10 of the best Irish songs this week

bog band

Midnight Chancers

Not to be confused with the more Celtic Bog Bodies, Bog Band are a smoother proposition with ‘Stephen Sorensen and Isaac Clarke, old childhood friends making soft rock soul and pop music a la The Style Council.

‘Midnight Chancers’ is inspired specifically Bobby Womack’s ‘If You Think You’re Lonely Now’, and features Henry Solomon on saxophone.

The duo formed in Dublin after writing an original song for their Dublin Digital Radio show

Their first EP, Vanity Project, is out later this year.

They popped up on Maria Somerville’s NTS show last year.

The video, Directed by Robert Bass and Eoin Byrne, was shot in some recognisable spots – including Knox Memorial Hall, The Hut and The Grand Social.

Fräulein

Pruning

Irish/Dutch two-piece Fräulein’s song ‘Pruning’ is a taut indie-rock tune from the duo’s forthcoming Sink Or Swim mini-album, due June 14th on Submarine Cat Records.

The band are new to me but have had a run of singles since 2022, and they are Joni Samuels (Vocals and guitar) and Karsten van der Tol (Drums).

“Pruning” imagines what happens after the good guys win and the ‘happily ever after’ starts. Will this happily ever after last forever? Will the sacrifices you made along the way be worth it, and do they affect you in the long run?”

Orla Gartland

Little Chaos

“If you really want me / take as I am.”

Ahead of Irish and UK shows next week, Orla Gartland follows up ‘Kiss Ur Face Forever’, with new song ‘Little Chaos’ showcasing a bolstered sound for the songwriter on a track she calls “a love song, a giant surrendering.”

“I think a lot about how to move through the world alongside a partner and for a long time I wanted to show up in relationships as easy-going & palatable, never taking up too much space – now I can’t think of anything worse. I can be loud, funny, clumsy, loyal, intelligent, annoying, caring, angry; this song is about showing up as all of it, all at once. I think dropping the act and showing your true self feels like the most vulnerable thing you can do.”

A video directed by Danish director Anne-Sofie Lindgaard accompanies.

Tues 21 May – Grand Social, Dublin – SOLD OUT
Thurs 23 May – Lafayette, London – SOLD OUT
Fri 24 May – Thekla, Bristol – SOLD OUT
Sat 25 May – Live at Leeds Festival, Leeds

Stella And The Dreaming

A short ballad for frankie and everything we shared (in E flat)

I’ve liked every Stella And The Dreaming song so far, and here’s the hat-trick. ‘A short ballad for frankie and everything we shared (in E flat)’ is pretty self-descriptive but Stella makes it sound easy to write, record and single songs this good.

Spotify / Insta

Pier

The Harvest

Dublin based alt-rock solo project Pier’s ‘The Harvest’ has a surprising African blues rock feel to it, with the singer Pierfrancesco Dessì’s dramatic flair of a vocal bringing the song in another direction.

“The Harvest initially started as a dare. My musician friend Abbacaxi was making fun of my slow and sad songs and dared me to write something danceable, so I went home and thought “What if The Blaze and The Scratch wrote a song together?”. Truth is the lyrics are still as introspective as in my other songs, but at least in this you can dance the melancholy away. More broadly speaking, it’s about concluding a chapter, just as much as starting a new one. There’s a bit of my family history too. I think it was September when I first started writing some words for it, which is wine making season in Sardinia, so I guess my mind went there a bit too… Me and all my cousins would just run around my grandad’s small vineyard, while the adults would help him out harvesting the grapes and setting everything up to make the wine. Eventually we were all held to higher working standards as we grew up.

The song was co-produced and mixed by Ber Quinn.

Nixer

Hit The Town

When the Dublin electro-rock band Nixer hit, they hit hard, and ‘Hit The Town’ is a shining example of the band’s Pet Shop Boys-indebted indie electronic sound, that features on the just released I hit the town and the town hit me back.

The seven-track release is definitely recommended listening if you dig this spoken ‘West End Girls’ in the DIY indie club vibe.

Nixer are Seán Keenan and Simon Gardner and the EP is available on vinyl from Blowtorch Records.

“The album began with the title. It’s a running title I’ve been sitting on for years and always felt very strongly about. There’s something so colloquial and relatable about it for me, especially being from a big Irish town. The idea of then personifying a town and feeling the raft of its hit has a very humorous but real place in my life. The record embodies a collection of songs that are an observation on social settings and deals with themes of mobile phones, friendship, lies, romance, heartache and lots more. The most important element of the record is that it opens with ‘Hit The Town’ and ends with ‘Hit Me Back’, the opening and closing tracks of the album serve a purpose akin to the cover of your favourite book. The emphasis of the record is everything that happens in between, but don’t overlook these tracks for sure, they’re important. In fact, feel free to judge this book by its cover.”

D*mp

Dalston Junction

Producer Ryan Dwyer aka D*mp takes inspiration from Underworld and Chlär & Chontane on this new electronic production.

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Lil Skag

Pat The Baker

“Ring the guards. The guards are to be rang.”

Bump this one in your delivery van Pat.

Enniscorth rapper Lil Skag is here to stay.

A tune with Curtisy is coming. This is a warmup.

There’s a Dublin headliner on June 15th.

Evie

Magpie

From Evie’s second EP Shiny Things released last week, ‘Magpie’ is another highlight from Evie Kelly, after previously featured ‘Paris’

This EP features instrumental triumphs matching vast, orchestral vocals and unconventional percussion; haunting bells and traditional fiddle; delicate piano and dark drones. Evie finds unusual but beautiful combinations of sound, drawing on influences such as Radiohead, Lisa Hannigan and Laura Marling.

Brawni

Aye

Limerick producer Brawni continues to find inspiration in far flung places with ‘Aye’ echoing the streets of Los Angeles, as he journeyed through America. ‘

As with previous videos in his performance series, ‘Aye’ was captured on Mulholland Drive in the above clip.

“I wanted to capture the essence of Los Angeles in ‘Aye’. The city’s dynamic atmosphere, its rich cultural tapestry, and its undeniable energy served as the driving force behind this track. It’s my way of paying homage to the place that has inspired so many artists before me. ‘Aye’ is not just the culmination of my American journey; it’s a celebration of music’s power to transcend boundaries and unite people from all walks of life.”