• Master & Dog – Things You Should Know

    Opening on a languidly strummed major chord in the vein of Sparklehorse and Low, pronounced gently like a first breath awakening from sleep, the lead track from Things You Should Know by Master & Dog is a brief but exquisitely restrained tale delicately marrying terse admissions of self-doubt with a pervasive ghost of hope. From the off, repose and self-contemplation feels directly conducive to the effect, the opening prologue-like tale very much setting the tone for the quartet’s latest EP. “I’m scared of what you’re capable of,” parts the alt-folk band’s vocalist and guitarist Walter Thee Goon, the release’s rather refreshingly unambiguous…

  • Gig of the week: Farriers, Anthony Toner & more @ Empire Music Hall

    Headlined by alt-rock band The Farriers, our Gig of the Week for this is a special fundraising show for disaster relief in Syria at Belfast’s Empire Music Hall on Friday, April 11. Not merely totally laudable for the great cause – aiding the afflicted caught up on the Syrian crisis – the line-up has all the makings of one of those all-too-rare “I was there” shows, with Anthony Toner, Master & Dog and Seven Summits (pictured) also amongst the acts set to perform. Tickets are £5 and it’s £6 at the door. Go here for the show’s Facebook event page.

  • Stream: Master & Dog – Candlelight

    The long-awaited follow-up to their 2012 self-titled debut album, Belfast-based alt-folk band Master & Dog are streaming the wonderfully delicate and understated ‘Candlelight’, the first song to be taken from their new EP, Things You Should Know. Recorded and mixed at the band’s Graham House Studio, the full four-track EP is currently available to download as a digital release for £5 via Bandcamp. ‘Candlelight’, the first track on the release, is a paced and weaving ode evocative of early Elbow and the more placid tales of Wilco and Sparklehorse. Following a string of German dates in April, the band will play two…