• The Court House in Bangor named as finalist in National Lottery Awards

    September 13, 2023 - By 

    The Court House in Bangor has been shortlisted for the National Lottery Project of the Year Award. The prestigious nod is a very worthy acknowledgement of the non-profit arts venue’s vital home in the County Down seaside city. Announced just a few weeks before its first anniversary, having opened its doors last October following seven years of fundraising, lobbying, planning and refurbishment, the nomination brings into sharp focus the hard work of the venue’s owners and operators, local arts charity Open House, who are also responsible for Open House Festival. Made possible with a major grant of almost £1 million…

  • Inbound: Garrett Laurie

    September 13, 2023 - By 

    It’s rarer than hen’s teeth but sometimes a voice can warrant legitimate “stop you in your tracks” status. Garrett Laurie’s is one such example. Having grown up singing in church folk groups, the Belfast-based artist’s folk-pop craft – and exquisite vocal delivery – is proving every bit as gossamer as it is quietly beatific. While last year’s Can I Play Too Or Is It Just For Boys? EP proved a sublime introduction, recent single ‘All About Me’ underscored the promise of an artist wielding soul-stirring finesse. Co-penned with Ciaran Lavery and Stephen O’Hagan at Soft Gut Song Camp, it conjures…

  • Field Music: An Interview with Natalia Beylis

    September 13, 2023 - By 

    The Leitrim-based sound artist speaks to Ruairí McCann about her new album, Mermaids, and her music’s relationship to place, language, and community Photos by Aislinn McGinn The great Leitrim-born author John McGahern spent a large portion of his adulthood outside of the country and yet his artistic life remained there, rooted, and deeply concerned with recreating on the page its people, sights, sounds and rhythms, to an almost hypnotic degree. To the extent that the last scene of his last book, Memoir, is occupied with a stroll along the lanes, streams and hedgerows which define and feed Leitrim and much…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 8th September

    September 8, 2023 - By 

    It’s another big week for Irish music, from the latest installment of island-wide compilation A Litany of Failures, to new releases from Slomatics, Elaine Malone, Dollops, girlfriend. and more Slomatics – Strontium Fields Strontium Fields by Slomatics Elaine Malone – Pyrrhic Pyrrhic by Elaine Malone Dollops – Wire and Wood Wire and Wood by Dollops A Litany of Failures: Volume IV A Litany of Failures: Volume IV by Litany Of Failures girlfriend. – In Silence In Silence by girlfriend. Niall McDowell – Start Again Sprints – Up And Comer Soda Blonde – Dream Big Dream Big by Soda Blonde

  • Maija Sofia – True Love

    September 7, 2023 - By 

    Galway singer-songwriter Maija Sofia’s debut, 2019’s Bath Time, was a rare gem, arriving in a haze of stirring narratives and intimate musicality. Four years later, she swings the lens away from history’s wronged women, towards herself. Here, she is not a compassionate historian – she is a protagonist filled with pain, anger, love and passion. Early single ‘Four Winters’ is an avant-garde pop ballad that marries figurative imagery with plainspoken references to sexual violence and direct imploring. This mode switching builds intimacy and depth. Sofia’s self-expression is complex and volatile, much like life is for a 20-something-year-old woman – her…

  • Power, Romance, Archery: An Interview with Rachael Lavelle

    September 7, 2023 - By 

    Off the back of what looks set to be the Irish song and video of the year, ‘Let Me Unlock Your Full Potential’, Rachael Lavelle chats with Jack Rudden about romance, the myth of archery and more Photos by Kate Lawlor Sometimes an artist thrives on a prolific output. They will assure their presence in your mental real estate is safe with an unrelenting release schedule, while constant press and promo maintain a wider cultural relevance. It’s a rather public practice of tenacious self-embiggening that seems to be an essential – if not slightly crushing – part of a life…

  • Video Premiere: Danny Carroll – Cheesemonger

    September 7, 2023 - By 

    We’ve long championed former Shrug Life frontman Danny Carroll as a forerunner in the conversation around Ireland’s greatest current-day lyricists. Continually capturing his milieu in sardonic, vivid detail, age has sharpened his instincts and composition, yet tempered his self-deprecative tendencies – to a point. That point is exactly what Carroll’s latest single, ‘Cheesemonger’, finds itself wrestling with throughout. The track is featured on Volume IV of the Litany of Failures compilation of which Danny Carroll is co-curator. It comes out tomorrow on digital & vinyl, and we’re pleased to give you a first look at the video for ‘Cheesemonger’. It…