• Watch: VerseChorusVerse & David Lyttle – No Window

    November 10, 2015 - By 

    There’s inspired, seemingly pre-destined collaborations, then there’s Tony Wright AKA VerseChorusVerse pairing up with drummer extraordinaire David Lyttle to make a genre-warping release recorded over 2 channels over a total of 14 hours. Set for release on November 20 via Lyte records, Say & Do is an impassioned, nine-track tour de force, revealing both Wright and Lytle’s instinctive creative mastery in the vast realms of folk, blues and jazz. More than anything, though, there’s an almost touchable spirit and mettle to the release; something that comes across in the stripped-back video for the album’s jubilant lead single, ‘No Window’. Wright and Lyttle…

  • Stream: The Mad Dalton – The Little Belfry

    November 10, 2015 - By 

    Recorded with the likes of Michael Mormecha of Mojo Fury and Jonny Woods of R51 – and launched in style on the Belfast Barge at the weekend – The Little Belfry is the debut EP from Belfast-based singer-songwriter Peter Sumadh AKA The Mad Dalton. A five-track release of ruminating, Americana-tinged folk in the vein of Wilco, Pedro The Lion, Sparklehorse and Ron Sexsmith, it’s a wonderfully-realised release bursting with carefully-crafted pathos and soul. Here’s hoping release number two from Sumadh – an artist of Scots/Canadian heritage – doesn’t incur quite as long a gestation period. Stream/download The Little Belfry below. The Little…

  • EP Premiere: Maija Sofia – The Sugar Sea

    November 9, 2015 - By 

    Having moved to London last year, Maija Sofia wrote and recorded The Sugar Sea during a solitary few months that came as a result of independently relocating to alien city. Dealing with the universal traits of loneliness and anxiety – but lightened by juxtaposition with Sofia’s empirical, fairytale mannerisms – the tracks on the Galway’s musician’s debut solo EP makes for a bewitching, almost voyeuristic listen. Three of the songs (‘The Girl Who Pulled the Sun Down’, ‘Hail Mary’, ‘I Will Not Be Worth It’) were recorded in Mowlem Street Studio, Bethnal Green by producer James Hare (Women in Love, Milk White White Teeth) and he…

  • Watch: Colm Mac Con Iomaire – Bláth (Flower)

    November 4, 2015 - By 

    Just over a month until his homecoming Christmas show with Lisa O’Neill at Dublin’s Vicar Street on December 17,  Colm Mac Con Iomaire has unveiled a video of him performing the brilliant ‘Bláth (Flower)’ live at Rockwood Music Hall, New York City. Filmed and edited by Shane G. Mahon, it’s a wonderfully captured performance that sees guitar, strings and piano weave a bewitching backdrop upon which footage of NYC on mute is overlaid. Frames’ member Mac Con Iomaire will play the following upcoming shows. November 11: St Pancras Old Church, London December 9: Empire Music Hall, Belfast December 17: Vicar St, Dublin

  • Watch: August Wells – Alice Dear Alice

    November 4, 2015 - By 

    Back in June, August Wells release what remains one of our favourite Irish tracks of the year, ‘Here In The Wild’. Summoning the pensive, reflective chamber pop of Richard Hawley and the gloriously elongated vocals of early Ian McCullough, the Ken Griffin-led outfit mustered a certain noir incantation that seemed simultaneously deeply familiar and thoroughly new-fangled. Four months on, following a string of Summer dates including an impressive Electric Picnic appearance – the band have unveiled ‘Alice Dear Alice’, a track that whilst following in the vein of ‘Here In The World’ is perhaps more akin to August single ‘Come On In Out Of That Night’…

  • Stream: Saint Sister – Castles

    November 3, 2015 - By 

    “My mother is lonely/My father speaks only to himself  My sister’s in danger/Her lover’s a stranger.” Undoubtedly the jewel in their lulling folk-pop crown, there’s a real immediacy poise to the lyrics of Irish Gemma Doherty and Morgan MacIntyre AKA Saint Sister. With their debut EP, Madrid, set for release via Trout Records on Friday, November 13, their latest single ‘Castles’ confines that intimate, instantly relatable savoir faire to four minutes of gossamer-like song, relaying succinct, unspoken truths of – perhaps unmistakably Irish – family life. Recorded in a short, purportedly “intense” session at Noise studio, Co. Kerry by Alex Ryan of Hozier, Madrid…

  • EP Stream: Conor Walsh – The Front

    November 3, 2015 - By 

    Dropping at the perfect time of year, The Front by Conor Walsh doubles up as a four-track soundtrack to those dark late afternoons and walks home guided by the glow and haze of streetlights and passing streams of strangers. Hailing from Swinford in Co. Mayo, Walsh’s piano and electro-acoustic minimalism wields understated repetition like a sword and that couldn’t be more emphatic on this beautiful new EP, out now via Ensemble Records.

  • Stream: exmagician – Kiss That Wealth Goodbye

    November 2, 2015 - By 

    Set to make their debut appearance at Lavery’s, Belfast on Friday, November 13, exmagician is Danny Todd and James Smith of Cashier No.9. Despite the name change, their brand new debut single, ‘Kiss The Wealth Goodbye’, is familiar yet suitably triumphant territory that retains their symphonic psych-pop spell of yore. Dig a little deeper and the burning urgency that drives the track (and their forthcoming self-titled EP) forth reveals an outfit in no mood to relive past glories. Go here for the Lavery’s show Facebook event page and stream ‘Kiss That Wealth Goodbye’ below.

  • Watch: Alarmist – Petrichor

    November 2, 2015 - By 

    Dropping on the same day of the release of their hugely anticipated debut album Popular Demain (full review coming tomorrow) Dublin instrumental rock wizards Alarmist have unveiled the video for triumphant, kaleidoscopic lead single ‘Petrichor’. With the album now available via Small Pond Recordings on 12″ vinyl, CD and digital download, the opening is comprised of studio footage shot and edited by Afghaniscan AKA Robert Scanlon, who along with Rian Trench of Solar Bears was one of the engineers on the album. Alarmist will launch Popular Demain in association with Ensemble Music this Friday (November 6) at Dublin’s Sugar Club,…

  • EP Stream: O Emperor – Lizard

    November 2, 2015 - By 

    Set for vinyl release via Trout Records on November 6, Lizard feels like a real arrival for Waterford quintet O Emperor . A four-track EP of harmony-driven psych-pop conjuring the likes of Gruff Rhys, Ariel Pink and Tame Impala’s more restrained efforts, it’s a suitably kaleidoscopic masterstroke revealing a band on the cusp of potentially extraordinary things. O Emperor play the following dates in November and December: November 15: Theatre Royal, Waterford November 26: Sugar Club, Dublin November 28: Roisin Dubh, Galway November 30: Shacklewell Arms, London December 3: The Pavilion, Ireland