8 new Irish songs you should hear: Burglar, Sei Green, Ye Vagabonds, Ailbhe Reddy, Big Sleep & more

Burglar

Lovey

There’s a light touch earworm indie pop sweetness to the latest song from Burglar, the duo of Irish musician Willow Hannon and Brazilian Eduardo Di Santos who met in college in 2021 and bonded over Stereolab and Smashing Pumpkins.

Live, they are augmented with bassist John and drummer Oisín.

Burglar play Whelan’s Upstairs this Friday night, and they’ve a UK tour in April.

I featured their song ‘Fate Fades’ last year.

Ye Vagabonds

Danny

From one of my albums of the month, ‘Danny’ is an easy highlight, and the stunning video by Ellius Grace featuring the movement of Jimmy Southward.

Ye Vagabonds have quietly and steadily built their reputation with inviting and harmonic take on traditional folk, but All Tied Together demands the listener’s attention with its radiant melodies and tender arrangements.

‘Danny’ is a poignant character study over a distinctive mix of cello, synthesizer, and harmonium, based on a troubled Carlow boy who, Diarmuid says, “didn’t get a fair run. I wanted to celebrate him.” The brothers sing: “He ran like he could feel / Something snapping at the heels / Of his worn out shoes / Too fast to follow / Too hot to hold / Too good to lose.”

Irish, UK, European and US tour dates for the coming months here.

Sei Green

Bored Of Resting

Adam Garrett and Ellen Sleator team up as Sei Green is already a fruitful one as the Dublin-based duo traverse soul, lite funk and disco on the dreamy vibes of ‘Bored Of Resting’.

We used to call this chillwave, kids.

A longer project called We Never Become is forthcoming.

Invisible inc., Melo Nada

It’s A Lot

Fizzing and bouncing electronic pop music from Irish production duo Invisible inc.. ‘It’s A Lot’ was made in a London basement sessions, with some globetrotting sessions in Melbourne too “using vintage gear collected from charity shops across rural Ireland”. The young Irish diaspora huh?

A previous song they wrote as Baby Spoon based on Sister Nancy’s BamBam did well enough that Nick Jonas and the Lions Rugby team used the sound on social media.

Melo Nada is one half of the duo, who has songwriting and production credits with (checks notes) Lana Del Rey, A$AP Rocky, Rihanna, Interplanetary Criminal and Sim0ne.

Big Sleep

Old Friend

The Dublin alt-rock band Big Sleep further tease the release of their debut album Holy Show this February 20th via LAB Records with a delicately spun and restrained song “about friendship, grief and gratitude; for those we love who’ve passed away and for the real ones who are still alive and kicking,” they say.

Big Sleep are: Rónán Connolly, Matteo Poli, Aidan Gray and Naiara Clarke LaFuente.

Luthorist, Jehnova, Visionali

Poison Wrld

The prolific Dublin rap Dangerous Currents crew jut put out a four-track EP called No Way Out, continuing their high bar rap releases for the heads, exemplified by ‘Poison Wrld’ here.

Fiona O’Connell

Outline

Clare musician and producer Fiona O’Connell dropped this slow-moving folkie number with commanding vocals, classical guitar, harmonies and lo-fi ambience baked in.

“This track is the start of a new chapter for me musically. I’ve been working on finding a sound that I’m happy with for a couple of years and this was the first song that felt like it captured what I’d been hearing in my head for a while. Lyrically it explores feelings of desire, guilt and fear. Moving on from a long-term
relationship prompted a lot of conflicting and disorientating feelings that I explore in this song”

This is Fiona’s first release since 2023, and O’Connell was one of the trio of artists along with Calmea and Laura Duffy who went on tour together that year.