• Watch: Ryan Vail – Wounds

    February 24, 2016 - By 

    Dropped when we were at crazy peak deadline for the latest issue of our magazine three weeks ago, we’ve been all but waking up in cold sweats in the middle of the night, terribly shame-ridden and sunken of pallor having missed the chance to share our thoughts on ‘Wounds’ by Derry’s Ryan Vail. Set to release his long-awaited debut album, For Every Silence, this Spring, Vail’s balmy, synth-laden electronica has long ensured his rightful ranking as one of our favourite Irish acts; each release betraying a confidence and command of his craft that always hinted at something sensational in the making. Essentially confirming that fact, ‘Wounds’ is classic Vail but with…

  • Stream: My Tribe Your Tribe – Garden Song

    February 23, 2016 - By 

    Having released one of the best Irish tracks of 2015 in ‘Will To Survive‘, Kildare trio My Tribe Your Tribe have returned with the daydreaming indie-pop of ‘Garden Song’. Once again tapping into some wonderfully subtle melodic glory, it’s a curiously abstracted, typically infectious effort from the fast-rising George Mercer-fronted threesome. MTYT play the following Irish dates in February and March: February 26: Sin É, Dublin March 3: Monroes, Galway March 12: The Village Pump, Rathangan, Kildare March 13: Crane Lane Theatre, Cork ‘Garden Song’ is the first track to be taken from My Tribe Your Tribe’s forthcoming four-track debut EP, which is set for release in…

  • Video Premiere: Left With Pictures – Terra Firma

    February 22, 2016 - By 

    Having made fans out of BBC 6 Music’s Gideon Coe and Lauren Laverne amongst others, the music of London orchestral pop ensemble Left With Pictures is an exquisite proposition. Belying the classically-trained trio’s command of contemplative, layered textures, upon which vocals dance and harmonies entwine, their new single ‘Terra Firma’ summons a wall of gently swelling strings, ghostly church-pew background vocals and a gorgeous looped keyboard motif, evoking the quiet sanctity of Wild Beasts at their most ruminating. Taken from the band’s forthcoming album Afterlife – set for release on April 29 – have yourself an exclusive first peek at the video for the track, made by Jonathan…

  • Stream: VOXX – Glamour Puss

    February 22, 2016 - By 

    The wonderfully camp late 90s Bowie homage Velvet Goldmine credited Oscar Wilde as the original glam rock alien, so it seems appropriate that after the Star Man’s passing another Dubliner seems determined to pick up the flamboyant rock n roll flame. Enter VOXX frontman Conor Thornton, whose look channels so many androgynous rock legends he appears like the product of one of 70s Mick Jagger’s especially wild orgies. Debut single ‘Glamour Puss’ is an assuredly cocky introduction to the band: featuring a fabulously filthy Josh Homme-worthy riff, the band pile on T-Rex handclaps and sleazy piano to take the track into gloriously trashy retro nirvana. Thornton’s…

  • Stream: Slow Skies – Winter Night

    February 22, 2016 - By 

    The latest release on Dublin imprint Paper Trail Records, ‘Winter Night’ by singer-songwriter Karen Sheridan AKA Slow Skies wouldn’t sound entirely out of place on a high-budget, prime-time ad about a young couple, each battling their way through rush hour traffic, only to eventually – finally – fall into each other’s arms on a balmily-lit doorstep, before setting down a half a dozen John Lewis bags and petting an obedient little terrier called Alex that greets them upon arrival. Or something along those lines, anyway. According to Sheridan, the song – very deftly stripped back to her vocals and sparse piano work courtesy of Patrick O’Laoghaire of I…

  • Stream: Ciaran Lavery – Return To Form

    February 17, 2016 - By 

    At the risk of (really) repeating ourselves, Ciaran Lavery is easily one of the country’s most naturally gifted, hugely endearing singer-songwriters. From his days in Captain Kennedy up until the present day, we’ve seen the Aghagallon songsmith silence the most bustling venue with the the slightest of syllables and all but seduce innumerable crowds with his brilliantly charming badinage. At the root of all that is Lavery’s extraordinary grasp of the human condition, masterfully bolstered by an enviable harmonic grasp and compositional flair that continues to blossom unabated. The latest – and quite possibly greatest – manifestation of that is his new single, ‘Return To…

  • Stream: Shrug Life – Making Progress

    February 16, 2016 - By 

    With varyingly mind-numbing electioneering currently frying a good portion of the island’s collective head, Dublin indie-rock trio Shrug Life want your vote… … of confidence pertaining to the release of their excellent new single, ‘Making Progress’. One of our 16 For ’16 acts, the Danny Carroll-fronted maestros set out with the following Five Point Plan in mind: 1. Danny (lyrics, vox & guitars), Josh (drums) & Keith (bass) write song. 2. Get song recorded & mixed by Fiachra McCarthy (HEFTTRAX). 3. Get song mastered by Mark Chester. 4. Get artwork designed by Sean Conroy (deadl.ie) 5. Release song via online platforms. They have succeeded and…

  • Stream: 202’s – ‘Oh My My’

    February 3, 2016 - By 

    Dublin three piece 202s have been more or less silent since their self-titled debut release in 2009. The first sound they’ve made since then has now arrived in the form of the lush ‘Oh My My’, a hypno-pop chunk of fuzzed vocal harmonies and slowly grooving drums. The track draws influence from across the genre spectrum with plenty of psych-rock and Krautrock sounds embellishing the more contemporary comparisons to the likes of Alt-J or Foals’ more recent output. With a new album due to drop in Autumn of this year, 202s patient approach to releasing music appears indicative of a “quality over…

  • Stream: Goldie Fawn – Savages

    January 21, 2016 - By 

    Having launched the project back in early 2014, Belfast’s Katie Richardson AKA Goldie Fawn has never been one to conceal her outlook on the inner workings of what it means or feels to be an artist. Mirroring the largely contemplative nature of her electro-inflected pop craft, the accompanying proviso to her long-awaited debut single as Goldie Fawn, ‘Savages’, taps into the uncertainty and spectre of self-doubt that all often too creeps in uninvited. “On of the biggest frustrations of being a musician/artist can bee sitting on work for months or even years until ‘the right time,’” Richardson says. “Sometimes this magical…

  • Stream: Wyvern Lingo – Run (Hozier Cover)

    January 14, 2016 - By 

    One of our favourite Irish acts at the minute, Bray trio Wyvern Lingo will launch their debut, four-track EP, Letter to Willow via Rubyworks on Friday, March 4 – three days after playing their biggest Dublin show to date at Dublin’s Button Factory on Friday, April 1. Currently on tour in the UK with Hozier, the trio have unveiled a rendition of their fellow Wicklow artist’s ‘Run’. Very nicely capturing their keen ear for harmony, it’s a first-rate re-imagining from a band who came to the forefront of our attention with the release of ‘Subside‘ last year. Wyvern Lingo also play Galway’s Roisin Dubh on…