Best Irish songs of 2024

Virgins

s l o w l y, l o n g

The Belfast shoegaze band Virgins’ “gaze-pop” singlecertainly has some hook to it. I love those driving guitars underpinning the track. It featured on their debut album nothing hurt and everything was beautiful  via Blowtorch Records.

Toby Kaar

Conceiving Two

Cork electronic producer Toby Kaar pops up every now again with a must-listen tune or two, and ‘Conceiving Two’ features on his That Was Then album – a twilit textured Four Tet-esque tune that soundtracks some Leeside skate footage.

DeCarteret, Qbanaa

trustfcked

Clare artist DeCarteret links with Cuban-Irish singer Qbanaa on this song that simultaneously gives neo-soul, indie and folk vibes.

R.Kitt, Risteárd Ó hAodha

So True

Dublin electronic producer and DJ R.Kitt put out a duo of tracks ‘So True’/’Wash’, the first in a series of singles that will ultimately be compiled on an album in 2025 from R.Kitt. These singles are intended to show the breadth and depth of Kitt’s music and interests.

And these first two, do that easily, with ‘So True’ a slow-moving orchestral ambient electronic track with live cello from  Risteárd Ó hAodha, and Robbie’s first recorded vocal on the track, while ‘Wash’ is more on the beatless side of things built on strings and drifting low-end, and is the instrumental of a track which will later feature Elaine Howley.

Robbie explains what lead him to this new music.

49th & Main

Self Sabotage

Kilkenny duo 49th And Main’s ‘Self Sabotage’ continues the band’s penchant for pop-vocal-centred house tunes, with both members returning to the fold after Ben O’Sullivan took a break to have a bone marrow transplant that involved a lengthy stay in hospital.

This song has 17 MILLION streams on Spotify.

Stupid Son

Black Mould

Superb lo-fi alt-rock from Dublin DIY punk band Stupid Son. ‘Black Mould’ is the sound held on a forgotten cassette or the pin badge on that cooler friend’s rucksack.

Lyricist Conall Loughney says it is “a song about mould and feeling like it. It paints the scene of lying awake at night, staring at the ceiling. I wrote it during a pretty hard time so it’s kind of special for me; it’s almost confessional. It describes a feeling of helplessness; being unable to put a finger on what’s wrong but seeing the reflections of that feeling on the environment.”

James Vincent McMorrow

Look up!

Clearly freed from expectation on his new album where he did things backwards and played the launch gig before he recorded the album, James Vincent McMorrow’s Wide Open, Horses has a bright exploratory feel to it, no where more present than the dusty banjo fuzz of ‘Look up!’.

Róisín El Cherif

Siuil a Ruin

The Irish-Palestinian artist Róisín El Cherif’s ‘Siuil a Ruin’ is a traditional Irish ballad sung in Irish, English and Arabic, and was released to raise awareness and funds for Gaza.

“What links these two cultures for me is grief and perseverance. I find great solace in the traditional music of both lands and it felt easy for me to blend and combine them.

Róisín El Cherif

The song was recorded in collaboration with folk musicians Fergal Scahill and Ruth Smith, with composer and producer Brian Crosby at his Treehouse Studios in Co. Wicklow.

Joshua Burnside

Good For One Thing

The Belfast based singer-songwriter has been seeping deeper into a folk sound of late, and it will be further evident on the forthcoming album Teeth Of Time, out February 28th 2025 via Nettwerk.

‘Good for One Thing’ is one of a double A-side release along with ‘Ghost of the Bloomfield Road’, with the latter concerned with Joshua in a state of new dad tiredness following the birt of his son, and the former the fictional story of a circus performer – “a young man whose worth is determined by his ability to pay bills, to entertain and amuse.”

40 ℍ𝕦𝕣𝕥𝕫 × ℍ𝕒𝕫𝕖𝕪 ℍ𝕒𝕫𝕖

ℍ𝔸ℝ𝔻𝕊ℍ𝕀𝕋

Limerick duo went hard AF with this industrial digital rap club track from an album called Ashes they made for a live show at Berghain this year. See also: ‘Wreck The Shop’

bog band

Midnight Chancers

Not to be confused with the more Celtic Bog Bodies, Bog Band are a smoother proposition with ‘Stephen Sorensen and Isaac Clarke, old childhood friends making soft rock soul and pop music a la The Style Council.

