Comprising Shane Crosson, Girlfriend’s Sophie Dunne, Jamie O’Suiligh and Ryan McClelland, Hales Lake have played a string of stellar shows in Dublin, Belfast and Limerick this year. Impassioned and curveballing, the have been sets introducing a quartet who, right off the bat, are staking a claim with a sound melding alternative and emo with ‘gazey textures and a fist-clenched noise-rock sensibility.
Look no further than debut single, ‘Pro-Strife’, which you can stream below. Speaking about the track, the band offered up the mini-manifesto of sorts, reflecting on how cross-country issues has helped bolster island-wide solidarity in the creative community of which they are a part:
“It is inspired by the oppression faced by the Irish people, imposed by the identical parties that have spurred austerity intergenerationally. Ongoing homelessness, health service crisis, social alienation, the uprooting of natural resources on our coasts, PR campaigns more expensive than the average rent; the list is never-ending, and the persons involved blatantly only driven by profit and control. ‘Pro-Strife’ entails particular events and quotes from this current gomie government, which showcases their detached, malevolent politics and intentional lack of care for social planning. As a result, several admirable and inspiring communities have sprouted up around the country for music and arts, offering opposition to the relentless competition that can be often felt in Dublin.”
Catch Hales Lake in Dublin and Cork over the next while:
Nov 23rd: Hales Lake, Not I and Arthuritis – Anseo (Dublin)
Dec 13th: Teletext Records Christmas Party (Cork)
January 23rd: Post-Pop Presents: Hales Lake – Whelans (Dublin)
