4.

NewDad

Galway’s next big thing are here.

The Galway indie band NewDad are one of those bands who somehow had a good couple of years during a pandemic.

We named them one of the 40 best new Irish bands of 2020, and they’ve since taken their dreamy indie rock music to SXSW and on tour in the UK, with lots of BBC 6Music support.

Apart from a few sold out shows around the country, ATN will be one of the first opportunities for many to get a look at this burgeoning new band.

5.

Aby Coulibaly

One of two Chamomile Records artists on this list.

Since talking to us about quitting her day job and building a rep during the pandemic, Aby Coulibaly has gone from strength to strength, with releases on London’s AMF Records (home to Loyle Carner and Greentea Peng), 2 million streams of her songs and sold out Dublin and London shows.

The 22-year-old R&B artist is writing representational songs of her life with and she’s really only getting started.

7.

Adam Mohamed

Ballymun spoken word artist.

Adam Mohamed is an Irish/Sudanese spoken word from Ballymun in Dublin, who went viral for a song which explored heart-on-sleeve exploration of being mixed-race and mixed religion.

An artist, mentored by the likes of Maverick Sabre, Damien Dempsey, and Stephen James-Smith, Mohamed’s recent track ‘Me & I’ was more of a fully-produced song about the challenges of putting yourself out in the world, the fear, and hope, and the ties that bind us from expressing ourselves fully, with a tense, jazz-flecked and rhythmic production backing his searching words.

ATN will be opportunity to see how far Adam’s work has come since.

8.

AE MAK

Aoife McCann’s artful electro-pop.

Aoife McCann’s avant-pop electro music has recently been anchored by the artist’s self-productions and live show collaborations with Glasshouse Ensemble (who are also playing All Together Now btw). You can trust McCann to put on an ever-evolving live show, with dance movements and bright and shining music.

10.

Cormac Begley

Ireland’s most imaginative concertina player.

There’s no-one who make magic with a concertina quite like Cormac Begley. The Kerryman is about to release a second album entitled B, aimed at exploring the “Bass and Baritone concertina range,” and the B also stands for “‘Bass’, ‘Baile’, ‘Beaglaoich’, ‘Begley’, ‘Blueprint’ and a list of insults in both the Irish and English language.”

Live, Begley makes the concertina sing that sends people into raptures.

11.

Silverbacks

Dublin and Kildare art-rock band.

Across two great indie albums so far, Silverbacks have shook their art-rock post-punk a little differently than most. Approaching the music, with depth of knowledge of the music it emulates (Talking Heads, Television, Stereolab), lyrics that sidestep the trap of irony without genuine humour and warmth; twin vocalists in Daniel O’Kelly and Emma Hanlon and intertwining guitar lines.

Check out this year’s Archive Material and the 2020 debut Fad and listen out for those Daniel O’Kelly one-liners at the live show.

12.

Monjola

The Dubliner’s light is shining.

As part of the Chamomile Records crew (a label started by Monjola and his brother Moyo), alongside this list’s Aby Coulibaly, Monjola is one of Dublin’s brightest new R&B talents, with tracks that just have a higher calibre than most emerging artists.

Show your work. The beautiful vibey melodic collab with Coulibay ‘Where You At’? while the single ‘Pain Don’t Die’ cuts deeper than most in terms of production and delivery.

Who knows what the next few months for Monjola will bring before his All Together Now show, but we’re betting it’s good.