Featuring Enola Gay, Seamas Hyland, Pùca, Pippa Molony, Skull The Pierre, dryeyes, Jack Madden, Being Sarah, Daser, Sputnik One, Callum Wall, Fortune Igiebor.
A lot of Irish music 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.
Seamas Hyland
Navan Road
You might recognise Seamas Hyland as the Waterford accordion player with The Mary Wallopers on stage of late. Hyland is also a set dancer and singer, and has just released a debut solo accordion album called Maidin Domhnaigh.
It’s a traditional release while drawing from sounds of Waterford, with special mention to the accordion playing of Bobby Gardiner.
‘Navan Road’ from the album, has been released as a single, showcases the tradition, but also like his peers John Francis Flynn and RF Chaney, there’s an exploratory feel to the track, which stretches across seven minutes. The son comes with a video featuring dancing by Aoibhinn O Dea.
Púca
And I Gleam Along A Knife Edge
Fans of Talos will find a sonic kinship in the music of Púca in atmosphere. ‘And I Gleam Along A Knife Edge’ builds on that ambient pop sound with a darker-electro-dance edge and fortright vocals by Colm Conlan, who you may know from playing live with CMAT.
The song is co-produced with Alex O’Keefe.
Skull The Pierre, Fortune Igiebor, Callum Wall
Nights Like Thi$
I caught Skull The Pierre‘s fun live show at the BIMM Dublin end of year showcase last week in Button Factory, and the Swedish smiley-faced rapper has turned his whole vibe into a song from his recent Make Art, Not Content EP.
‘Nights Like Thi$’ is fun-time lusty LGBTQ+ crew hip-hop anthem and you don’t hear many of those.
Jack Madden
YUPPP
A filthy electro-house pop banger from Jack Madden’s new EP Sesh Baby is too fun to pass up. YUPP indeed.
Pippa Molony, Rory Sweeney
Hungry Ghost
90s seconds is as long as Pippa Molony and frequent collaborator Rory Sweeney need to tease an upcoming EP, with this sparse track from it.
The song narrates the return to a once-familiar place, and the feeling of wonder at the fact that one could feel so little at such a momentous confrontation with their past. Inspired by ‘The Years of Rice and Salt’ by Kim Stanley Robinson, the song offers a musical reimagining of his prose, with permission from the author.”
Dåser
Bubble Baile (Sputnik One’s Drum Workout Mix)
From a new release from a new DIY Dublin electronic label Reasons To Dance (“an optimistic take on forward thinking dance music” is the MO), comes this Sputnik One drum-centred remix of a bailie funk-influenced track from label co-founder Dåser.
Reasons To Dance’s first release was a compilation featuring tracks from Spooklet, Fionn, Laurence Kapinga and more.
Being Sarah
Oceanic Dream
Being Sarah is a project from Ennis-based vocalist and producer Luke Barnett (Warehouse) and producer, rapper and partystarter DJ Citizen Black.
The pair’s relationship goes back to club nights of 10 years ago, and ‘Oceanic Dream’ with its pulsating house groove is just the first from the group.
It’s released on Takeover Recordings a new label by thatboytim, and there are also remixes coming on June 24th from Americhord, Jay Riordan, therarelowry and Vanishing Arcs (which features Villagers Conor O’Brien).
The video was made by electronic music and visual artist Robyn Bromfield of Catscars/Everything Shook.
dryeyes
the apple tree (Live Experience)
More of a multimedia live album than a single song, ‘the apple tree’ is an impressive live performance and video piece performance from the artist Killian Corless aka dryeyes.
Along with textured alternative pop songs and lush vocals, the experience features live choreography and lighting. It’s a unique and attention-grabbing way of launching a new project.
Watch the 19 minute video above.
Enola Gay
Cold
Belfast rock band Enola Gay continue their fruitful partnership with producer Mount Palomar on ‘Cold’ an iced reverb shoegaze guitar song, inspired by the death of a friend’s sister.
Cold was one of the first tracks we ever wrote, written from a place of admiration for our close friend and her family. We vividly remember meeting her and the infectious energy she brought to our friend group so to discover that she had a sister, who was terminally ill, really took us back. As she and her family battled one of the most tragic experiences imaginable, their love remained fortified and their heads grounded.
Witnessing this set our adolescent self-destructive behaviour into perspective. We wrote something we hope echoes an acceptance that you can be bruised without being broken. A sentiment that could have easily been lost in a track of this nature however, Mount Palomar helped us resurface this through his production and suggestions when reshaping the song to what it is now. Forcing us of decisions when recording with him to deliver something tender, which he could then propel to sound as confident as our heavier side.For some time, we were all dealing with personal issues behind the scenes but that is exactly why Cold was the most appropriate track for us to record next. It reminded us that our issues weren’t as big as they seemed and because we stuck together, we surpassed them. Cold is not just a song of incomparable loss; it is about not being alone through it.
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.
