Featuring Overhead The Albatross, Pillow Queens, Chalk, Fears, Shark School, Birthday Problem, Oisin Leech, Fynch, The Henry Girls.
A lot of music from Ireland and Northern Ireland comes our way and every week, we listen through it all, sift the list down to a manageable list and share the best new tracks from emerging artists and some more established acts 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.
Pillow Queens
Like A Lesson
Pillow Queens dropped the latest track from their forthcoming third album Name Your Sorrow out April 19th after previous singles ‘Gone’ and ‘Suffer’.
‘Like A Lesson’ has a classic 90s rock feel, on a song about the exposing nature explores longing for intimacy and a desire for closeness as well as the fears and insecurities that come with sharing one’s self.
“The notion of finding safety and comfort in the presence of love of limerence is emphasised, contrasting with the paralysing fear of making mistakes or ruining your life or someone else’s. It delves into the feeling of being a lesson for someone, a side character in someone else’s story.”
“Sonically, we were influenced by a range of artists from Blur and REM to Semisonic, New Radicals, and Squeeze. It began as a song we felt had a strong country music influence and morphed into something that referenced a wide range of our musical tastes. It’s the 90s soft rock song on the album.”
Fynch
The State
Drimnagh rapper Fynch is indebted to his locality, and he proudly displays on the album Youngfella, a stream of colloquial references like the 27 bus, as on ‘The State’ – “a D-Unit dweller / a box room baby / can’t understand cash but get Forex Trading”, a fine example of Fynch’s understated rap-style.
Fynch plays London on Saturday March 16th, and then Whelan’s Upstairs on Thursday April 4th, presented by Singular Artists.
Celaviedmai, Ben Bix
Wicked Witch
Galway rapper CelaviedMai is back with a new EP next week, March 15th, called ISSA NEW ERA!, and ‘Wicked Witch’ is a statement of the artist’s hip-house meets club rap banger, a collaboration with producer Ben Bix (Meltybrains? / Sim Simma).
The EP features more Bix production, alongside LOD Productions and contributions from Qbanaa, Plantain Papi, Breezy, Arveene, Zapho, Tadgh Byrne, Alan McKee, Frankie Grimes and Daniel Cregan Whelan.
Overhead, The Albatross
Your Last Breath
Dublin post-rock band Overhead, The Albatross have been teasing a return for a while now, but the elegaic and rising 9-minute epic ‘Your Last Breath’ is the confirmation of an upcoming album, to be released on Nice Weather for Airstrikes this May, a followup to 2016’s Learning To Growl.
Stay tuned for the surprising spoken word section.
The band say “a song that both mourns death, loss, and grief, and celebrates the awe and beauty of this life we all share with one another.”
Chalk, Fears
Bliss
Channelling the fierce rock intensity of Joy Division with a backing vocal from Fears, ‘Bliss’ is a highlight from the Belfast band’s latest EP on Nice Swan Records, Conditions II.
Fears also had a new song out this week – ‘cliff ft. Aga Ujma’
Oisin Leech
One Hill Further
The Lost Brothers’ Oisin Leech has a debut solo album Cold Sea our tomorrow, and ‘One Hill Further’ like previously shared ‘Colour Of The Rain’. revels in its acoustic guitar and bass quietude.
“There’s both a darkness and a beauty in the Irish landscape – in this song I embrace both sides. It’s this counterpoint that inspired me to write the song. The track is about the fact that change happens slowly and then one day jumps up on you and takes you by surprise ; it touches on themes of love lost, love gained, love cherished, fatherhood and family. In some ways it’s a lament sung to the sea about the reassurances of love. The ocean responds and offers a sense of belonging.”
Cold Sea is produced by Steve Gunn and features M Ward, Dónal Lunny, Róisín McGrory and Tony Garnier (a long-time member of Bob Dylan’s touring band).
Oisin Leech gigs
On March 17th St. Patrick’s Day Oisin will do an in store performance at Rough Trade Westoff Portabello Road in London at 5pm.
- March 17 – London, UK – Rough Trade West In- Store (5pm)
- April 4 – Dublin, IE – Sugar Club
- April 5 – Galway, IE – An Taibhdhearc Theatre
- April 6 – Letterkenny, IE – Regional Cultural Centre
- April 12- Kilkenny, IE – Cleere’s
- April 13 – Waterford, IE – Phil Grimes
- April 14 – Cork, IE – Coughlans
- April 18 – Limerick, IE – Dolans
- April 19 – Ballydehob, IE – Levis’
- April 26 – Manorhamilton, IE – The Glens
Shark School
411
There’s a dearth of Galway bands at the moment, so welcome Shark School, with their debut garage-rock track ‘411’ a sarky song aimed at the perpetually-late Galway bus of the same name.
The band is released on Galway institution Strange Brew.
The band, Nora Staunton (guitar, vocals), Peggy Ford (bass) and Ronan O’Connor Mahony (drums), promise much:
“This song will take you on the (bus) ride of your life, from job applications to dislocated shoulders. This old school punk tune will have all the girls singing along and could even be your baby’s first words!”
Shark School Tour Dates
7th March — Black Box, Belfast
9th March — The Workmans Club, Dublin (supporting Cowboy)
14th March — The Workman’s Cellar, Dublin
28th March — Next Door Records, London
4th April — Róisín Dubh, Galway
The Henry Girls
Winter’s Day
The Donegal sister trio of Henry Girls released a new album A Time To Grow recently, and it’s getting an international release later this month on CPL in Germany.
‘Winter’s Day’ encapsulates the trio’s fine melodic harmony folk.
Birthday Problem, Róisín Nic Ghearailt
An Maighdean Mara
The ex-M(h)aol singer Róisín Nic Ghearailt pops up on this new Irish language track from Birthday Problem, which is an electronic collaborative project between Matt Harris (HAVVK) and producer Rocky O’Reilly (Start Together Studio Belfast).
‘An Maighdean Mhara’ is the second track from Birthday Problem. The first track ‘E.L.E’ featured Ailbhe Reddy on vocals.
For more extensive Irish and new music coverage, hit up the Irish section for individual track features…
For this and more Irish songs, follow the Nialler9 New Irish Spotify playlist.
New additions not featured above:
- Stupid Son – Tinfoil
- NAHreally; The Expert; Hemlock Ernst – Movement & Light
- Alex Gough – Don’t Judge Me!
- anna leah – Gold Star Baby
- Saoirse Miller – Birds
- JOSSLE; DeCarteret – Mother
- Trophy Wife – Showpony
- Lady Bird Lad – Pamela
- brawni – Joshua
- DELUSH – Rio
- Ro Yourell – Incinerate
- Banba – Sight
- Jamie D’Arcy – Learning To Live
- Tosan – Muchas Gracias
