• 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…

  • This Month In Irish Music: March

    April 1, 2019 - By 

    In the latest of a new regular series, Colin Gannon rounds up the very best Irish tracks released of the month just gone, featuring The Claque, Uwmammi, Invader Slim, James Joys, Cassavetes, Jafaris and more. The Claque — Hush Hush, the transfixing single from The Claque — the newly reinvented trio comprising of Alan Duggan (Girl Band), Kate Brady and Paddy Ormond — was this month’s most wiry, propulsing listen. Miasmic textures, beautiful, veiled melodies and bristling, febrile noise collide, ensuring the group avoid immediate categorisation. The eardrum-splitting tautness of Girl Band does come to mind, but the group are…

  • Conor Walsh – The Lucid LP Launch @ The Sugar Club, Dublin

    March 17, 2019 - By 

    Conor Walsh’s debut release, The Front, was a glimpse of a talent in development. Though Walsh’s playing was similar to that of other contemporary minimal musicians – most obviously Nils Frahm – his experimentation with treating and processing the sound of his piano showed how he was already forging his own path away from them. His untimely death just months after the EP’s release was therefore a huge musical loss as well as a personal one, as it seemed that we would be left with only that small glimpse. But Walsh’s family, after guessing the password to his laptop, found…

  • Details of Conor Walsh Album Announced

    January 28, 2019 - By 

    Details of the release of new music by much missed Mayo artist Conor Walsh has been announced. Called “an album for his fans”, The Lucid will be released on double-sided vinyl on the third anniversary of his death, on Monday, March 11, with pre-sales available via Bandcamp rom February 14. Side A of the album, we’re told, contain acoustic melodies, while Side B comprises electronic material. The stripped-back release was inspired by composers including Hauschka, Aphex Twin and Nils Frahm. Conor’s sister, Fiona Walsh, who helped to bring the project together said: “This album is for his fans and by…

  • The Thin Air’s Top 50 Irish Releases of 2015 (40-31)

    December 17, 2015 - By 

    Following on from Monday’s first installment, we continue our countdown of our Top 50 Irish Releases of 2015, featuring glorious returns, new-fangled heroes. Go here to check out 50-41. 40. Lakker – Tundra “You should listen to it loudly, and try to get swept away by it.” So aptly concluded Pitchfork’s review of Tundra, the second album – and debut R&S full-length release – from Berlin-based Dublin electronic duo Lakker in a decade. Released back in May, it proved an immersive ten-track release inspired by No U-Turn Records, Arvo Part, Merzbow and early Human League. Now that’s a dinner party we’d pay good money to…

  • 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.