A lot of Irish music comes Nialler9’s way and there’s little time to feature everything we think is worthy of a thumbs up or more ears. Every week, we collate the songs that pass our writers that deserve to be heard by you. For more extensive Irish coverage, follow our Spotify playlist or hit up the Irish section.
1.
Joel Harkin
Vada
Letterkenny-born Belfast-based artist Joel Harkin is gearing up to release his debut album Never Happy on May 19th and lead track ‘Vada’ grabbed our ears with its confident and lush arrangement. It’s a song inspired by the Macaulay Culkin, and Anna Chlumsky film My Girl.
2.
Travi, The Native
Heavy Love
Staying in Belfast with a new artist Travis Gilbert who brings a maturity to his soul-driven lo-fi pop.
3.
April
Mean It In The Morning
Kildare R&B artist April comes through with a fine new track from her recent New Conditions EP.
4.
whenyoung
The Prayer
A change of tack from Limerick/London band whenyoung, recently recorded by the band in their flat. ‘The Prayer’ is a meditative piano-song contrasting the band’s usual rock’n’roll style and the ballad about overwhelming feelings and experiences in the time of COVID is a beaut. The band have a fundraiser which will go towards Women’s Aid.
5.
Bleeding Heart Pigeons
Trapped
The Limerick trio have a second album Stir incoming on May 22nd and ‘Trapped’ is an example of the band’s increasingly lush sonics that is reminiscent of Those New Puritans. The song has fellow Limerick man Post Punk Podge on strings to boot.
6.
Conor Thornton
The Car Bar
Late-night whiskey bar atmospherics and Arctic Monkeys’ Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino era vibes is at play on ‘The Car Bar’, from Conor Thornton’s alter-ego Vick Valentine, a nightclub singer who plays the lonely lounges of the fictional XS City.”
7.
luthorist
Golden Shackles
We premiered Nuxsense MC luthorist’s excellent ‘If you know, you know’ a few weeks back and now the four-track EP Amethyst Thoughts and ‘Golden Shackles’ is another supreme cut from the Brazilian-born Dublin rapper.
8.
Ria Ria
I Can’t Sleep
Ria Rua is 22 year old drummer from Meath, living in Cavan and branching out into a solo project. Debut single ‘I Can’t Sleep’ was recorded with Chris O’Brien (ex-Riot Tapes) and is a delicious slice of foreboding electro-indie. It drags like witch-house but bangs like electro-rock.
9.
Omonoko
Emerald
With an Afro highlife rhythm and indie band characteristics, Newry quartet Omonoko leave an exotic impression with this Maribou State-inspired track.
10.
Participant
Oh No, Give Up
Stephen Tiernan returns with a direct song from his Participant project that takes inspiration from the artist’s inner monologue.
‘When I finished the song and started planning the release, I had no idea of the circumstances we’d be living in now. The title and chorus lyrics, intended as an overly dramatic warning to myself, an attempt to breathe levity into other moments, now seem to recontextualize the song as a whole. This was not my intent, but I feel I have to acknowledge it. I had considered renaming it or tweaking the lyrics or maybe moving the release, but I feel that would have defeated the purpose of the song. This song is not about giving up, but striking a balance between where you’ve been and where you are.’
11.
Class Action
She’s A Playgirl (Class Action’s Players’ Edit)
A highlight from Dublin producer Al Murphy of Loose Ends who has released a full-length album of Chicago, NY and Italo house-inspired called The Future Is Now., under the name Class Action.
12.
Moon Paw Print
Take Time (Tonight)
We’ve featured Moon Paw Print in this column a couple of times recently and there’s an album Dreams of Ü coming on June 26th. In contrast to many burgeoning producers we are sent, Moon Paw Print’s music is always equally full of melody, well-constructed beats and a bit of a magical spark.
13.
Coolgirl
House Arrest
Bitch Falcon singer Lizzie Fitzpatrick delves into synthwavey productions on ‘House Arrest’ featuring big reverbed drums from Rian Trench.
14.
The Swedish Railway Orchestra
The Freaks Come Out At Night
James Murphy vibes abound on a lead single from The Swedish Railway Orchestra’s forthcoming third album due July 29th. All of the vinyl profits from the album’s sale will go towards frontline health workers in Ireland.
15.
Joshua Burnside
Whiskey Whiskey
Mr Burnside is back with this sweet acoustic tune that is actually about self-medicating on whiskey to get through a flight. It’s the first tune from the followup to his 2017 album Ephrata.
16.
Malaki
Baby Bubblegum
Malaki continues his weekly run of five ‘Cocoon’ singles released every two weeks for 10 weeks with this Matthew Harris-assisted live hip-hop track. ‘Baby Bubblegum’ is the second in the series.
