• Album premiere: Túcan – Towers

    With its launch set for Dublin’s Button Factory on Saturday night, we’re pleased to present a first listen to Towers, an album that confirms the hugely impressive metamorphosis of Sligo’s Túcan. A masterclass in perfectly-honed, brilliantly realised instrumentalism, the album straddles the fine line between decidedly soundtrack-like Cinematic Orchestra-esque post-rock and trad-inflected mini-symphonies. Having been steadily developing and spearheading progression in their guitar-led sound over the last twelve months, the eight-piece have delivered a record brimming with integrity, imagination and daring, capturing the thrill of their scintillating live show in the process. Stream Towers below.

  • Frame by Frame #11: Tucan – As It Was

    Back in June, Sligo instrumental band Tucan released easily one of the more interesting music videos from an Irish act that we’ve seen in quite some time. We called it “gloriously messed up”, concluding with “charmed or abhorred, you can’t look away.” Two months on, Colm Laverty delves further, talking to co-director Bryan Quinn about the inspiration behind and the production of the video. Hi Bryan. First off, tell us a little bit about your role on this music video. Bobby (McGlynn, co-director) started the sentence “We should just film someone performing the song, like…” “Jonathan Gunning?” I said. We made the rest of it…

  • Watch: Tucan – As It Was

    In the very best sense possible, Sligo instrumental band Tucan have released easily one of the most gloriously messed up videos we’ve seen in quite some time for their new single, ‘As It Was’. Directed by Bobby McGlynn and Bryan Quinn, the video – featuring some extraordinary acting by Jonathan Gunning – features cinematography by Peter Martin and was filmed at The Model in Sligo last year. We challenge you to find a video featuring such an array of facial expressions – some more maniacal than others – from a single actor. Taken from Towers, ‘As It Was’ sees Tucan reinvent themselves…