• Watch: Video Blue – Magpies at Dawn

    August 24, 2017 - By 

    We’re big fans of Video Blue here at The Thin Air. The London-based, Dundalk native’s brand of DIY indie-pop has rarely been far from our respective speakers since the release of his debut album Love Scenes in March of this year. Now the solo-crooner – real name Jim O’Donoghue Martin – returns with yet another single to be lifted from the album, and with some charming visuals to boot. Following the snappy minimalism of  ‘Hold Muzik’ and the scratchy insecurity of ‘Dust Moves’, ‘Magpies at Dawn’ is the LP’s slow-burning closer, all woozy guitars, layered vocals and subtle, glittery synths. We’ve said it before…

  • Premiere: Autre Monde – Village of Loomers

    August 22, 2017 - By 

    Without the faintest shadow of a doubt, Dublin quartet Autre Monde are one of the very best bands in the country at the minute. A stellar live proposition to boot, the Paddy Hanna-fronted foursome funnel their myriad influences in magnificent ways; bearing the imprint of but never kowtowing or passing off bygone sounds as their own. Concluding and very nicely capping off their opening four-track offering, ‘Village of Loomers’ – a self-proclaimed “indie ballad” of sorts – was recorded with Daniel Fox of Girl Band in Spring. Here, as with their previous material to date, Hanna, Padraig Cooney, Mark Chester…

  • Video Premiere: Chirps – Pink Noise

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    It’s been seven years since their debut album, Future Static Prologue, but Ballina-formed, Dublin-based shoegazey alt. rockers Chirps are finally gearing to follow it up with a second LP, from which we’re delighted to premiere first single ‘Pink Noise’. Featuring members of esteemed noisemakers like Hands Up Who Wants To Die, Wild Rocket, Crowhammer and Oilbag, their new album has been in the works over the last few years, gradually recorded by John ‘Spud’ Murphy – who’s also behind many of the finest independent Irish releases in recent years. A definite progression from previous work, Chirps have clocked up an astounding number of nods toward underground subgenres – most evidently shoegaze,…

  • Album Stream: Ger Fox Sailing – Ger Fox Sailing

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    Released today, the self-titled, self-produced debut album from Wexford quartet Ger Fox Sailing is a richly-woven, nicely eclectic collection of songs from a band who have just set out their stall and then some. From the contemplative precision of ‘Nowhere Without You’ and the poppier tangents of ‘What It Is’ to blistering closer ‘Best Friend’ via a stream of scuzz-laden, occasionally prog-leaning rock, reverberations from the likes of Longpigs, Incubus, Queens of the Stone Age, Grandaddy and, in parts, Northern Irish alt-rock band Pocket Promise (though we suspect the latter is something of a total coincidence) coalesce with the band’s own…

  • And So I Watch You From Afar Announce Fifth Studio Album, Release New Track

    August 21, 2017 - By 

    Having revealed details of a December Irish tour just last week, North Coast instrumental rock maestros And So I Watch You From Afar have announced details of their forthcoming fifth studio album. Set for release via Sargent House on October 20, The Endless Shimmering was recorded at Machines with Magnets, a professional recording studio, art gallery, experimental music venue in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Essentially held captive in the studio due to a snowstorm, the band used the incarceration to their advantage. Rory Friers from the band said, “We tracked, ate, washed and slept at the studio, and 9 days later we had recorded…

  • Stream: James Vincent McMorrow – Pink Salt Lake (Kobina Remix)

    August 18, 2017 - By 

    After the release of True Care, James Vincent McMorrow released the stems for two album tracks ‘Pink Salt Lake’ and ‘Holding On’, opening up the floor for remixers to explore and interpret the album in new ways. In an Instagram post he said: “Everything about True Care has been different. I want that reality to extend to the remixes.” Dublin-native Amsterdam-based producer Sean Arthur AKA Kobina has stepped up to the plate with a languid remix of ‘Pink Salt Lake’, taking the hushed, velvety ambience of the original and decorating it with light, pulsing beats, down-pitched vocals and giving the gospel choir backdrop a welcome…

  • Stream: Slow Place Like Home – Echoes (feat. Fearghal McKee)

    August 18, 2017 - By 

    Long one of our favourite Irish acts – here they are as cover stars of our fifteenth issue – Donegal-based psychedelic electronic outfit Slow Place Like Home have lifted the cloche on their latest single, ‘Echoes’, featuring vocals from Fearghal McKee of ’90s cult Irish alt. rockers Whipping Boy. As with all SPLH material to date, it’s written, performed and produced by Keith Mannion. Released on August 22, ‘Echoes’ is the second single taken from the band’s next album, When I See You…Ice Cream, which is due for release on October 20, and follows their June single, ‘When I See You‘. The latest LP was written…

  • Robert Plant Set For Dublin and Belfast Dates

    August 18, 2017 - By 

    Following the release of his forthcoming new album, Carry Fire, Led Zeppelin legend Robert Plant will play two Irish dates in early December. Accompanied by the Sensational Shape Shifters -a band comprising John Baggott on keyboards, moog, loops, percussion, drums, brass arrangement, t’bal, snare drum, slide guitar, piano, electric piano, bendir; Justin Adams on guitar, acoustic guitar, oud, E-bow quartet, percussion, snare drum, tambourine; Dave Smith on bendir, tambourine, djembe, drum kit; and Liam “Skin” Tyson on dobro, guitar, acoustic guitar, pedal steel, twelve-string – Plant will play Belfast’s Ulster Hall on Saturday, December 2 and Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy…

  • Stream: Rory Nellis – Gas & Air

    August 14, 2017 - By 

    Two years on from the release of his well-received 2015 debut solo album, Ready For You Now, Belfast singer-songwriter Rory Nellis will release its follow-up, There Are Enough Songs In The World, at the MAC on November 11. Having already released a string of singles from the release, new track ‘Gas & Air’ is a resounding alt-pop effort reflecting on the private thoughts and moments that accompany big life changes. Bolstered by Nellis’ all-star band of Phil d’Alton on keys, Herb Magee on bass and Peter J. McCauley on drums, it’s a wonderfully-crafted single whose harmonic tangents and wholehearted lyrical turns…

  • Hard Working Class Heroes Reveal Line-Up and Venues

    August 14, 2017 - By 

    Having made its annual call for bands to apply back in June, Hard Working Class Heroes have revealed the 50 acts set to play the festival when it returns to Dublin across September 28-30.  The following bands and solo artists will play The Workman’s Club, The Grand Social, Tramline, The Underground and The Tara Building: On Thursday, September 28 – the opening night – a targeted networking social event will take place in the Chocolate Factory where all the international delegates will have the chance to meet with their Irish counterparts and artists attending the HWCH conference. The conference is…