6 of the best Irish songs this week

Poser

Good Time

Dublin producer Adam Kelly aka Poser drops a head-spinning new tune with an almighty kickdrum and a kaleidoscopic house-gospel sample in ‘Good Time’, a song for which the excellent video underscores the sequencer sample nature of the track with a vosual flourish.

The video was shot in the Workman’s Club by Iarla Mackeon, which was inspired by a scene in the TV show Wu-Tang: An American Saga.

 “I made the first version of this track over two years ago and couldn’t figure out what to do with it. Following a move to London and the opportunity to experience a difference in clubs, I made this final version of the track with the image of it being played in a large warehouse or venue and even designed the beginning of the track to sound like walking into a venue and how the music sounds from outside’”

POSER will be making his live debut in London at the Roundhouse ThreeSixty Festival in April.

AC3

Natural

Dublin rapper AC3 twists Kanye’s ‘Violent Crimes’ from 2018’s ye into a dark-edged grimey electronic rap production.

It goes hard.

Close Counters, Shiv

Freedom We’re Needing

Shiv is back on that vocal feature run after last year’s Girls Of The Internet collaboration.

This time, the vocalist is working her magic on Melbourne jazz, neo-soul house band Close Counters.

Altara

pleasedontleave

Irish artist Altara is the closest we’ve come to an Irish newcomer sounding like brat-era Charli XCX with just his fourth track, the self-produced blog-house-inspired dance track ‘pleasedontleave’.

I wrote and produced ‘pleasedontleave’ as intuitively as I could. The inspiration came from one particular moment; I vividly remember having an argument & being asked what happens next, and in that moment I said ‘I don’t know, but just please don’t leave.

I don’t know why but it really stuck with me. I don’t like to think of myself in that place.”

Hotgirl

On The Brink

Dublin four-piece indie band Hotgirl will release the Blast Off EP on April 10th via Cartoon Records, and released the febrile and forthright ‘On The Brink’ from the EP last week.

Hotgirl are Ashley Abbedeen (Vocals, guitar), Sophie Boxwell (lead guitar), Jake Hurley (bass), Nick Stanley (Drums).

“‘On The Brink’ talks about my sadness, my insecurities and my past trauma in a way I’ve never felt able to speak about. I try to remind myself though that I am not special and everyone goes through this sadness and loneliness and we can find comfort in each other, by sharing that. I’m just trying to forget how shitty I’ve felt about myself for so long and embrace a new, happier me.”

Ashley Abbedeen

Live Dates
15th Feb – The Button Factory showcase, Dublin

Joshua Burnside

Climb The Tower

The Belfast artist Joshua Burnside has truly embraced his folk side to great effect of late,  and it will be further evident on the forthcoming album Teeth Of Time, out February 28th via Nettwerk.

‘Climb The Tower’ is a fine example of the kind of songwriting and folk craft at play on it, making it one of the most anticipated Irish albums of 2025.

“This album is about growing older, becoming a dad, getting by and making do. It’s about change and changeless mountains that silently watch as our short lives pass, ice sheets melt, loughs die and stars vanish.  It’s about the haves and have-nots, the lucky and the damned. It’s about being stuck in traffic with a hangover, and doom scrolling at 3am. It’s about trees as gods in the imagination of a child, about lands divided, and never-ending wars fought under the banner of capitalism.  It’s about Belfast, the north and about saying f*ck that to those that would divide us. It is about losing the ones we love and carrying on.”

Previously ‘Good For One Thing’