• Win a Golden Ticket to Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival 2019

    April 15, 2019 - By 

    It defies logic how Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival consistently deliver on world-class, exceptionally diverse programmes, year after year after year. And yet, it’s something that the festival has managed, once again, for this year. Returning to the city across May 2-12, it will welcome everyone from Teenage Fanclub, Anna Calvi and Spiritualized to Jason Lytle, Lisa O’Neill and Echo & The Bunnymen. And that’s only scratching the surface (go here to delve deep into this year’s line-up, which, as ever, spans music, words & ideas, theatre, comedy, sound & vision, visual arts, and various special events.) It gives us no…

  • Watch: Just Mustard – Frank

    April 15, 2019 - By 

    With their singular brand of miasmic, trip-hop-inspired sorcery, the rise of Dundalk’s Just Mustard over the last few months has been a real pleasure to see. The latest milestone in their ascent is the release of ‘Frank’, a track that has emerged as something of a peak from the band’s scintillating live sets as of late. Accompanying the single release is Tim Shearwood’s video. Frontwoman Katie Ball said, “We thought it would be interesting to use stop motion animation to emphasise the broken rhythms of the song. Every character and prop in the video and their interactions represents a different musical or thematic…

  • Watch: VerseChorusVerse – INTRO (A Bandwidth Film)

    April 15, 2019 - By 

    2018 was a busy year from Belfast-based jack of all trades (and master of many) Tony Wright aka VerseChorusVerse. As well as publishing his first book, the North coast musician, solo artist and ex-guitarist/founding member of And So I Watch You From Afar was made an artist-in-residence at the MAC. During that time, Will McConnell of Bandwidth popped by to capture Wright in his element. The result is INTRO, a candid, 22-minute film that hones in on the nuance and heart of Wright’s craft via stripped-back performance, improvised guitar sounds and snippets from the aforementioned first book. Framed by the…

  • EP Stream: Rebekah Fitch – Lies We Tell Ourselves

    April 15, 2019 - By 

    That Belfast artist Rebekah Fitch has emerged as one of the country’s most promising solo artists propositions over the last couple of years has come as no surprise to us here at The Thin Air. Tracing the fast-rising vocalist and multi-instrumentalist’s increasingly distinctive brand of alt-pop singles like ‘Not Myself’, ‘Need To Feel’ and, most recently, ‘Poison’ brim with momentum, focus and – above all else – pure inspiration. You’ll find this in abundance on ‘Lies We Tell Ourselves’, a new, four-track EP that underscores Fitch’s upward course – one that, as we’ve suggested before, is surely imminently destined for the world stage.

  • Stream: Peter J. McCauley – Anywhere My Love Will Go

    April 15, 2019 - By 

    Under both his given name and previous moniker, Rams’ Pocket Radio, Peter J. McCauley has been responsible for some emotionally dense and finely-woven balladry. Right up there with his most potent efforts to date is the brief but brilliant ‘Anywhere My Love Will Go’. With its delicate ebb and flow, it’s a masterfully minimalist, yet deceptively intricate tale of love and longing. ‘I wrote this song at a time when I was working on music projects with two groups of older people in Belfast,” McCauley said. “One in a centre in the West of the city and one in an Alzheimer’s unit…

  • Villagers to Play Open House Festival

    April 10, 2019 - By 

    Villagers are the latest act to be announced to play this year’s Open House Festival in Bangor. Doubling up as the only Northern Irish date on the band’s current European tour, Conor O’Brien and co. will play in First Bangor church (a new venue for the festival this year) on Friday, August 23. “We’re thrilled to be bringing Villagers to Bangor for this year’s festival,” said Kieran Gilmore, Open House Director, “and First Bangor Church will be the perfect setting for this very special concert. Dating back to the 1830s, it’s one of the town’s most beautiful and historic churches with a circular auditorium, wooden balcony and divine acoustics.…

  • Women’s Work Festival Programme Launched

    April 11, 2019 - By 

    The programme for this year’s Women’s Work Festival has been launched. The Belfast festival, which has swiftly established itself as a vital fixture in the city’s festival calendar, launched this year’s line-up at the Oh Yeah Music Centre. Returning to various venues across the city across June 5-9, the festival – which is curated by Oh Yeah Musi Centre – will host various events, gigs, talks, and showcases. Among the highlights is a Getting To Know… session with Hannah Peel, a showcase gig featuring the likes of Wynona Bleach, Gender Chores, Molly Sterling and more, an interactive workshop on mental health…

  • Watch: Conor Walsh – Bars

    April 10, 2019 - By 

    Last month saw the bittersweet posthumous release of The Lucid by sadly-missed Co. Mayo composer and musician Conor Walsh. One of several peaks from the release (which you can pick up here) is ‘Bars’, a trademark minimalist gem from Walsh, marrying slow and unfurling textures with balmy, widescreen ambience. Equally parts meditative and resolute, it’s an effort that takes on a whole new layer of import via stellar new b+w video courtesy of Brendan Canty of Feel Good Lost. “Conor was an avid fisherman and a lot of his music is inspired by the organic rhythms and textures that you find…

  • Stream New Irish Grassroots Compilation: Live @ Fennor Lane

    April 10, 2019 - By 

    Tucked away amongst castle ruins and relics of history on the outskirts of Slane town, Mark Carolan runs the intimate Fennor Lane Studios. Like the encouraging number of grassroots Irish compilations and splits that have graced our Bandcamp accounts in recent times to act as connective tissue between previously-disparate scenes, Live at Fennor Lane was made with the same philosophy of shared elevation in mind, as Mark tells us: “The idea behind this album was simply to create a record worth listening to, and the live method of recording gives a characterful and natural feel to it. I hope we can bring new music to all the followers of each band involved in this project and help everyone to expand their audience. Aaaand it was great craic making it!” Featuring several of our favourite bands in the land, each more idiosyncratic than the last, contributions range from Slouch‘s submerged psychogroove, to the…

  • Naoise Roo Set To Return With Night of Music, Art, Theatre & Spoken Word

    April 12, 2019 - By 

    Long one of our favourite songwriters & artists on the island, Naoise Roo has been on an extended hiatus for the last couple of years. Thankfully, she’s just announced her return EP, Sick Girlfriend, and is set to hold her first show in a number of years at Dublin’s Project Arts Centre on May 4. The show will serve as a preview of the EP, with Sick Girlfriend‘s four tracks centred around themes of depression, the negative aspects of the music industry, and the stereotypes that burden women experiencing mental illness. Roo will be joined by producer/bassist Daniel Fox of Girl Band, as well as drummer Rian Trench, guitarist Karl Tobin and…