• Winnie’s Got a New Hobby: An Interview With Winnie Ama

    September 14, 2022 - By 

    Northern Irish-Ghanaian artist Winnie Ama grabs a chat with Josh Henry about the power of pastimes, performing for royalty and prioritising positive energy Words by Josh Henry Photos by Jane Donnelly “I feel like if you’re having a good time and things are going well, if there’s a crack in the door, get that door open and run through”. Winnie Ama is certainly out the blocks. The Belfast-born, Northern-Irish-Ghanaian artist’s brand of poppy electronica, combined with her own rich and distinctive voice, is seeing the light of day due to her penchant for hobbies like hula hooping. “Every year I…

  • Reigning Supreme: An Interview with Pillow Queens

    June 14, 2022 - By 

    Blue balls, deep fakes, and good clean fun with the flourishing Dublin indie rock quartet Words by Addison Paterson // Photos by Loreana Rushe Pillow Queens are still for a rare minute. The Dublin four-piece just got back from touring their second LP Leave The Light On in the US, and it’s a couple of weeks before they head to the UK. Then Europe, then festival season. It’s quite the change from the album launch they experienced with 2020’s In Waiting — a virtual listening party with fans, all sat in their respective kitchens. Nought to one hundred.  For now, they’re…

  • Worship the Grounds: A Chat with Imbibe

    May 1, 2022 - By 

    On their fourth birthday, Zara Hedderman talks ethics & community with Gary Grant, the music-obsessed driving force behind Dublin’s finest – and soundest – coffee roasters, Imbibe Get your fix via Imbibe.ie During the depths of the pandemic, a handful of my friends started a monthly virtual coffee and music club. On a Sunday morning, sometimes Saturday afternoon, the six members would discuss albums unfamiliar to everyone spanning the 1960s to 2010s whilst enjoying a specialty coffee, or two over Zoom. Before delving into the chosen records, everyone described what roast they were drinking; their brewing method and the flavour…

  • Wall of Sound: Marion Hawkes of Sound Advice

    April 7, 2022 - By 

    Belfast’s newest record store is far from your usual fare. With DJ Marion Hawkes at the helm, Sound Advice is helping set the pace for a city brimming with fresh possibility Photos by Darren Hill It’s only a few short years since Belfast was hit with a succession of independent record shop closures that left something of a wilderness unbefitting a city of its stature. Thankfully, with city centre joint Starr Records making strides, recovery has been swift. The latest store to open its doors is east Belfast’s Sound Advice, owned and run by Marion Hawkes, DJ and co-founder of…

  • Son of the Session: An Interview with John Francis Flynn

    April 7, 2022 - By 

    “There were people that shouldn’t know who I am coming to see me.” If there’s one thing you quickly learn when speaking to John Francis Flynn it’s that he’s not exactly prone to entitlement. Speaking over Zoom from his home in Dublin, the singer and multi-instrumentalist is reflecting on his recent debut UK headline tour. It was a run of 15 shows that, if a few glowing reports are anything to go by, were more than a bit special. Not that Flynn would tell you as much himself. “It was kind of mind-blowing,” he tells me. “After two years of…

  • The Art of Slowing Down: An Interview with FRMR

    November 16, 2021 - By 

    Last month, Northern Irish folk songwriter and poet Andrew Farmer aka FRMR unveiled one of the year’s finest LPs from these shores, Amelanchier. As well as offering a short piece on the making of the album, Farmer talks to us about songwriting, self-belief and the art of slowing down. Making The Record ‘Amelanchier’ by FRMR Amelanchier was recently launched into the world. But before we touch on the album, can you tell us a little bit about how you got to where you are as a songwriter today? In 2009 I took a year out to take part in a creative programme based…

  • Listening To Our Heads: An Interview With Cherym

    May 27, 2021 - By 

    CHERYM are on the precipice of a monumental Summer. Hannah, Nyree and Alannagh have been locked away in their Derry practice space, crafting the tracks that will make up their new EP, spearheaded by new single ‘Listening To My Head’. It’s a short, sharp guitar attack, as immediate and exhilarating as the drink their record label, Alcopop! takes its name from. Taylor Johnson caught up with the pop-punk trio just days after their new single dropped to talk resilience, Blink-182 and the fight for their signature. Listening to my Head by CHERYM Hi gang! Thanks so much for talking to us today. Somehow…

  • Riding The Wave: An Interview with Æ MAK

    May 12, 2021 - By 

    Over the last few months, Dublin-based artist Aoife McCann aka Æ MAK has well & truly ramped up her perfectly unpredictable brand of future pop. Off the back of her class Class Exercises EP, and the euphoric visuals for ‘New Friend,’ Brian Coney talks to her about the cyclical nature of pop, winning the praises of Jamie XX, her upcoming debut album & more. Photo by Anastasia Metluka Hey Aoife. Congratulations on ‘New Friend’. For our money, it’s easily one of the Irish tracks of the years so far. How was the writing and recording of this track for you?…

  • Inbound: Amerik

    April 21, 2021 - By 

    In the early 2000s, Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello’s method of overcoming physical distance in musical collaboration was so unusual that they named the resulting project – The Postal Service – after it. In 2021, it’s the new normal. Funny, then, that Adam Booth, Belfast producer of instrumental music under the moniker Amerik, chose the current climate for his first collaborative effort. Perfectly timed as we all prepare to get a little closer to each other, his second EP, Bouquet, brings together Gareth Dunlop, Travi The Native, Little Rivers, and Pete Wallace for a richly seasoned collection of heartfelt sounds…

  • A Chat with The Mary Wallopers

    March 17, 2021 - By 

    Dundalk brothers Charles and Andrew Hendy have been charming audiences in their guise as hip-hop duo TPM since 2015, with a run of hilarious but infectious singles about life on the dole, their love of curry sauce and their hatred of the national broadcaster. But their more recent reinvention as stout-swilling folk band The Mary Wallopers, with friend Seán McKenna in tow, came as something of a surprise. Armed with guitars, banjos and a seemingly bottomless well of traditional folk ballads, the trio have supported the likes of Lankum and Junior Brother, as well as playing their own riotous and…