11 new songs from Irish artists you should hear
A lot music from Ireland and Northern Ireland comes Nialler9’s way and every week, we listen through it all and select the tracks from emerging artists (and some established acts) that deserve to be heard by you.
For more extensive Irish and new music coverage, follow our Spotify playlist or hit up the Irish section for individual track features.
1.
Malaki
London Fields
Dublin rapper Malaki released a new EP last Friday entitled DFTTYM (Don’t Forget To Take Your Medicine), exploring mental health battles through a persona inspired by the 1952 Charlie Chaplin film ‘Limelight’.
‘London Fields’ is the closest that Malaki has come to the jazz sax and rap timbre of fellow Dubliner Kojaque.
“I wrote this project when I was in a very dark time in my life. I feel in our darkest moments we project a false image or a person who we wish to be perceived as. Instead, I embraced this villain, I became him and personified him within this EP. His name is “Calvero” and each track gives you an insight into his character.”
2.
EMBRZ, Emily Nance
Sleeptalking
EMBRZ’s latest tracks has taken his twinkling electronic productions into fresh territory with subtle newer shades in tracks like ‘Rise’ and this somnabulist pleasure ‘Sleeptalking’.
Jack Casey aka EMBRZ released a new album last week called Moments.
3.
Pop Wallace
Waltz With Whoever
Poxy Records’ Pop Wallace may be based in Phoenix in the US, but the Carlow producer has featured in Irish tracks in July and has form collavorating with upcoming rap artists like Cheesmore, Absentee and Willhouse.
His newest EP Noises Made Figuring Things Out, is well-titled in its varied explorations of sounds drawing from trip-hop to drum and bass to esoteric electronic sounds. It was made as the artist was “coming to terms with his own identity and seeking therapy for his mental health issues”.
‘Waltz With Whoever’ has a late night cosmic jazz feel and Wallace says the song’s visual reference is “someone having a last dance in space with whoever is there to dance with them.”
4.
Maria Kelly
The Sum Of The In-Between
The Mayo singer-songwriter Maria Kelly has teased the title song from her forthcoming debut album out Friday 15th October on VETA Music. The song, like much of the album, touches on the theme of self-acceptance.
“‘The sum of the in-between’ is a long list, laying out every messy, chaotic, complicated thing about me. It’s about giving myself permission to look directly at this current version of myself without criticising everything I find.
“For me, that’s what this album is about – permission. Permission to face myself, permission to feel it all, permission to get the help I deserve – no matter how uncomfortable or painful that might be.
“Who I was, who I’ll be, I’m ‘the sum of the in-between’; I guess I’m saying that the current me matters more than this rose-tinted version from my past, or this ideal version that I long to be. So, maybe it’s just time I gave her a break.”
Maria
Maria plays a headline show at The Workman’s Club, Dublin, presented by Singular Artists. Tickets are €15 plus fees available from ticketmaster.ie.
5.
Nuxsense, luthorist, sivv, Uwmami
Cosmic Dust
A three-way collaboration from Luthorist and Sivv of Nuxsense’s upcoming project Time On Earth with production by the prolific Uwmami, ‘Cosmic Dust’ is a high-grade headnodder.
6.
Sive
Think Before I Speak
The Kildare singer-songwriter Sive has a new album coming in 2022 and ‘Think Before I Speak’ gets its release today, as a lovely reintroduction to the artist’s craft.
The song is concerned with “chronic overthinking” and the impetus that drives us to present an opinion, online or otherwise, before really taking time to consider a topic or idea with nuance.
“It calls into question a culture that is obsessed with speed and doesn’t always allow time for reflection”, Sive adds.
7.
Of All Living Things
If I Go
A band formally known as nicetry, and despite the name change to Of All Living Things, the band continue the slowcore atmospherics of previous single ‘Willow’, on the space-filled ‘If I Go’.
The song is from an EP On Familiar Ground to be released on Any Other City and the release was produced by Ber Quinn in Dublin’s Sonic Studios and available for pre-order on 12′ vinyl.
The band have tour dates too:
Roisin Dubh – November 3rd
Dolan’s, Limerick – November 25th
Workman’s, Dublin – November 26th
8.
A Ritual Sea
Radiate
Trading in “dreamwave”, the Dublin five-piece A Ritual Sea’s newest single ‘Radiate’ holds within it, the textures and atmosphere of a late-80s indie reverbed shoegaze pop song.
It’s a taster of what’s the come from the band’s self-titled debut album out on 24th September 2021, released through French independent label Icy Cold Records.
Donna McCabe, singer and songwriter says the song is about the breakdown of a friendship:
“We went through a painful period of trying to keep an eye on someone that was in a really bad place, but respect their need to isolate themselves. Having lost friends to suicide, you know that no matter how far they distance themselves, you need to stay connected, to keep an eye. The song channels that invisible link. The pain on both sides is so visceral, that sometimes you have to learn to let go. The ending soars into something hopeful, reaching out to try to manifest a different, more joyful reality.”
9.
A Different Animal
Chasing The Scream
Dublin producer and DJ Jamie Morris goes under the name A Different Animal, and he’s just released a three-track EP called Animalistic of his original dancefloor tracks.
‘Chasing The Scream’ is a highlight with a looping synth line and percussive hits met with subtle vocal samples giving the tune a rolling tension that gets released throughout.
Morris runs the Get Right club night in the Pyg in Dublin.
10.
Aonair
Bad Decisions
Brendan McGlynn’s Aonair solo project debuted here with ‘Your Man’, a bright and airy synth pop song. ‘Bad Decisions’ is a more traditional song built with a wink of ’80s guitar-rock histrionics and melodically driven pop songs.
“Bad Decisions is a song about repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Sometimes we hold onto past trauma and use them to justify our behaviour and feelings, when we should really learn to let them go. It’s about trying to find clarity in that repetition, can doing the wrong thing, if done enough, become comfortable and a safe place even though it’s bad for you.
Breaking the mold is difficult, change can be daunting even when you know it’s for the best. We can convince ourselves that things are good because they are easy or familiar.”
11.
YAWA
Scubadivin
For more extensive Irish and new music coverage, follow our Spotify playlist or hit up the Irish section for individual track features.
