A lot of Irish and Northern 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 new songs from emerging artists 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.
J Smith
‘I’m Sorry’ (feat. NNIC)
James Smith has been busy since his band Gypsies On The Autobahn stopped last year. Not only has he made electronic tunes with Gareth Quinn Redmond as Yurn, here strikes out solo as J Smith but not alone with a debut single featuring NNIC on vocals, and a band that features Soda Blonde’s Dylan Lynch, Donagh Seaver O’Leary and brother his Daniel Smith (also of GoTA).
“I’m Sorry was written for a friend years ago. They had recently broken up with their long-term partner out of the blue and they felt they couldn’t deal with it. I got a call soon after, telling of their despair and that they had talked themselves out of doing something regrettable. The song was a hand on their shoulder, to let them know that I was thinking of them, that I was trying to place myself in their shoes.”
2.
Conor Hamilton-Long
Craving That Affection
The 24-year-old Dublin-based singer-songwriter Conor Hamilton-Long impresses with a gilded R&B pop number.
“At the age of 18/19, I was wasting my labour on things I knew were not good for me, being a follower rather than paving my own way. This song is about recognising that and how meeting that special someone helped realign my values”
3.
NTF
Severance
NTF are a Wicklow three-piece whose ‘Severance’ is an introspective and somnambulist bedroom guitar track. It’s on our New Irish music playlist on Spotify.
4.
The Sei
Metroma (Jody Wisternoff & James Grant Remix)
The Sei’s ‘Metroma’ is one of the songs that benefitted from a placement on 2020’s TV smash Normal People.
And as such, it’s now got a new lease of life by the Anjunadeep house label with a remix by Jody Wisternoff and James Grant.
5.
Fi
Over You
Dublin-based Mullingar artist Fi releases the smart pop of ‘Over You’ today.
Discussing “Over You”, Fi explains, ““The track is about the ending of a relationship and the redirection to something better. It about being with somebody who I thought I actually never really knew and the realisation that what we think we want isn’t always what we need. That intense and exhilarating start of something new can be a red flag for something more toxic, as the idealisation phase wears off it was about seeing a whole other side to somebody. It was only a few months but I’m in such a different place in my life since it ended; it’s taught me to trust myself more and realise that relationships ending are teaching us more about ourselves, what we need to heal to find ourselves and reclaim our own power again.”
