The best new tracks in Irish music highlighted, and a playlsiit update.
Featuring Khakikid, Tara Nome Doyle, Paddy Hanna, Kayleigh Noble, IX Fall$, Hotgirl and Best New Irish music playlist updates.
The best emerging tracks we’ve selected from artists from the island of Ireland this week, with more playlist additions below the main list.
For more extensive Irish and new music coverage, follow our Spotify playlist or hit up the Irish section for individual track features.
KhakiKid, Saint Demarcus
Date Nite
Khakikid has been dropping some big energy tunes for a while now, but the recent Moanbag EP offers the most compelling argument yet for this Dublin lad’s status to be much elevated.
‘Date Nite’ is a breezy banger of a tune that combined with its easy fun video went viral on socials, that sometimes that happens not for gimmick reasons but because the tune is great – and ‘Date Nite’ is one of those resonant earworms that puts Motown soul, indie-funk R&B, guitar and poppy rap into a bright and fizzy mix.
Paddy Hanna
Paddy Dean
The Dublin songwriter released ‘Oylegate Station’ the first single off Oylegate last month.
For the second single from the record, due Friday April 11th, ‘Harry Dean’ takes on a Phil Lynott solo sound with a song possibly of a nod to the actor Harry Dean Stanton. It’s true ’80s soul pop music, that was kickstarted b a descending piano motif inspired by Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, with influence from Sade and George Michael, a surprising turn from Hanna that suits him beautifully.
“The romantic but bittersweet feel of the music then helped me to find the lyrics. I recalled the time I sold my beloved Guild Archtop guitar to make the rent, I thought of how I would cope if I were to lose my family, and everything came together in a pleasantly downbeat fashion. The finished product didn’t end up sounding like Ryuichi Sakamoto, but his influence can really be felt in the song and the album’s) production”
Hanna plays Whelan’s Dublin on Thursday, 17th April. Tickets are €21.95 plus fees from Ticketmaster.
Kayleigh Noble
Am I Asleep?
Kayleigh Noble’s Am I Asleep’ is a heady mix of ravey pop and R&B electronics, and is among the Dubliner’s best work to date, and the latest in a strong set of single releasees since 2023’s album Just a Girl.
It was produced by Adam Shanahan.
Hotgirl
Sisyphus
Dublin four-piece indie band Hotgirl have released three singles from their forthcoming Blast Off EP on April 10th via Cartoon Records.
Previously featured febrile track ‘On The Brink’ features alongside new song ‘Sisyphus’, a sarky slinky guitar band song with Ashley Abbedeen’s lyrics a standout.
Abbedeen says: “This song is one I’m most proud of lyrically. I’d gotten very into writing poetry after our first EP which has really helped with my songwriting. I never was able to say exactly what I wanted in any profound way so I didn’t bother. With this song, I found myself getting excited about analogising my life. I’m trying to make sense of why I am the way I am, and as I slowly make peace with all my traumas, I start to forget why I couldn’t let them go in the first place.”
Hotgirl are Ashley Abbedeen (Vocals, guitar), Sophie Boxwell (lead guitar), Jake Hurley (bass), Nick Stanley (Drums).
IX Fall$, Kentenshi, Florent!na
Without U Tonight
IX Fall$ is a Dundalk producer trading in hyperpop and electronic productions, and their latest track, a collaboration with London producer and singer Florent!na and producer Kentenshi leans on drum and bass rhythms and neon glowing synthesizers.
Tara Nome Doyle
Heaven In Disguise
The Norwegian Irish singer-songwriter based in Berlin has a third album Ekko to be released on April 11th via FatCat Records
The latest song from the record ‘Heaven In Disguise’ is a delicate song indicative of the record as a whole – a restrained soundscape with piano, strings, Mellotron and analogue synths with Doyle’s voice undulating in the register with emotional heft.
The album and title was inspired by the myth of Echo and Narcissus from Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
Doyle found parallels in Echo’s story in her own:
Echo’s story—losing her voice and sense of self as she’s cursed to repeat others’ words—felt like a powerful metaphor for Tara’s own journey. She went from creating unique songs with ease to relying heavily on external validation, twisting to fit others’ expectations and losing touch with who she was.
The album was made with Grammy winning producer and engineer Simon Goff (The Joker, Chernobyl).
For more extensive Irish and new music coverage, check into the Irish section for individual track features…
For this and more Irish songs, follow the Nialler9 New Irish Spotify playlist.
Otheer Playlist additions this week:
- Cliffords – Bittersweet
- Delivery Service – Ghost
- BXKS; Travy – Guestlist
- Moving Still – Close To The Shams
- SELL EVERYTHING – Something New
- HANNAHBELLA – Dainty Fae
- Varo; John Francis Flynn – Green Grows the Laurel
- God Knows – The Art of Alienation
- Maria Kelly – Like A Wave
- Joshua Burnside – In the Silence Of
- Ria Rua – Black and Tan
- Becky McNeice – Back Again
- Blimp; FAXE ON FAXE – Do What You Like
- SLOUCHO – the end
- Bantum; CNTRAST – Clang Clang – CNTRAST Remix
- amy michelle – nothing holy is free
- Patricia Lalor – Shed
- Meljoann – Data Ghost
- Froman – Hawthorn
- Fia Moon – The Reason
- telekura – velvet
- RVE – just a body
- Zoé Basha – Worried
- Huartan – Uiseog
- Kiing Sequence; Becky McNeice – Without You
- Bucket – Crack Alley
