• Monday Mixtape: Dani Larkin

    May 3, 2021 - By 

    Hailing from the Armagh-Monaghan border, folk singer-songwriter Dani Larkin just released single ‘The Red (Maca’s Return)‘. Taken from her debut album, Notes For A Maiden Warrior – out June 18th – she guides us through eight songs that carry weight upon her as a songwriter and person, from the formative to the just-discovered. The Chicks – Travellin’ Soldier This was one of the first songs I used to sing. One of my uncles brought the ‘Home’ album back from the U.S. and another uncle of mine learned the guitar parts and I would sing it. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I realised…

  • Landless Presents: Two Miles Of Earth For A Marking Stone

    March 8, 2021 - By 

    As part of International Women’s Day and the Capital Irish Film Festival, and commissioned by Solas Nua, traditional vocal quartet Landless have crafted a free concert film of traditional songs in collaboration with experimental visual artists Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty, titled Two Miles of Earth for a Marching Stone. Brigid, the Irish pre-Christian goddess of poetry, is the inspiration for a psychic vision exploring feelings of intangible longing arising from experiences of emigration. Film clips set in the North-West of Ireland will appear as interjections through the music, with the themes of the songs mirroring each corresponding scene in the saga. The songs will follow…

  • Watch The Vox Set Episode 1: Joshua Burnside & Joel Harkin Live at Lost & Found

    February 5, 2021 - By 

    Featuring wonderful individual and collaborative performances from two of our finest alt. folk singer-songwriting talents, the first episode of The Vox Set is out now. Set in the intimate setting of one of Northern Ireland’s finest cups of coffee, Lost & Found, the increasingly world-beating Joshua Burnside – who recently released his second album Into The Depths of Hell – is joined by Donegal’s Joel Harkin – whose debut album Never Happy was shortlisted for the 2020 NI Music Prize. The series is supported by Help Musicians NI and Arts Council NI, with their team comprising Stuart Reid, Sam Kwan and Hannah McPhillimy. Their M.O. is as follows: “The Vox Set is a recorded, live…

  • EP Premiere: Mark Loughrey – On Through The Veil Anew

    December 10, 2020 - By 

    On Through The Veil Anew is the new five-track EP from experimental folk artist Mark Loughrey, born near the border town of Strabane, and currently based in Berlin. His first major release since the 2017 release of debut album, Treppenwitz, it’s both sonically and thematically a marked progression towards more ambitious arrangements and experimental storytelling. Drawing from the kind of subtly subversive contemporary Northern Folk tradition carried out by the likes of Arborist & Joshua Burnside, it’s steeped in roots, but subtly subversive of genre convention. Its expansive, yet intricate, organically arranged compositions at varying points call to mind the earthly etherealism of Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird…

  • Video Premiere: Ana Gog – Breaking The Atom

    November 26, 2020 - By 

    Dublin-based atmospheric alt. folk quintet Ana Gog are back with their first new music in three years with the video for ‘Breaking The Atom’. Ornately arranged with glistening textures, the song was produced at Arad Studios. Its intricately woven Abbey Road-esque – and we don’t say that lightly – outro harmonies are amongst the finest compositional moments they’ve achieved thus far. Ana Gog tell us more: “‘Breaking the Atom’ was written shortly after coming home from a long tour across Europe in our beloved, soon-to-be stolen van, Morris. In the midst of all the sleepless nights (mostly for ‘good’ reasons!), logistical nightmares and petty fights that accompany touring,…

  • Moving On Music Set To Hold Online Concert Event ‘All The Noels’

    October 20, 2020 - By 

    Belfast-based tastemakers par excellence Moving on Music are set to hold unique online live music experience held throughout the Black Box, Belfast, titled All The Noels. The 30-odd-minute single shot, walk-through experience is set to showcase different music taking place across the various spaces of the venue. The video – recorded across one day by a team of audio-visual professionals – attempts to capture the feeling of being in possibly our favourite Belfast venue for live music. Performances come from some of TTA faves, experimental rock quartet Blue Whale, traditional Irish vocal quartet Landless, Irish jazz pianist Scott Flanigan‘s Trio, jazz drummer Steve Davis, folk duo Laytha and traditional flute & whistle player Martha Guiney with Shane McCartan. Speaking of the project, Mick Bonner of Moving on Music said “it was…

  • Monday Mixtape: Son Zept

    October 19, 2020 - By 

    Recently championed and playlisted by the likes of by ourselves, The Quietus, DJ Mag and leftfield DJ par excellence Avalon Emerson, “Northern Ireland’s resident electronic compositional polymath” Liam McCartan, AKA Son Zept has just released his second mini-album of 2020, B. Today, he gives us an uncharacteristically abridged mixtape of some current favourite tracks. I tried to keep this as just a stream of thought and not cram in stuff that I’d end rambling about daft things like cheeky hauntological anti-memory sound (*ahem*). Excluded tunes from Aphex Twin + Aphex covers, Mal Waldron, Oneohtrix Point Never, Eprom, Lyra Pramuk, Pinch & Mumdance, Holly Herndon, Chassol,…

  • Premiere: Mark Loughrey – Nothing But A Truth / Strangled Birds

    September 16, 2020 - By 

    Having relocated to Berlin in 2017 shortly after the release of debut album Treppenwitz, Sion Mills, Tyrone native Mark Loughrey is back with his first release in three years. Loughrey’s stay in Berlin  has seen him engage with and draw inspiration from its community, with A-side ‘Nothing But A Truth’ being another marked progression from a songwriter who effortlessly marries his own fernweh with a voyeuristic glimpse at the lives and insights of strangers. The single is taken from his forthcoming home-recorded EP, On Through the Veil Anew, completed during a period of self-isolation. As Loughrey tells us, “each track was written to a third person, and all address change in some way, be it physical, spiritual,…

  • Monday Mixtape: John Francis Flynn

    July 27, 2020 - By 

    In the latest instalment of Monday Mixtape, experimental Dublin folk singer John Francis Flynn – who you may have caught on the wonderful inaugural episode of Live From Guerrilla Studios – takes us through some of his favourite recent musical finds, across a wealth of traditional and avant-garde sounds. It’s the year 2020. I’m on a train wearing a mask. Time has been moving very fast recently, and very very slowly. I’m going to Mayo to be alone. I will climb a mountain, swim in the sea and work on some music. When I come back to Dublin I will finish recording my first album…

  • Islander Announce Live From Home Concert Set For This Friday

    March 25, 2020 - By 

    Islander draws together four of the finest singer-songwriters in Ireland for a special 2-hour online concert on Friday, March 27. Performing – in half hour increments – are Choice-nominated Maija Sofia, the ambient experimental folk of John Francis Flynn, bouzouki, guitar & piano player Anna Mieke and Junior Brother, who wrote our Irish album of 2019, Pull The Right Rope. Viewers are encouraged to donate whatever you can, if you can, to these artists who have lost at least a month of work, with events cancelled and weekly gigs gone for the foreseeable future. All donations will be split evenly between the artists – you can donate here. Links…