• Breaking The Waves: An Interview with Brìghde Chaimbeul

    July 10, 2023 - By 

    Off the back of playing Glastonbury, and the release of her thrilling new album Carry Them With Us, Christine Costello speaks with acclaimed smallpipes player Brìghde Chaimbeul about the sounds and inspirations behind her singular craft Photos by Monika Ruman  Carry Them With Us is Brìghde Chaimbeul’s second solo album and features a combination of original compositions and songs inspired by Gaelic folklore and archive recordings. The album is as dark as it is whimsical from the soaring lilts of ‘Banish the Giant’ to weighted tragedies of ‘Oran an Eich Uisge’. Chaimbeul’s rich understanding of her instrument adds a new layer…

  • Heavenly Pop Hits: Q&A with Martin Phillipps from The Chills

    June 21, 2023 - By 

    The Chills haven’t been here for a bit, their last show being at The Button Factory in 2014. That was the year before Silver Bullets, their first album in nearly 20 years, came out and served as a perfect reminder, or introduction, to Martin Phillipps’ perfectly executed pop writing. That such an album would come out after years of quiet and be great isn’t common. That such an album would only be the start of a string of excellent albums, all in the 4th decade of The Chills’ existence, is cause to marvel. And so you can marvel to your…

  • Real to Reel: An Interview with Katie Gerardine O’Neill

    May 10, 2023 - By 

    Dublin-based artist Katie Gerardine O’Neill talks to Sophia McDonald about breaking new ground via a new-found love of techno and analog recording Photos by Loreana Rushe “It’s like hoarder levels. This is just an excuse for me to be a very strange person.” Katie Gerardine O’Neill is describing the masses of music files and field recordings that have accumulated on her laptop. Crumpling up paper and crunching tinfoil is all part of the process for the Dublin-based artist, whose new record, Into the Beyond, combines traditional analog tapes with more modern electronic elements.  Following her previous album, Message Green, O’Neill…

  • “Are we really back here again?” The Return of girlfriend.

    May 5, 2023 - By 

    Following a three-year hiatus, Hana Lamari and Lahela Jones of Dublin DIY heroes girlfriend. discuss their return to the scene, Ireland’s ever-changing music community and the secret to longevity Words by Jack Rudden Photos by Gemma Bovenizer In a country as small as Ireland, independent music is an intimate and sometimes volatile affair. Artists, promoters and venues are cobbled together or torn asunder with remarkable speed and comparable tenacity. Only the most dedicated can survive atop these ever-shifting subcultural tectonic plates. Those that are willing to fight tooth and nail, reinvent and lay themselves bare are capable of enduring the…

  • Redefining Themselves for Themselves: An Interview With M(h)aol

    May 2, 2023 - By 

    Off the back of the release of their debut LP Attachment Styles, fast-rising feminist punk five-piece M(h)aol talk fierce storytelling, breaking taboo, and representing their truth to the world Words by Leigh Arthur Photos by Jane Donnelly “I didn’t imagine eight years ago when I shaved your head this is where we’d be, but there’s nowhere that I’d rather be.” Constance Keane (also known as Fears for her solo work) is emotive as are the other members of M(h)aol as they make affectionate dedications to each other onstage in a basement in Dalston. The strike of midnight marks the release…

  • The Good DIY Young: An Interview With Belfast Promoters Asphyxia

    April 13, 2023 - By 

    Ross Cullen from Belfast’s newest independent promoters gives Cathal McBride the lowdown on the DIY spirit behind their packed-out shows across the city Photo by David McEneaney  For such a relatively small city, Belfast often punches above its weight in terms of live events, both in terms of big-name bookings from larger promoters and those on the more DIY side, like the brilliant Strange Victory or the now sadly departed Sizeable Bear. A newer name in the city’s DIY promoter circuit is Asphyxia. Helmed by Ross Cullen, Ethan Rea, Conall Coulter and Sienna-Lillie Munn, they have hit the ground running…

  • Stop Learning, Start Dying: An Interview With Toby Amies, Director of In The Court of the Crimson King

    April 11, 2023 - By 

    Few modern music documentaries approach the kind of magic that is layered throughout Toby Amies’ In The Court of the Crimson King. The British filmmaker and broadcaster’s study of Robert Fripp and his band, King Crimson, is a fascinating exploration of the dynamics – both personal and creative – that have long made Fripp’s musical vehicle a thing of near mythos. Ahead of a screening and Q+A with Amies at Belfast’s Queens Film Theatre on Sunday 16th April, Brian Coney chats to the director about the many challenges, and myriad rewards, of tackling such an inscrutable subject and towering musical…

  • Process of Becoming: An Interview With New Pagans

    February 28, 2023 - By 

    Ahead of playing Belfast alongside Extravision later this week, Lyndsey McDougall, lead vocalist of fast-rising Belfast five-piece New Pagans chats to Ciara Byrne about process, parenthood and pushing forward at the helm of one of the island’s most dynamic rock bands New Pagans and Extravision play Belfast’s Ulster Sports Club on Thursday, 2nd March. Go here to buy tickets Your wonderful new album Making Circles of Our Own brings to life the inner experiences of being a parent, and the juxtaposition of being a mother in particular while being in a band. What brought you to explore these themes through music? When we wrote…

  • The Lay of the Land: A Catch-Up With Landless

    January 24, 2023 - By 

    Ahead of their highly-anticipated headline slot at Letterkenny Trad Week this Friday (27th January) we chat to Landless about their upcoming second album, ten years of their world-beating unaccompanied traditional folk and the contemporary trad folk landscape of Ireland. Hi Landless. We last talked back in 2018, off the back of featuring you as our 18 for ’18 artists. Lockdown notwithstanding, you’ve covered some sizable ground in the in-between. Can you sum up how the last five years have been for you, collectively? Ruth Clinton: The last five years have been a blur of house moves, babies, study, work, and then of…

  • The Nyahh made me do it: an interview with Willie Stewart

    October 25, 2022 - By 

    This interview originally appeared in The Thin Air’s summer 2022 print edition It’s spring in Leitrim. The sky is full of birdsong, trees and plants are coming back to life, and Willie Stewart has been mixing cement. Alongside his partner, the sound artist Natalia Beylis, he’s converting his backyard and old stone outbuildings into what he describes as a “future habitat for creative explorations”.  The pair’s life revolves around these explorations, which they frequently let out into the world via shared and respective projects. Both are members of the experimental psych band Woven Skull, and have a wide array of…