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.
Cherym
Kisses On My Cards
The Northern Irish punk pop trip Cherym announce their signing to Alcopop! Records with ‘Kisses On My Cards’, a song that vocalist Hannah Richardson says “is a power pop banger about my hot bi-sexual self falling in love with a guy for the first time in a long time 🤢 All the right signals are there, but both parties are too weird ‘n’ awkward to know how to proceed. It’s an anthem for all hot stubborn gays of the world feeling the emotional pressures of admitting to an attraction without the whole ‘my mate wants to know will you kiss her?’ routine.”
The band also recorded an anti-Valentines Day message:
2.
Four Nights
Grow So Cold
Former Tanjier singer Tommy Buckley returned with an electro-pop project called Four Nights in November. Those two tracks now have a brother in yearning dark-sided pop of ‘Grow So Cold’. Production is by Diffusion Lab’s Marcin Ciszczon.
3.
Sam Wickens
Murky Waters
The County Down singer-songwriter Sam Wicken’s music has grown in scope over the last couple of years. Following on from ‘Falling’ premiered here in 2019 and subsequent singles, comes the brooding soul-pop of ‘Murky Waters’ from the Watson EP.
“Murky Waters is the realisation that I was raised and put through terrible circumstances. Constantly feeling alone through every obstacle that was placed in front of me. Traumatic events seemed to follow me no matter where I ran, I started to believe that I was some sort of gatekeeper, that my purpose was to absorb the terrible things so others didn’t need too.”
4.
BRÍDÍN
Floating
A new artist from West Sligo, BRÍDÍN is a multi-instrumentalist who can play harp, flute, piano and do a bit of sean nós too. After working days as a funeral director and embalmer, Brídín takes solace in her harp and making music, of which the twinkling release of ‘Floating’ is the latest track (“It’s about how you should stop racing around every once in a while, and take a moment for yourself”), following on from a collaboration with Colm Mac Con Iomaire.
“I’ve always been involved in funerals, working full time in it, it has completely changed my outlook on life. I see sadness every day and people going through the most horrible time. There are tragic funerals and you have to stay strong, and hold it together. When the funerals over and I go home that night I erupt. I gravitate towards my harp and write my music, which I find is a huge relief and escape.”
‘Floating’ features Paul Leonard on drums, Brian Dillon (Meltybrains?) on Keys, and Jack Selby-Smith on bass.
5.
Jay Pryor & Chaya
Say Something
Two rising Dublin producers of dance and electronic music combine here for a collaboration. I featured Chaya’s garage-leaning ‘Nevermind’ in this column in November, and Jay Pryor’s a commercial dance producer who already has remixes of Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Kehlani, and Diplo under his belt.
‘Say Something’ is a meeting of the minds mix of both the artists’ contrasting styles.
6.
Lazyrevs
Tidal Waves
Lazyrevs are Tom O’Connor & Nadine Keogh who have released a handful of singles in the last four years. ‘Tidal Waves’ is a London Grammar-esque song that has a late-night solace comfort feel to it with lyrics about “coming to terms with a loss in your life, and learning how to let go; realising that sometimes the only person who can save you is yourself.’
It was written about Nadine’s father, Paddy Keogh, who was diagnosed with Esophageal cancer this year, which has a very low survival rate.
Paddy was lucky enough to get onto a new drug trial in St James not long after his diagnosis, which has been very successful so far. During lockdown, Nadine managed to raise money €3,000 for an awareness campaign on Esophageal cancer, which was part of a successful €50,000 campaign to extend the drug trials.
7.
Matthew Harris
A Difficult Winter
You may know Matthew Harris from his production work with Malaki or Lucy McWilliams and today he opens his solo account with the surprising left-turn of ‘A Difficult Winter’, a downbeat song inspired by a personally difficult year.
“I lost my mother to cancer earlier this year and I found Christmas under COVID to be incredibly hard – a lot of the lyrics definitely came out of that sense of loss and isolation.”
