• Mclusky w/ New Pagans and Junk Drawer @ Voodoo, Belfast

    We’d the utmost pleasure of hosting the debut Irish shows from Welsh noise rock heroes Mclusky at Belfast’s Voodoo and Dublin’s Workman’s Club at the weekend. Two sell-outs and two extraordinary sets from easily one of the best bands of a generation. Extended gratitude to Belfast’s Oh Yeah Music Centre and And So I Watch You From Afar for the lend of van and gear respectively. Our photographer Colm Laverty nipped down to the Belfast show, which also featured sets from New Pagans and Junk Drawer.

  • Watch: New Pagans – It’s Darker

    ‘It’s Darker’, the new single from Belfast-based band New Pagans, has its origins in a messy incident at a house party. A musician, we’re told, became aggressive and wouldn’t tolerate frontwoman Lyndsey McDougall’s opinions. “That’s where the original anger comes from – a confrontation,” says McDougall. “It’s happened to me a few times. It’s like, ‘Oh you’re a girl, you should just shut up’. A feminist anger came from that. Yes, I should be able to have an opinion. And it can be different to yours.” The single wears this defiance firmly on its sleeve. It’s a potent and insubmissive alt-rock blitz from…

  • Line-Up Announced For Inaugural Coaster

    Hosted by Ewen Friers’ CATALAN!, New Pagans (pictured), fast-rising experimental alt-folk artist Joshua Burnside and Belfast dream-pop trio Beauty Sleep are amongst the names set to play the inaugural Coaster in Portrush on July 20. A self-proclaimed “summer gathering on the North Coast celebrating local music” the event will take place at the Atlantic Bar and Babuska. See below for the current line-up (including  The Thin Air DJs) below and go here to buy tickets, which are priced at a very reasonable £11.00 including booking fee.

  • Stream: New Pagans – Bloody Soil

    On Thursday night, we’re teaming up with Rally to co-host one of several free showcases as part of Output 2018. Taking place at Babel (rooftop of Bullit) the gig will feature four stellar Northern Irish acts: the mighty Robocobra Quartet, fast-rising singer-songwriter Callum Stewart, headliners Blue Americans and hands down one of our favourite acts here at TTA, New Pagans. Ahead of the show (which, as with all other Output showcases, is absolutely free) New Pagans have unveiled a new single. A typically slick effort from the Lyndsey McDougall-fronted alt-rock foursome, ‘Bloody Soil’ is a jagged earworm aiming straight from the jugular. Speaking of…

  • Stream: New Pagans – Worker’s Song/Ode To None

    One of our featured acts in 17 For ’17, New Pagans, have just released two new tracks following their debut tunes in September of last year. The band is one of NI music royalty, featuring Girls Names & Cruising‘s Claire Miskimmin, Jetplane Landing, Goons & Fighting With Wire‘s Cahir O’Doherty – whose trademark memorable alt. rock riffing is on display – as well as vocalist Lyndsey McDougall and Conor McAuley on drums. The band have yet to perform live, but by their sound and aesthetic so far – with each song featuring unique artwork from the band – New Pagans forms the bridge teased…

  • 17 For ’17: New Pagans

    While new bands are The Thin Air’s raison d’être, new bands full of familiar faces are always a particularly mouthwatering prospect. Featuring Cahir O’Doherty of Jetplane Landing/Fighting With Wire and Claire Miskimmin of Girls Names on guitar and bass respectively, along with Balkan Alien Sound’s Conor McAuley on drums and vocalist Lyndsey McDougall, New Pagans are a veritable supergroup of Irish talent to rival Miskimmin’s other side project, Cruising. With one double A-side single to their name so far featuring the tracks ‘I Could Die’ and ‘Lily Yeats’, the latter is a paean to one of the oft-forgotten sisters of…

  • Stream: New Pagans – Lilly Yeats/I Could Die

    There’s few things more satisfying than the sonic shock-and-awe of a band cropping up out of nowhere with a sucker punch of a debut single. Comprised of Claire Miskimmin of Girls Names/Cruising, Cahir O’Doherty of Fighting With Wire/GOONS, Lyndsey McDougall and Balkan Alien Sound’s Conor McAuley, New Pagans fall very comfortably under that bracket – and go one with further with the release of two singles, ‘Lilly Yeats’ and ‘I Could Die’. Bearing the hallmarks of a band that have spent some time fleshing out their sound over the last few months, both tracks are keenly balanced between the burrowingly melodic and downright vehement, each strident passage and…