6 of the best Irish songs this week

I Dreamed I Dream

Diana

Cork “sean-nós noise-makers” released a second EP BOYOPOISONING last week on Pizza Pizza Records which features the synth-pop/trad of ‘Fags’  and further stake their claim for one of Ireland’s best new bands of recent years.

BOYOPOISONING amps up the band’s noise rock credentials and is bursting with well-produced alternative rock songs not least on the spiky yet grandly atmospheric ‘Diana’.

“This EP is a coming-of-age story, if coming of age means realising you have zero tolerance for bullshit. It’s about love, loss, and Princess Diana.”

I Dreamed I Dream play BelloBar in Dublin on May 3rd to mark the EP release.

Curtisy, hikii

Milk & Honey

The Jobstown’s rapper Curtisy’s latest drop from the upcoming Beauty and the Beat mixtape (entirely produced by hiikki) out on May 30th continues the high bar he established with last year’s What Was The Question album.

God Knows, Dreddy

The Observer

OG Irish Zimbabwean rap king God Knows follows up ‘The Art of Alienation’ with the Dreddy-hook assisted ‘The Observer’, on a track that echoes the turmoil of the world we’re living in right now.

“This track is about our current state of the world and how we navigate in it. It’s really me genuinely observing what is happening around us, namely the hardships globally and having to exhale after a long day of work and having to do it again tomorrow,” said GK. “This is a present, honest reflection of “It’s hard out here man, I feel it too”.

Dreddy of his contribution says: 
“The chorus is about hearing a story from a bird with a clipped wing that still flew. it’s about hearing from someone that has overcome. 

Flying with clipped wings is a metaphor for doing what people said could not be done. Succeeding despite obstacles and hurdles. When it comes to rap/hip hop these words we write can at times mean a lot to people, turning them into scriptures it’s only ours for a short time, once released they then belong to the world”.

Catch God Knows at Love Is A Stranger in May.

April

Puppy

April Lawlor returns with a new single on the Fader Label (along with Efé), lush alt-pop ballad that uses a young dog’s neediness as a metaphor for a breakdown in a relationship.

“Were you left on your own for too long again? / Were you scratching the furniture up and begging for a bone and a long walk? / Guess the hole that you dig gets cold / When I’m not there sitting in it with you.”

The song is has some Lana DNA but April is the dominant voice.

 “I wrote Puppy when I was living in London, processing the end of a relationship & how fast someone moved on—almost instinctively, like they couldn’t help themselves. It’s a mix of frustration and acceptance, wrapped in something lighthearted & funny, I’ve realized I deal with a lot of big feelings with humour and comedy. I wanted the song to feel like a memory you can’t quite place, the little details that stick with you even when everything else fades.” 

Gag Reflex

Man Enough

The debut single from the Dublin band Gag Reflex sets out their stall of recorded noise-rock music after some time playing the city’s live stages.

‘Man Enough’ is a grungey track from the Irish/German band formed around BIMM in Dublin and citing The Pixies, PJ Harvey, and the “gory” literature writing of Diane Seuss and Sarah Kane as inspirations.

‘It’s a very personal song about an experience that I used to really struggle talking about. ‘MAN ENOUGH’ was forged out of frustration, anger and the honest desire to turn a horrible memory into something beautiful and empowering. It’s very important to us that this message reaches the people who need to hear it: You are not alone in your experience and what has happened to you does not define you. That’s what ‘MAN ENOUGH’ is truly about.’ ‘

Lead singer Lili Karrenberg.

Gag Reflex are: Lili Karrenberg, Fergal Beatty, Isobel Hood & Meg Bruce

Myles Manley

DiFontaines

I just wanted to shout out Myles Manley’s weirdly excellent Jerimaaad triptych again, particularly ‘DiFontaines’ which just hasn’t left my brain since I heard it. Delightful art that tickles the brain like no-one else.