• The Cube of Unknowing – Drowned Zones

    August 9, 2021 - By 

    After tackling small town esoterica and early Irish Christianity, the latest release by Francis Heery, aka The Cube of Unknowing, explores the idea of resurgent nature, unleashed by a world-changing flood, engulfing the towns of County Galway. Drowned Zones is made up of six glimpses into a future past, where small town ruins are overtaken by jungle and stalked by creatures only a new primordial soup could conjure. The most resonant sci-fi charts the consequences of choices made in the present, so it is little surprise that Heery’s album description references dystopian chronicler JG Ballard. The concept, from artwork to…

  • John Francis Flynn – I Would Not Live Always

    July 30, 2021 - By 

    While Ireland’s contemporary folk scene continues to go from strength to strength, London label Rough Trade must take some credit for bringing it to a wider audience beyond these shores. As well as releasing the past two Lankum albums on their main label, their burgeoning folk imprint River Lea has debuted with records by both Lisa O’Neill and Ye Vagabonds, and now brings us I Would Not Live Always, the debut from John Francis Flynn.  Flynn has been a longtime member of Dublin five piece Skipper’s Alley, with whom he’s already released two albums of traditional covers, but his more…

  • Eimear Reidy and Natalia Beylis – Whose Woods These Are

    July 6, 2021 - By 

    If day trip destinations and social media posts are accepted as a metric, most Irish people view forests as a good thing. But excepting the few lucky enough to live beside one, they are largely a box to tick on the summer to-do list. While beloved for their soul-refreshing qualities, much of the population does not have an everyday relationship with them. This is not surprising, given that government mismanagement has made the arboreal a remote presence. Ireland has the least woodland of any country in Europe, a miserable 11% coverage compared to an European average over 40%. Such disheartening…

  • KMRU – Logue

    June 29, 2021 - By 

    Nairobi-born, Berlin-based KMRU’s Logue is a collection of ambient snapshots, compiling previously self-released individual pieces that chart his journey to date, and his rising prominence in the world of experimental electronic music. Where his three albums released in 2020,Peel, Jar and Opaquer, were cohesive, flowing works, the stitches in Logue are cut loose due to its loosely assembled nature. Nonetheless, it is an album of shining moments, thrilling ambience and transportive field recordings.  Following the legacy of his famed Kikuyu Benga musician grandfather, music is in KMRU’s blood. The 24-year-old artist, however, opts for a less traditional route. Teaching himself FL Studio while…

  • St. Vincent – Daddy’s Home

    June 21, 2021 - By 

    On her nostalgic new album, Daddy’s Home, St. Vincent searches for herself, using a funky, ‘70s sound palette to examine themes of parenthood, power and incarceration. In contrast to the futuristic Masseducation, the artist’s seventh album takes a step back in time, looking at the idea that more things change, the more they stay the same.  Co-produced by Clark and Jack Antonoff, Daddy’s Home explores a feeling of being lost without a sense of home, and sonically jumps to and from the past without a feeling of stability in either. Clark uses nostalgic techniques and stylistic cues to signify that one…

  • Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies – Euphoric Recall

    June 14, 2021 - By 

    Take one look at (and listen) to Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies and you might think at first that you’ve seen and heard it somewhere before.  Limerick accent? Check. Acerbic wit, social satire and commentary against outdated modes of masculinity? Check. Mask, self-made from a well-known local institution? Double-check. Be that as it may, that’s where the comparisons between Post Punk Podge and fellow artistic disruptors, The Rubberbandits, end. Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies are an entity unto themselves, and a true standout act in the Irish music scene. Their debut album, Euphoric Recall, is proof of that.…

  • Iceage – Seek Shelter

    May 21, 2021 - By 

    Iceage’s place in contemporary alternative rock is somewhat anomalous – not so much that of an outsider looking in, nor a casual observer. Rather, Iceage are nonchalant contrarians. While post-punk has enjoyed something of a renaissance in recognition with the advent of straight-up rockers (Fontaines D.C., The Murder Capital, Idles, Shame) and experimentalists (Black Midi, Black Country, New Road, Squid); the Danish quintet – their lineup now complete with the addition of guitarist Casper Morilla – have stood apart from this third wave, following their own course rather than casting their anchor as the rising tide lifted so many other…

  • For Ruin – Relapse EP

    May 11, 2021 - By 

    For some sections of the workforce, the lockdown’s biggest consequence was a surfeit of free time. This allowed some musicians to devote more time to their creative pursuits. This was the case for Cork band For Ruin, whose mainstay John Murphy used some of that recovered time to record eight slices of highly melodic death metal, the band’s first output since it was put on hold in 2013. Relapse is the second release drawn from this batch, following on from September’s Elapse EP. In a case of great precognition, Murphy began constructing his home studio around three years ago, the…

  • Fears – Oíche

    May 6, 2021 - By 

    In late 2020, Constance Keane, aka Irish producer and songwriter Fears, and Emily Kendrick set up TULLE, a record label run for and by women, gender non-conforming and non-binary people, with the aim of creating a platform for underrepresented artists in the music industry. After self-releasing music as Fears for a few years, Keane wanted to create a permanent home for her art, while also challenging the cis white male dominance of the scene at large. The first release on TULLE is Fears’ own debut album, Oíche, a collection of ethereal electronic songs that delve deep into the themes of…

  • Lighght – Holy Endings

    May 5, 2021 - By 

    In just a short few years, Cork artist Lighght has built an impressive catalogue shaded with horror, humour and poignancy. The jagged noise of debut EP The Skin Falls Off the Body was a meditation on pain, a response to a past trauma. Debut album Gore-Tex in the Club, Balenciaga Amongst the Shrubs dealt with the recovery process in a transformative manner, manifested in a sprawling work that introduced doses of melodic synths, busy percussion and forays into spoken word and the organic sound of the solo harp. His newest release, Holy Endings, is his most consistently relaxed work, downplaying…