• Premiere: Heroes in Hiding – Berlin

    May 15, 2018 - By 

    The second single from their forthcoming debut album, Actor, ‘Berlin’ by Dublin quartet Heroes in Hiding is a cathartically-driven effort exploring “a want for change and a sense of belonging, or lack thereof.” According to the Joe Carroll-fronted band, “The narrator has become fed up with their surroundings, and fantasises about a new life in Berlin. They are convinced that by moving away they will be able to throw off the shackles of their old life and start afresh, leaving the anxious surroundings of their current world behind.” Exploring “a ‘moment’ of uncertainty in life – a moment where we are…

  • Premiere: Switzerland – Waste of Time

    May 14, 2018 - By 

    A song about “the futility of arguments and going with the flow” ‘Waste of Time’ by Dublin quartet Brian Walsh, Shane Murphy, Al Condon and Enda Canavan AKA Switzerland is, hands down, the finest dose of sleepy, jangle-heavy, Pavement-leaning loveliness we’ve heard in quite some time. Comprised of members of Drunken Boat, Hello Moon, Land Lovers, No Monster Club and Paddy Hanna, Switzerland will launch the single at Thomas House on May 19. You should go to that, and have a first listen to the single (and look at its video) below.

  • Watch: Saint Sister – Twin Peaks

    May 11, 2018 - By 

    Saint Sister have returned with their first new offering since last years ‘Causing Trouble’. ‘Twin Peaks’ is the first single from the bands forthcoming album Shape of Silence and shows a change of pace for the Northern Irish duo. While sonically not as dark as ‘Madrid’ or ‘Tinman’, it’s just as emotive. Here, the pair explore new textures while retaining all the best elements of their sound. Beautiful vocal textures and lush harp strings combine with driving drum and bass rhythms to create a satisfying interplay. Working once again with Hozier bassist, Alex Ryan, Doherty explains “The three of us…

  • Stream: Shrug Life – Your Body (Acoustic)

    May 10, 2018 - By 

    Of all the songs written in the lead-up to this month’s Irish abortion referendum, ‘Your Body’ by Shrug Life strikes a particularly emphatic chord.  Originally released in September 2016, the song – with its refrain of “Your body is not your body/It’s the property of church and state” – has taken on a whole new sense of import with a new stripped-back version recently filmed in an abandoned Magdalene laundry by David Knox. Though the original has no dearth of impact, this version, featuring Shrug Life frontman Danny Carroll and vocalist Máire Carr delivering a sobering and masterfully poignant rendition of the…

  • Privacy, Freedom, Bliss and Breadth: An Interview with Hilary Woods

    May 3, 2018 - By 

    Dublin native Hilary Woods found herself thrust into the public eye while still just a teenager, playing bass in the commercially successful alternative trio JJ72. Her tenure with the band saw her tour the world, grace the covers of music magazines and even appear on Top of the Pops. After two albums though Woods parted ways with her bandmates, ready to follow her own creative voice. The road to launching herself as a solo artist may have been a winding one but since 2013 fans have been treated to three darkly dreamlike releases showcasing Woods’ delicate voice and deft song…

  • Watch: Robocobra Quartet – You’ll Wade

    May 1, 2018 - By 

    Very few things excite us more than the prospect of new music from (by far) one of Ireland’s difficult, and genuine, pioneers, Robocobra Quartet. Ahead of second album, Plays Hard To Get, out on May 25th, the band have just released their video for ‘You’ll Wade’. We’ve already covered the song – “Culminating in a cry of “Everything is old news” before petering out in a plume of funereal ambience, its recording and composition distils the band’s ongoing, masterfully unconventional approach” – but the video’s conceit is strong enough to warrant another visit. Shot by Colin Armstrong & edited by Robocobra leader Chris Ryan, it’s…

  • Stream: Subplots – Unspeak

    April 27, 2018 - By 

    It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Dublin’s Subplots. Having “formally introduced” drummer Ross Chaney to the fold back in January, the band – now based between Ireland and Canada – spent last year writing and recording the full-length follow-up to 2015’s Autumning. The first single to be taken from that is ‘Unspeak’, a wonderfully-woven six-minute track gem began as a live recording of the trio – on guitar, bass synth and two busted old ARP synthesizers providing bass drum and hi-hat sounds. Vocalist Phil Boughton said, “The song grew around this simple skeletal recording of the three of us playing in…

  • Watch: Pale Lanterns – In The Dark We Are

    April 25, 2018 - By 

    One thing that Northern Ireland produces with astonishing prolificacy is high calibre indie-folk alternative pop, as a cursory glance at the NI Music Prize winner list might dictate. Belfast-based singer-songwriter Darragh Donnelly, aka Pale Lanterns, has released an EP and four singles in the past 11 months, and with each has come a firm compositional forward stride. With long-time production partner Carl Small of Start Together once more at the helm, new single ‘In The Dark We Are’ further broadens the aperture on Pale Lanterns’ sound, as it metamorphoses from somnambulant reverie into crystal clear self-questioning. Melodically, Donnelly’s tied to the earthly Irish indie-folk & pop subtle experimentation of recent years, bordering…

  • Hilary Woods – Colt

    April 25, 2018 - By 

    Some artists are just destined to wind up on certain rosters. One such act is Dublin’s Hilary Woods, an artist whose solo craft we’ve followed with a certain glee over the last couple of years. On June 8, the musician, ex-JJ72 member and multi-instrumentalist will release her debut full-length album, Colt, via Brooklyn’s Sacred Bones, an indie imprint whose discerning (and, so far, pretty impeccable) penchant for repping acts such as Zola Jesus, Jenny Hval, David Lynch, John Carpenter, Blanck Mass and Marissa Nadler runs directly parallel with Woods’ very own crepuscular craft. Her minimal composition & otherwordly layered atmospherics follow two acclaimed EPs and recent scoring of a horror film for IFI’s Weimar…

  • Watch: Hilary Woods – Black Rainbow

    April 24, 2018 - By 

    Some artists are just destined to wind up on certain rosters. One such act is Dublin’s Hilary Woods, an artist whose solo craft we’ve followed with a certain glee over the last couple of years. On June 8, the musician, ex-JJ72 member and multi-instrumentalist will release her debut full-length album, Colt, via Brooklyn’s Sacred Bones, an indie imprint whose discerning (and, so far, pretty impeccable) penchant for repping acts such as Zola Jesus, Jenny Hval, David Lynch, John Carpenter, Blanck Mass and Marissa Nadler runs directly parallel with Woods’ very own crepuscular craft. Conjuring a woozed-out netherworld that wouldn’t feel in any way out…