• Stream: Father! – Desire Lines

    August 29, 2019 - By 

    From The Stars of Heaven, Sea Pinks and Fixed Stars to Dott, Postcard Versions and any number of Popical Island bands, Ireland has always held its own when it comes to first-rate jangle-pop. On the more prismstic and forward-pushing end of the spectrum is Dublin quartet Father! (their exclamation mark, not ours – though we do speak with considerable enthusiasm here.) Woozy and warped-out, the Sean Brunswick-fronted foursome’s new single ‘Desire Lines’ is feedback-drenched and star-shaped in equal measure. That it shares a title with a straight-up Deerhunter classic may or may not be a coincidence. Either way, it certainly embodies a certain sonic…

  • Stream: Danny Madigan – Lost Shore

    July 26, 2019 - By 

    You might not know it yet, but Belfast, of all places, is home to a steadily-thriving synthwave scene. Look no further than Transpacifica, the remarkably prolific Alpha Chrome Yayo and Belfast-based whiz Danny Madigan. Today, the latter releases his strong single effort to date.  ‘Lost Shore’ finds Madigan taking inspiration from his homeland, revealing that the song was inspired by, and written whilst sitting beside, Lough Neagh. Abstract, but somehow familiar, this new release is another step forward for the musician and the rest of his fellow synthwave artists, who gather themselves together under the mysterious ‘Club Arnold’ banner. Stream the single – and it’s…

  • Stream: Lonesome George – Stumble Day

    July 26, 2019 - By 

    Drawing influence from artists as mottled as Tinariwen, Tool and Dublin folk miscreants Lankum, Lonesome George have emerged from Belfast’s session scene with a singular fusion of trad and contemporary folk. At the heart of the band’s craft is the songwriting duo of Joe Campbell-McArdle and Myles McCormack, two old friends who approached traditional music at the same time and have learned alongside one another. Stephen Loughran, a celebrated flute player and Dermot Moynagh, whose contemporary style on the bodhran has become the heartbeat of the sound of forward-pushing trad-folk in Belfast, seal the deal. New single ‘Stumble Day’ finds…

  • Stream: VerseChorusVerse – Hold On/There Will Come Soft Rains

    July 4, 2019 - By 

    Not least since embarking on his solo career as VerseChorusVerse, North Coast musician and singer-songwriter Tony Wright has been an increasingly vocal exponent of challenging stigma associated with mental health in the music industry and beyond. Through his art, candour and activism, he’s become a vital champion here for living authentically and openly in a burdensome world. New double-single ‘Hold On (A Subtle Act of Rebellion)’ and ‘There Will Come Soft Rains’ taps right into this advocacy. Equal parts spirited and defiant, they have been released as charity singles, in support of Help Musicians Northern Ireland. “HMNI helped me out…

  • Stream: Peter J. McCauley – Anywhere My Love Will Go

    April 15, 2019 - By 

    Under both his given name and previous moniker, Rams’ Pocket Radio, Peter J. McCauley has been responsible for some emotionally dense and finely-woven balladry. Right up there with his most potent efforts to date is the brief but brilliant ‘Anywhere My Love Will Go’. With its delicate ebb and flow, it’s a masterfully minimalist, yet deceptively intricate tale of love and longing. ‘I wrote this song at a time when I was working on music projects with two groups of older people in Belfast,” McCauley said. “One in a centre in the West of the city and one in an Alzheimer’s unit…

  • Stream: Fears – Fabric

    April 4, 2019 - By 

    Constance Keane aka Fears is an artist wielding rapt and carefully-woven electro-pop like few others. The follow-up to previous singles ‘h_blood‘, ‘Blood‘ and ‘Priorities’, ‘Fabric’ is an unfurling, self-produced tale of entanglement and escape that finds the Belfast/Dublin musician and producer at her most emphatic to date. Prepare for this one to reverberate in your inner ear hours after a first listen. Fears and Steven Henry play Belfast’s the 343 on tomorrow night (Friday, April 5.)

  • Stream: Strength N.I.A – Margaret

    March 8, 2019 - By 

    With their second album set for release post-festival season, Strength N.I.A have returned with their first single of the year, ‘Margaret’. A typically idiosyncratic and bombastic effort from the Derry alt-pop project, the track – which has received support from the likes of BBC 6Music – marries drums and thrift-store organ patterns with bobbing bass and frontman Rory Moore’s vocal refrains. Strength N.I.A play the following dates in May. Friday, May 3: Whelans, Dublin Friday, May 17: Venue TBA, Derry Friday, May 24: Roundy, Cork Margaret by Strength N.I.A

  • Stream: James Joys – A Constellation Of Bargained Parts

    March 6, 2019 - By 

    For any number of avertible reasons, there are criminally underrated artists sprawled right across the island of Ireland, and none more than James Joys. The Belfast composer, musician and producer (real name James Thompson) is someone whose emphatic, masterfully-woven craft operates “somewhere between the concrète and the kinetic.” A Constellation Of Bargained Parts takes that particular turn-of-phrase and transmits it as a full-blown reality. Teaming up with the Codetta Choir and vocalist Peter Devlin – who Joys also makes music with via the guise of the exceptional Ex-Isles – the musician spans choral, electroacoustic, postmodern classic and electronic worlds to deliver five powerful “modern lamentations” that,…

  • Stream: Kyoto Love Hotel – The Shapes That Bond You

    March 5, 2019 - By 

    Marrying sublime autotuned vocals with balmy synth-pop production, ‘The Shapes That Bond You’ finds Tipperary duo Joe Geaney and Laura Sheary aka Kyoto Love Hotel confidently expand upon their increasingly distinctive brand of woozy nocturnalism. Doubling as the duo’s strongest single effort to date – and one of the Irish singles of the year thus far – it’s a brisk and nuanced gem that instantly demands a repeated listen. Keep up to date with Kyoto Love Hotel here.

  • Stream: Swimmers Jackson – Believe

    February 28, 2019 - By 

    A jack of all trades and master of many, London-based Dubliner Niall Jackson is right up there as one of the hardest-working Irish musicians you’re ever likely to come across. Beyond being a member of indie-rock quartet Bouts (who have just released quite possibly the Irish album of the year thus far) and post-punk duo Sweat Threats, he’s also been drip-feeding the world some stellar sounds in his solo guise, Swimmers Jackson, since 2013. New single ‘Believe’ is one of his most emphatic efforts to date. A candid and carefully-crafted tale, it doubles up as something of an extension of last year’s ‘Pain In the Heart’.…