John Blek and Niamh Regan live at Coughlans in Cork. Photos by Ciaran Foley
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A must-see at this year’s Belfast Film Festival is the debut screening of The Kiosk by director Neal Hughes. Capturing the singular spirit and humanity of the city and its citizens, it’s a look through the eyes of a barista serving coffee from a small coffee kiosk in the heart of Belfast City Centre. We catch up with Hughes to discuss the impetus behind the project, the future of the Kiosk following the major fire at the nearby Primark in August and how his film reveals the poetry of everyday Belfast. Catch The Kiosk at Movie House on Dublin Road on Saturday, April…
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It’s quite rare to encounter a debut album as self-assured as Maria Somerville’s All My People. The Galway native has crafted 27 minutes of impossibly tight and well constructed music that possess a confidence which is seldom encountered so early in a career. Drawing from the deep wells of everything from folk and ambient to doo-wop and post-punk and the experiences of Irish youth, Somerville mixes these elements into a beautiful concoction of dream pop goodness. What’s so striking about these seven cuts is how well defined each actually is. By its very nature, the sort of ethereal mood that…
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Over the past 12 years, New Jersey native Sharon Van Etten has steadily made a name for herself as one of indie music’s most reliable and consistent artists. Since 2009’s debut Because I Was In Love, her melancholic, mature songwriting has gone from strength to strength with her recent album Remind Me Tomorrow being the most experimental and accomplished of all. It’s been quite some time since Van Etten’s last outing to Dublin however before she takes to the stage the audience is treated to support act The Golden Filter. The synth-pop duo (below) is the perfect companion to Van…
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Maria Somerville’s on the edge of something big. The dreamy, soft-focus pop of her debut album is unlike anything else you’ll hear this year, and she’s picking up attention across Europe. So it’s not exactly a surprise that the Bello Bar is wedged this evening: it’s wall-to-wall hipster, the barman’s sweating and under pressure as the orders come in faster than he can serve, and there are local journos, scenesters and musicians bouncing from one side of the venue to the other to meet and greet. The Bello Bar’s a small basement room, with a low-ceilinged area near the bar…
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In one of the finest musical meeting of minds we’ve heard in quite some time, Amsterdam-based Irish producer Sean Arthur aka Kobina has reworked ‘Love’s Lost Landings Pt. 2’, a recent single from Dublin indie rock heroes Bouts. Across four minutes, it makes for a glitchy, subtly propulsive affair that masterfully ekes out hidden rhythms and streams of melodic finesse from the original. Start your weekend right by giving it a spin or two below. Arthur said, “With any remix I try to find the core of what makes the original stand out to me and then flip it. For me the original…
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One of the great hidden gems in Irish independent music today are Cork’s Any Joy. Sublimating varied strains of psych, post-punk & indie rock, they manage to recall the quintessential Deerhunter-esque pop-conscious, experimentally-natured sound of internalised dreams. Their 2017 debut album, Cycles, was a minor triumph, and was followed up last year with ‘Sucker’, a track that was included on last year’s Irish compilation A Litany of Failures: Volume II. Their new single, ‘The Sea’, bears all the Any Joy hallmarks: alpine guitar lines, tension, an impenetrable, masked vocal, and a wall of sound, all imbued with tape adulation. It’s their finest work to date. Another self-recorded effort in…
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Derry punk trio Touts in the Green Room of the Academy in Dublin. Photos by Moira Reilly.
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Backed by the Virginia Slims, Belfast-based Donegal musician Oisin o’ Scolai has been on our radar since last July. Signed to Black Tragick Records – a label founded by none other than Kilrea’s finest Robyn G Shiels – he creates folk-pop brimming with pathos, heart and nuance. Exhibit A is new single ‘Vacation’. Taking from o’ Scolai’s forthcoming debut album, Vacant Sea, it’s a heart-stung, lo-fi effort tussling with social cul-de-sacs and growing fernweh. Officially out on April 5, ó Scolaí launches Vacant Sea alongside An Auld Lad, Hatchetfield, Franklyn and more at a Black Tragick night at Belfast’s Voodoo on April 4. Pre-order it…
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Last December, we premiered first single ‘The Way You Look’ by Dublin three-piece Oranges. We said it “recalled the abrasive, minimalist alchemy of The Fall”. The following single, ‘Upside Upside’ was a “skeletal post-punk riposte that, in its simmering climb and surging climax”. Taken from their forthcoming debut album Hey Zeus, they’re both firm hints at something special. A bare-bones approach has been applied to the entire process of Hey Zeus, which saw band members Gavin Duffy, Mici Durnin and Ed Kelly spit the LP out live in six hours with renowned engineer Stephen Quinn in a room on North Frederick Lane, Dublin, with only two of its eleven segments passing…