin experimental electronic trio Everything Shook have returned with new single ‘Bed Stain’. Propelled by warping, skittering synth lines and chopping rhythms, the track – recorded and mixed at 6611 Studios in Brooklyn, New York -finds Robyn Bromfield, Jessica Kennedy and Áine Stapleton in dauntless spirits, both audibly and visually. A song about “mistakes, regret and the morning after the night before”, the video for the track – directed by the band – “unfolds between two locations, juxtaposing sombre scenes of the morning with flashbacks of disenchantment, discord…

  • Watch: Wake America – Silly Boy

    February 21, 2016 - By 

    Whilst perhaps currently more recognisable under the guise of Best Boy Grip, Derry singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Eoin O’Callaghan also makes music as part of Wake America. Seemingly born with the knack of a million burrowing melodies at his disposal, O’Callaghan’s latest single under the Wake America moniker, ‘Silly Boy’ (or “City Boy” as we occasionally/wrongly hear) makes for a synth-soaked, deceptively simple four-minutes. Written, produced, mixed and mastered by O’Callaghan, ‘Silly Boy’ will be available on Limited Edition 7″ vinyl from March 4 via Amelia Records. Pre-order your copy here.

  • Stream: Ciaran Lavery – Return To Form

    February 17, 2016 - By 

    At the risk of (really) repeating ourselves, Ciaran Lavery is easily one of the country’s most naturally gifted, hugely endearing singer-songwriters. From his days in Captain Kennedy up until the present day, we’ve seen the Aghagallon songsmith silence the most bustling venue with the the slightest of syllables and all but seduce innumerable crowds with his brilliantly charming badinage. At the root of all that is Lavery’s extraordinary grasp of the human condition, masterfully bolstered by an enviable harmonic grasp and compositional flair that continues to blossom unabated. The latest – and quite possibly greatest – manifestation of that is his new single, ‘Return To…

  • Stream: Michael Mormecha – Family

    February 17, 2016 - By 

    Long one of the country’s more indomitable and fiercely individual musicians, Michael Mormecha is best known as the frontman of quintessential NI alt-rock band Mojo Fury. But rather than ever been bound to either that realm or moniker, Mormecha has pursued his music-making thus far with an idiosyncratic wanderlust via many collaborations, his work as Clown Parlour and – more recently – his own sounds, under his very own name. Having very recently launched a Pledge Campaign to ensure its release, the proverbial seeds of Lofi-Life, the forthcoming debut solo album by Mormecha, were first openly sown a couple of years now. Forever…