• Under The Drum Festival Announces First Ever Programme

    July 26, 2024 - By 

    A brand new music festival set at the foot of the County Antrim Hills, just thirty minutes from Belfast, is set to hold its first ever iteration on Saturday 28th September. Set just outside Ballyclare, it takes its name from Drumadarragh, one of the hills overlooking its intimate setting of Breckenhill. Atop the bill are NI Music Prize-winning alternative folk artists, the supremely talented Joshua Burnside and Arborist, with the likes of indie-psych quartet Junk Drawer, Galway garage punk masters Oh Boland, Derry alt-pop artist Roe, experimental rock quartet Blue Whale, Brand New Friend, Cian Nugent, London act Arliston, Susie Blue, jangle-pop master Neil Brogan, Demi O’Hara…

  • Dreaming In Another Language: An Interview with Arborist

    September 28, 2023 - By 

    Riding a wave following the release of his stellar third album, Mark McCambridge chats with Cathal McBride about subtlety, sold-out shows and winning over BBC 6 Music Photos by Jane Donnelly When Arborist managed to entice US indie rock royalty Kim Deal, of Pixies and Breeders fame, to sing backing vocals on debut single ‘Twisted Arrow’ back in 2014, one could easily have assumed this was an early peak that would be impossible to top. In actual fact, the project of Belfast-based Ballymena man Mark McCambridge has only gone from strength to strength ever since, scooping NI Music Prize nominations…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 24th February

    February 24, 2023 - By 

    It’s been another excellent week for Irish music. Here’s the best singles and albums released over the last seven days, featuring Elaine Malone, David Kitt, Arborist, Mob Wife, The Plastic Ensemble, Pat Lagoon and more. Elaine Malone – Nothing Is Real Arborist – Matisse Mob Wife – The Oil In It The Plastic Ensemble – Light The Spark The Plastic Ensemble · Light The Spark Pat Lagoon – Jungle Cascando – Canyon Music David Kitt – Till The End/Balances Feather Beds – Really Disney Really Disney by Feather Beds Zeropunkt – Bitch Nails Phil Kieran – Atlantic PKR 037 'Atlantic' by…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – 20th January

    January 20, 2023 - By 

    It’s a real red letter day for Irish music, with new music from some Ireland’s finest acts. Check out our pick of them, featuring Lisa O’Neill, Arborist, New Pagans, Frog of Earth, David Kitt, CMAT, Danny Carroll, Ailbhe Reddy, Hands Up Who Wants To Die, No Spill Blood and more. Lisa O’Neill – Silver Seed Arborist – Dreaming In Another Language CMAT – Mayday Robbie Stickland – Time To Say Goodbye To My Old Self Time To Say Goodbye To My Old Self by Robbie Stickland Hands Up Who Wants To Die – L’inconnue New Pagans – There We Are John No Spill Blood –…

  • Watch: Arborist – Dreaming In Another Language

    January 19, 2023 - By 

    With his 2016 debut album, Home Burial, Mark McCambridge aka Arborist underscored his arrival as one of the island’s most singular considered songwriting voices. Four years later, A Northern View – which was Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios – doubled down on his sublimely-crafted indie Americana. In the between, McCambridge has had his head down, plotting a release worthy of continuing a story that has already sprawled out magnificent. The result is An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeros, a nine-track album that we’re sure will elevate Arborist far and beyond. Produced by Matthew E White at his Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia, it sees the Belfast artist explore…

  • Arborist at First Presbyterian Church, Belfast

    May 2, 2022 - By 

    On any day, Belfast First Presbyterian Church offers a quite spectacular setting for a concert. It’s even more so the case when the event organiser, namely Arthur Magee, decides to use the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival to honor the memory of former parishioner Thomas McCabe, who opposed the formation of the Belfast Slave Ship Company in 1786. In lieu of the usual opening band, the audience was offered an excerpt of the forthcoming play Sugar! by actor/writer Cillian Lenaghan. In his play, Lenaghan imagines Thomas McCabe’s visit to his church on the day after he prevented the formation of the…

  • Moving on Music Launches Middle Aisle Music Agency and Development Project

    January 14, 2021 - By 

    One of the country’s most reliable promoters, Belfast’s Moving On Music have today launched a new music agency and development project. Working with a selection of folk, jazz, classic, trad and ‘other’ music from these shores, the aim of Middle Aisle is to “support and develop a selection of artists, introduce more ears to incredible music, and help musicians move forward in their careers.” Already, the initiative has added Arborist, Bairie, Blue Whale, Cahal Masterson, Gráinne Meyer, Jack Joseph James, Jack Warnock, Junk Drawer, Laytha, Réalta with Myles McCormack, Robocobra Quartet, Ruth McGinley, Scott Flanigan Trio, and TRÚ to its roster. Fair payment,…

  • The Thin Air’s Top 50 Irish Releases of 2020

    December 20, 2020 - By 

    In years to come, when someone asks me what The Thin Air was and represented, I’ll likely direct them to features like the one you have just opened. Much like other publications of our ilk – Nialler9, The Last Mixed Tape, Goldenplec and others – we spend 52 weeks of the year relentlessly championing what truly makes Irish music special and, very occasionally, genuinely world-beating. We all do it in different ways, and to slightly different audiences, but the impetus and desire to shine a light on what we have is one and the very same. Although they’re almost never…