• The Thin Air’s Top 100 Irish Tracks of 2020 (#100-51)

    December 16, 2020 - By 

    Ah, 2020 eh? Unless you were living off the grid in a self-made banana bread house whilst rocking yourself gently to various iterations of ‘Happy Birthday’ as you washed your hands, then you will know that despite collectively living through the pandemic there were plenty of Irish songs to get excited about. 100 to be precise. We’ve listened to them on repeat since we couldn’t attend gigs, raves, or house parties so we’re certain we’ve selected the finest this little locked down island has to offer. It’s safe to say this year epitomised the true meaning of community in this country…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – December 11th

    December 11, 2020 - By 

    We’re a whisper away from Christmas, and Ireland’s creative community is showing no signs of slowing as we gather our End-Of-Year Lists™. This week sees a selection of new singles, seasonal covers, remixes and live sessions from the likes of Bicurious, Kneecap, Mark Loughrey, Citrus Fresh, Kojaque, Aislinn Logan, Joel Harkin, Conchúr White, SON, 1000 Beasts and Pollena. Kneecap – MAM Citrus Fresh – Dustpan Kojaque – Coming Up Aislinn Logan – Never Stay Low Joel Harkin – Christmas Conchúr White – Lungs Bicurious – B-Sides and Bangers (Live Session) Mark Loughrey – The Snake With A Tale For A Mouth On Through the…

  • 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…

  • Irish Tracks of the Week – September 18th

    September 18, 2020 - By 

    Whew, talk about a busy New Music Friday. Here’s the very best Irish tracks from today – and the rest of the week – including Sinead O’Brien, God Knows, April, Magazines, Pillow Queens, SORBET and more. Sinead O’Brien – Most Modern Painting SORBET – Birth (My First Day) Arvo Party – Kyoto Kyoto by Arvo Party God Knows – Mup I Said (feat. Hazey Haze) Pillow Queens – Liffey Tolü Makay – You Are Enough Æ MAK – hey driver (!) April – Watching You Disappear The Zang – Drugs Kojaque – Shmelly Mark Loughrey – Nothing On A Truth…

  • 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,…

  • Album Premiere: Mark Loughrey – Treppenwitz

    October 13, 2017 - By 

    Translated roughly as ‘staircase wit’, Treppenwitz is a loaded word; an evocation of regret, of longing and succumbing to overanalysis of what could have been said. Best left to the overthinkers among us, the phenomena is the source of much of our great art, writing & comedy, and it’s something Mark Loughrey has mined and left to rumination across a breadth of the characters and worlds explored on his debut album. Whilst rooted in the wistful yearning of Nick Drake or Jeff Buckley and the kind of indie-folk that regularly wins the NI Music Prize, it’s propelled by a fearlessness to follow the creative impulse –…

  • Aislinn Logan w/ Mark Loughrey @ Town Square, Belfast

    August 1, 2017 - By 

    Playing a stripped-back show in a limited capacity space on what is payday for some (presumably very thirsty) people is often a recipe for disaster. Usually it’s nothing personal: you could be Paul Simon or Joni Mitchell playing a pop-up show to a room full of dyed-in-the-wool aficionados and yet – due to some strange phenomenon that has somewhat corrupted live performance in public spaces since the dawn of time – people will often put loudly catching up above bearing witness to the artist they’ve parted money to be in the company of. Like, say, the Nazca Geoglyphs, the Bermuda Triangle and the…