8 new Irish songs you should hear: The Wran, Outstraight, Martina And The Moons, Sign Crushes Motorist...

Ordnance Survey

Hyperfantastic

The Irish electronic composer and producer Neil O’Connor will put out a new Ordnance Survey album called Autotelic on February 6th, which was recorded in his studio at the National Concert Hall.

I pressed play on ‘Hyperfantastic’ and enjoyed its komische and motorik vistas before reading about the album’s process.

Autotelic was made with a gang of modular synths, systems, tape machines, piano and percussive instruments fed into software that enabled the use of machine learning models, a core feature used in AI to make decisions – in this case – the decisions were musical.

‘Autotelic’ describes an activity, entity, or experience that is an end in itself, pursued for its own sake rather than for an external reward and in the production of an album in this case, the process is the reward.

Autotelic was developed using the musical software, Max/MSP through an operation called a Markov Chain. On a very basic level, it’s a mathematical system that transitions from one state to another. Once trained, machine learning models can be used to make predictions on new data or make decisions and on this LP, Markov Chains were used to make musical decisions (pitch, tempo and timbral).

Martina And The Moons

Higher Than A Hawk

Dublin four-piece alt-rock band Martina And The Moons release their debut EP Starfish Social Club last week, and its a smart four-track collection of 90s alt-rock band-inspired music.

Most notably, the rumbling bass and tension of ‘Higher Than A Hawk’, and is a song that explores “but how that first spark of lust in someone’s mind can still linger. “

The title comes from Moon’s favourite film, Calamity Jane, where Howard Keel, with his rich baritone voice, stands in front of a painting of the sought-after ‘Katie’ and proclaims his love for her.

Moon explains, “The title seemed fitting for a song in which the love the character feels is to be kept secret. It is a very cinematic song, as it was also inspired by the french animation ‘Azur et Asmar’. The best way I can put it, is that the tune is about chasing fairies”

Outstraight

As We Do

from Dublin rap collective Outstraight drop a low-slung classic piano-rap posse cut featuring Conkan, Panda Drey, Donkobz and No Venom who also produced the track.

There’s plenty more where that came from apparently – with a forthcoming upcoming album Top Floor Strays on the way (date TBC).

Poser

Efficient

Irish producer Poser dropped ‘Efficient’ on the 2nd of January while many of us were still basking in the soft mindedness of the festive period.

The tune mixes big bass kicks, vocal cuts and a growling synth line that becomes the track’s undulating hypnotic hook. Banger.

The Wran

Sullivan’s John

The second wave of Irish-trad-folk music is very much underway, with a whole slew of bands appearing as equally inspired by the Pogues as they are more recent contemporaries Lankum. Madra Salach is the most visible of these acts and The Wran are the latest of the bunch.

Hailing from the Comeragh Mountains, The Wran’s second single is a version of Pecker Dunne traveller ballad. ‘Sullivan’s John’ builds with banjo, guitar delay and timpani into upbeat slip-jig ‘Hardiman the Fiddler’, a transition inspired by Jordan O’Leary (ex of The Scratch), with a banjo riff, punky bassline and distant flute.

The band have announced a Dublin headliner with The Awning and Méabh McKenna on April 3rd at The Grand Social.

‘Some Say The Devil Is Dead’ is the band’s debut single.

Tessio

So

The Derry folk duo Tessio’s latest single was lost in the December End of the Year fog, and I’m glad it found me again with its Lost Brothers-esque pensive songwriter sound.

Tessio are Callum Feeney and Jude McCandless – I caught some of their set at Other Voices in Dingle a couple of years back.

Seamus Fogarty

Fire

The London-based Mayo folk and sometimes experimental singer-songwriter Seamus Fogarty (active since 2012) is releasing a new album on March 6th called Ships on Lost Map Records.

About the new song ‘Fire’, he says:

 
“At some stage during the pandemic, I was looking through my phone for song ideas and stumbled across these verses. I didn’t remember writing them and was taken aback by how simple and honest they were. Also, I needed some material for my bi-monthly writing club with my friend Ed Dowie so I rustled up a beat and recorded the demo while my daughter was asleep, hence the extra-breathy vocal.
 
“A couple of years later while going through ideas for my next album with friend and guru, Leo Abrahams, we happened upon the demo and Leo dropped it straight into the ‘keep’ folder, no hesitation! We kept the original vocal from the demo and got Chris Vatalaro and Emma Smith to record drums and bass over it. After that I went rogue with a tin-whistle and some electronics and the rest is history.”