The Dublin band BARQ, consisting of Jess Kav, Stephen McHale, Tommy Gray and Neil Dorrington have closed the book on the band’s sound that was crosslinked somewhere between alt R&B, jazz, psychedelia, soul and rock, which they initially described as “agrosoul”.
The band had released 10 singles between 2016 and 2020, and we featured them over the years including the Repeal-inspired ‘Sassy Mouth’ and debut single ‘Gentle Kind Of Lies’. They announced the band’s closure last week with their eleventh and final song ‘The Table’:
The band members are all involved in other projects and we wish them well in future.

Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.