• Premiere: Jealous of the Birds and Ryan Vail – Love Is A Crow (DIE HEXEN Remix)

    Whether teased out via whim or intention, collaboration is often the key to unearthing untested majesty. In the case of Jealous of the Birds and Ryan Vail, ‘Love is a Crow’ recently saw two worlds collide in perfectly curious fashion with the former’s spoken word spirals and vocals melding with the latter’s bubbling electronica and chopping rhythms. Taking the collaborative buzz one step further, Dee Lucille AKA DIE HEXEN’s remix of the track is a spectral masterclass, quietly dragging the original through a velvet netherworld of Badalamentian synth-work, heaving textures and warped vocal refrains. Have an exclusive first listen to that below.

  • Stream: Jealous of the Birds and Ryan Vail – ‘Love is a Crow’

    Having received airplay on Lauren Laverne’s BBC 6Music show yesterday, ‘Love is a Crow’ is a one-off collaboration from Derry’s Ryan Vail and Portadown’s Naomi Hamilton AKA Jealous of the Birds. Melding a trickle of sublime spoken word from the latter and a bobbing flurry of beats and spectral synth-work from the former, the single is accompanied by remixes from The Cyclist and Belfast’s Dee Lucille AKA DIE HEXEN. Dig below.

  • 12 Irish Acts Set for SXSW ’17

    Ahh, South By Southwest. Fully indispensable festival and conference or overly hectic annual industry circus? The jury still seems to be out on that one but, as far we’re concerned at least, it’s firmly slotted in the former camp. Set to return to Austin from March 10-19, this year’s outing will see 12 of its 500 acts – including several TTA favourites – flying in from the Emerald Isle. With the likes of Enemies, Rusangano Family and Saint Sister featuring last year, SXSW ’17 will see Robocobra Quartet, Ryan Vail, LOAH (pictured), Silences, Birds of Olympus, Jealous of the Birds, A.S Fanning, The Academic, Picture…

  • Other Voices 2016

    Saint Sister, Cry Monster Cry, Æ MAK, Fangclub, Rusangano Family, David Kitt, Overhead The Albatross, Roisin O, Ryan Vail and more at Other Voices 2016 in Dingle. Photos by Tara Thomas.

  • Album Premiere + Track-by-Track: Jealous of the Birds – Parma Violets

    Deservedly tipped as an Inbound act in the seventh issue of our magazine back in May last year, it’s far from facetious to say that Portadown’s Naomi Hamilton AKA Jealous of the Birds has experienced nothing short of a remarkable rise over the last few months. Conjuring a perfectly solipsistic netherworld, where each syllable is intent and every heart-strung admission is illuminated with the wisdom of her deep engagement of both ephemeral and inner worlds, her debut studio album, Parma Violets, is a halcyon masterclass that wonderfully expands upon her early bedroom recordings. Having said “my only hope is that the songs sound like a…

  • Watch: Jealous of the Birds – Goji Berry Sunset

    In the seventh issue of our magazine back in May last year, TTA’s Stevie Lennox said of ‘Goji Berry Sunset’ by fast-rising Armagh singer-songwriter Naomi Hamilton AKA Jealous of the Birds: “The whimsy of its whistled intro might have you believe that you’re in for another young-girl-sings-naivete-strewn-intimate-acoustic-indie-folk; and perhaps on surface level it could be taken this way, but further listens reveal a deeper thread of melancholy.” Going on to extol the then huge promise of Hamilton, the piece offered a snapshot of an artist who has covered some remarkable ground in the time since. With her debut album, Parma Violets, set for…

  • Sound of Belfast 2015 Programme Announced

    The programme for this year’s Sound of Belfast has been announced, with the events running from November 6-14 around the city, culminating in the presentation of this year’s Oh Yeah Legend Award to The Divine Comedy at the NI Music Prize event at the Mandela Hall on November 14. The festivities include many exhibitions from local artists & filmmakers, as well as conferences and masterclasses at the Oh Yeah Centre. These include the Belfast Urban Affinity 2015, aimed at hard-to-reach youths, and the Breaking Into Music Youth Conference, featuring the likes of Phil Taggart, who quickly progressed from BBC Radio Ulster to Radio…