A lot of 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 songs that pass our writers that deserve to be heard by you. For more extensive Irish coverage, follow our Spotify playlist or hit up the Irish section.
1.
Join Me In The Pines
Bad Blood
Dave Geraghty’s new material under the moniker of Join Me In The Pines, namely this new single ‘Bad Blood’ and previous one ‘Two Fall in Love’, feels like an embrace to the ethos of 80s synth pop.
Maybe it’s the programmed drum sounds or the fuzzy synth bass that runs throughout. Certainly, the pastel colour patterns of the video and Geraghty’s floral shirts within it only add to the vibe. While early JMITP material had the Bell X1 songwriter leaning heavily on folk roots, that sound palette is nowhere to be found on ‘Bad Blood’. Instead, the listener is treated to three minutes of a jubilant earworm.
2.
Mango X Mathman
Lord Hear Us
Mango X Mathman cap off a busy summer, with stand-out sets at a host of festivals, with the release of ‘Lord Hear Us’. The duo have built up a rep with their upbeat grime beats and the relative sombre tone of ‘Lord Hear Us’ finds them in a different mood. Addressed to those lingering on the outskirts of society, Mango’s lyrics speak directly to those going through the struggle. Mathman’s garage production has a heavy nod to The Streets and the refrain, sung by Day_S directly references the group’s seminal ‘Has It Come To This?’. ‘Lord Hear Us’ is no summer banger, but it’s fantastic to hear the duo take some risks with their sound and sink their teeth into fresh subject matter.
3.
Eve Belle ft. Tebi Rex
First Impressions
New Rubyworks signing Eve Belle’s ‘First Impressions’ is a charismatic pop number. Written as an “ode to the boys from The Workmans Club smoking area”, the track takes a sardonic look at the ego front many put up to impress new people.
Relatable subject matter aside, there’s plenty to draw the listener into this song. Tight production work, including some intuitive filter sweeps across the rhythm parts during the verses, keep the song from verging on the repetitive. It does feel like the entire track could pop a little more, especially heading into the chorus sections but Eve Belle’s silky smooth vocal delivery does more than enough to earn the song a place on this list. Keep an eye and an ear out for Belle’s future releases, there could very well be something special on the way.
4.
Pat Lagoon
Reason
‘Reason’ isn’t the first release from Waterford MC Pat Lagoon to seriously impress us this year and hopefully it won’t be the last. The artist is following in the vein of trap-noir artists, think Travis Scott, who’s name-dropped early in the track. Lagoon anchors this track with a calling card autotune refrain. Hardly unaware of his work rate, the MC comes out with an early bon-mot exclaiming himself to be “the Pep Guardiola of the music scene”.
Credit to producer LHK, who set’s the MC’s voice perfectly in the mix. The verses finds the artist switching between the choppy trap style early and a more aggressive rapid flow toward the end, showcasing an artist with more versatility than many of his contemporaries. Another notch on the belt of an MC who’s showing exactly what it means to be on the up and up.
5.
Moons Delux
Bubbles
A little bit of glitch-pop for you now. Moons Delux are an Irish group currently based in London. ‘Bubbles’ is their new single. Packed with 8-bit synth melodies and smooth vocal harmonies over the chorus, the group do a fantastic job of blending ideas from the dance and pop schools of thought. Lead singer Brian Kelly’s accent slipping through the melody adds plenty of human character to an otherwise artificial sound, much to the song and the group’s benefit.
Considering ‘Bubbles’ is only the group’s third single, Moons Delux are a group absolutely worth keeping track of.
6.
Paye Fox
Run
Clondalkin producer and MC Paye Fox’s Big Bad Fox, is littered with trap style hip-hop gold. ‘Run’ is a personal favourite. Considering how new to the music scene the artist is it’s impressive to hear how well polished and confident his sound and delivery is. An infectious beat, with those signature rolling trap hi-hats, is the perfect platform for Fox’s often sinister flow. It’s a simple idea that’s repeated a lot throughout ‘Run’ and Big Bad Fox in general, but the core content is definitely good enough to mark out Paye Fox as a cut above the rest.
7.
Oscar Blue
Madrugada
The lilting melodies and commanding songwriting of Oscar Blue’s ‘Madrugada’ portray an artist far longer in the tooth than just 19, but then again the artist has been performing and writing since the age of 16. ‘Madrugada’ is the first track from Oscar Blue under that moniker. An acoustic singer-songwriter, Oscar Blue seems to channel the summery folk of artists like Ray Lamontagne. With a set of sweet lyrics delivered perfectly underneath the artist’s vocal delivery, both ‘Madrugada’ and Oscar Blue will have a lot of mass appeal.
