• Stream: Orchid Collective – Winter’s Pass

    Marking the onset of Spring from a long Winter, Dublin-based indie-folk quartet Orchid Collective‘s latest single, ‘Winter’s Pass’ could hardly have come at a better time. While retaining the serene, atmospheric sound they’ve been developing over the past few years through the harmony-led influence of Fleet Foxes, there’s an evolution in its composition that has, in our view, defined it as the outfit’s best work to date. A product of home recording, as opposed to more produced previous releases, ‘Winter’s Pass’ has a substantially more organic quality, without sounding in any way lo-fi. In any case, it’s a sparse and measured arrangement that subtly utilises the kind of electronic manipulation that’s seen folk music’s contemporisation in recent years, in…

  • The G Sessions: Orchid Collective & Michael Mormecha

    Following a three-year hiatus, Glasgowbury’s G Sessions will make its highly-anticipated return with Dublin alt-folk quartet Orchid Collective (pictured) and Michael Mormecha (Mojo Fury, Clown Parlour, Malojian et al.) on Saturday, September 24. Having previously been held in Draperstown’s Cellar Bar, the bona fide Irish music institution will now be held in Glasgowbury’s hub in the Mid-Ulster town, the Cornstore Loft. The show is bring your own booze (strictly no glass). Tickets are £7 and available now here or from the Cornstore. LOFi LiFE by michael mormecha

  • Watch: Orchid Collective – Lay As Stone

    When we shared the track two weeks ago we said ‘Lay As Stone’ by Dublin quartet Orchid Collective was “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”. Having zig-zagged around the country playing shows in the time since, the band have released a video for the single directed by Cill Farrell, the moral of which we’ve deduced is: it’s often – if not always – advisable to drink a few glasses of milk before going on the rip. Orchid Collective launch ‘Lay As Stone’ at Dublin’s…

  • Premiere: Orchid Collective – Lay As Stone

    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.

  • Watch: Orchid Collective – The Power of Love

    Having had a very encouraging 2015, Dublin alt-folk four-piece Orchid Collective found some time when recording their forthcoming next single at Lisburn’s Millbank Studios last week to re-imagine and cover Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Christmas classic ‘The Power of Love’. A wonderfully paced, subtly spellbinding rendition of the 1984 original, their rendition is accompanied by a video by filmmaker Tiaran Larkin. Check it out below.

  • Stream: Orchid Collective – Figure It Out

    Conjuring the likes of Midlake, The Antlers (and in its most dusky passages, The Twilight Sad), Dublin’s Orchid Collective have released their debut single, ‘Figure It Out’. Disentangling over five minutes of delay-laden atmosphere, the song – mixed by Stephen Dunne and mastered by Richard Dowling – is a subtly anthemic first gambit from a band whose reputation on the live front grows in stature by the week. The band officially released ‘Figure It Out’, with supported from We Raise Bears and Joey Gavin, at Dublin’s Whelan’s on Thursday night (February 12). Stream the track below.