In our final episode of season 2, Danny Carroll meets Bridie Monds-Watson aka SOAK, to talk about her song ‘Everybody Loves You’. The first single released from her second album Grim Town (Rough Trade 2019), ‘Everybody Loves You’ sees Bridie’s songwriting and recording process significantly shifting gears. Here, she breaks down the elements that went into the dream-pop ballad – be it a lush string section or “soggy cardboard” guitars.
This week on the Thin Air podcast, Danny Carroll meets one of Ireland’s most beloved group’s Girl Band, to talk about their recent single Shoulderblades. The first song the band released in four years, Shoulderblades served as an intense, exhilarating teaser for second album ‘The Talkies’. Girl Band’s singer/lyricist Dara Kiely and bassist/producer Daniel Fox speak about how the song developed and reflect on its varied influences – be they 19th-century freaks, low-cost imported lager, or Leonard Cohen’s howling anguish. Tracklisting: 1. Girl Band – Shoulderblades 2. Jon Hopkins – Open Eye Signal (Happa Remix) 3. The Beatles – Baby…
In episode two, we’re delighted to feature the Dundalk rap duo “making unemployment sexy again” – TPM. Since 2015, brothers Charles and Andrew Hendy been making funny, insightful, very Irish hip hop together, influenced by anxiety, depression and life on the dole. Last year they released the explicitly excellent single, ‘FUCK RTE’, and Danny Carroll visited the brothers in their Louth abode to learn more about the song. The episode also features some insights from their producer David Noonan (Just Mustard/Larry) credited here as DJ Chronic Lower Back Pain, with Charles and Andrew talking about how the song evolved, what it means to…
The premiere episode of The Thin Air Podcast Season 2 features Kerry’s finest singer-songwriter Junior Brother. With his debut album Pull The Right Rope recently named The Thin Air 2019 album of the year, Ronan Kealy speaks to Danny Carroll about the song’s origin and recording process. We also hear from the song’s producer Chris Barry (Ailfionn Studios), as well as cellist Claire Kinsella (Lemoncello). Ahead of episodes from TPM, Girl Band, Careerist, Just Mustard and SOAK, stream episode 1 of Season 2 below. Music Featured: 1. The Back Of Her (2018) 2. Hungover At Mass (2017) 3. You Make A Fine Picture…
The Thin Air podcast returns with a distinguished elder statesman of indie rock – David Gedge of The Wedding Present. John Peel favourites and jangle-pop pioneers The Wedding Present emerged from Leeds in the late 1980s with their scrappy and lyrical debut album ‘George Best’. A unique blend of bitter melodrama and everyday mundanity, it’s an urgent record that revels in the melancholy of small town life. From their C86 roots the band went to be bona fide indie-popstars, charting no less than 12 singles in the UK top 40 in 1992, and becoming a regular anomaly in the shiny…
The Thin Air podcast returns with another delightful in-depth song dissection. This week Danny Carroll meets Antrim singer-songwriter Stevie Scullion AKA Malojian. Having recorded his last album with Steve Albini (this documentary is worth a watch when you have a spare hour), Stevie wound up home-recording his most recent LP ‘Let Your Weirdness Carry You Home’. Featuring contributions from Joey Waronker (Beck, REM), and Gerry Love (Teenage Fanclub), the album has recently been nominated for the Northern Irish Music Prize. From his home studio, Stevie talks about the album’s title track ‘Let Your Weirdness Carry You Home’. Clocking in at nearly six…
Having kicked off with music and chat from Frankie Cosmos and Paddy Hanna, The Thin Air podcast continues with another brace of brilliant interviews. Danny Carroll meets Dublin folk miscreants Lankum to discuss their mournfully epic song ‘The Granite Gaze’. Along with producer Spud, the group talk through the lyrical origins of the song, listen back to an early demo, and highlight individual elements of the track’s swelling arrangement. Yoni Wolf Our other installment features Yoni Wolf, singer and songwriter with the Cincinnati group Why? Ahead of returning to Ireland, to play the Button Factory (September 17th) and Roisin Dubh (September…
Hosted by Danny Carroll, the newly revamped Thin Air podcast will feature insightful interviews with Irish and international songwriters. For Irish artists there’s a focus on the recording process, going in-depth on the arrangement and mixing process for specific tracks. Future interviewees include Lankum, Malojian and Squarehead to name but a few. Meanwhile international artists speak candidly about their careers to date, including Yoni Wolf (Why?), David Gedge (The Wedding Present) and Zola Jesus among others. Our opening double bill features the effervescent Paddy Hanna joined by his producer Daniel Fox in discussing the baroque pop delight ‘Bad Boys’. The…
Ahead of the launch of their new EP, MkII (part 2), at Belfast’s Pavilion tomorrow night (Saturday, April 22) we’re pleased to present the second part of Colm Laverty’s TTA Live Session with Belfast’s Hiva Oa. Featuring the band performing tracks ‘So Many Lies’ and Badger’ the session features sound by Chris McCorry and Matthew Collings, camera by Brian O’Kane and Colm Laverty and editing by the latter. Go here to check out the first installment of the session, featuring the band performing ‘Seskinore’ and ‘Johnny Brazil’, highlights from their previous EP Mk. 2, Pt. 1.
Tipped by us as ones to watch in this Inbound feature back in December, Belfast’s Hiva Oa released one of our favourite Irish EPs of 2016 in the form of the Mk. 2, Pt. 1. Having recently relocated back to the city from Edinburgh, Stephen Houlihan and Christine Tubridy, along with live member Chris McCorry, are an act to keep an eye out on the live front over the next few months, not least their eagerly-anticipated appearance at this year’s Output at Voodoo in Belfast on Thursday, February 16 Ahead of that show, we’re pleased to present the first of a two-part live session…