‘Midnight Chancers’ is inspired specifically Bobby Womack’s ‘If You Think You’re Lonely Now’, and features Henry Solomon on saxophone.

The duo formed in Dublin after writing an original song for their Dublin Digital Radio show.

The video, Directed by Robert Bass and Eoin Byrne, was shot in some recognisable spots – including Knox Memorial Hall, The Hut and The Grand Social.

Bold Love

Never Enough

Dublin six-piece band Big Love now Bold Love have demonstrated a penchant for earnest and ruminating heart-on-sleeve songcraft.

‘Never Enough’ also comes with a cinematic video (another thing the band have done really well),

“The song is about being saved. When a light comes into life to take you from the dark—something so beautiful, so true—that you feel unworthy. Love is medicine, and in writing this song, I wanted to express how fortunate I feel to be in receipt of the light that shone in for me.”

Cian Ó’Maonlaí

Really Good Time

Pension Fund

Really Good Time make alt-rock bangers. Take my money.

The video was directed by Ronan Nissenbaum on anamorphic 16mm featuring the band “as four dorks tired of being bullied, who put to use their knowledge of science to become the ubermensch and defeat the punks.

Hozier

Too Sweet

In March, Hozier released an expanded version of his 2023 Unreal Unearth album subtitled Unheard. ‘Too Sweet’ is one of four songs that was included on the EP expansion, and it’s a pretty song featuring a fine low-slung bassline, a soft Gnarls Barkley-esque rock’n’roll swing.

It will likely become known as Hozier’s biggest ever hit likely to surpass ‘Take Me To Church. A wild ride for a B-side that went to #1 in the US, making Andrew Hozier-Byrne is the first Irish artist to hit #1 in the US since Sinead O’Connor in 1990.

Monjola

Go Wrong

Dublin-based Monjola dropped this suave sonic earworm from the the 8-track It’s Not That Deep EP, produced by his brother MOIO.

It’s a journey through the labyrinth of past relationships, where the corridors echo with haunting whispers of regret. The song is about reflecting on past relationships, thinking about things that you might have done wrong, and situations you wish you could revisit. While revisiting these feelings, it’s also about finding a sense of peace, knowing you can’t change the past and that you need to focus on yourself. It’s not that deep.

Anderson

Pictures Of You

Dublin singer-songwriter Daniel Anderson released his second album Some Rain Must Fall, nine years on from the debut album Patterns in November.

‘Pictures Of You’ is the opening track on the album, a funhouse mirror of a song richly held in a lush arrangement.

Chalk

Tell Me

The Belfast post-punk electronic industrialists Chalk are continuing their run of EP releases under the Conditions banner into 2025.

Conditions III, the final in the trilogy is released on February 21st on Nice Swan Records, with lead track ‘Tell Me’, dark arpeggio chords lead to agitated noisy crescendos buoyed by whispered vocals, synth stabs and kickdrums.

Stella And The Dreaming

A short ballad for frankie and everything we shared (in E flat)

I’ve liked every Stella And The Dreaming song so far, and this was the hat-trick. ‘A short ballad for frankie and everything we shared (in E flat)’ is pretty self-descriptive but Stella makes it sound easy to write, record and sing songs this good.

Celaviedmai, Ben Bix

Wicked Witch

Galway rapper CelaviedMai’s EP called ISSA NEW ERA! featured ‘Wicked Witch’ – a statement of the artist’s hip-house meets club rap banger intent, a collaboration with producer Ben Bix (Meltybrains? / Sim Simma), as she told us last year.

Echo Northstar

creatures

Ex of HappyAlone, Paddy Hennessy has been making some fine solo music under the name Echo Northstar, as recently as January.

‘creatures’ has an earwormy bassline and whispery gossamer vocals and gentle but dominant drums that add up to an insistent shoegazey pop track.

Pippa Molony, Rory Sweeney

A Woman Lies In Bed Asleep

The Dublin artist Pippa Molony collaborates with Rory Sweeney throughout the Hungry Ghost EP with a conceptual theme that explores dreams and folklore. ‘A Woman Lies In Bed Asleep’ is a highlight from it.

“Hungry Ghost is a concept record that explores the theme of ‘consumption,’ with each track offering ethereal, experimental electronic sounds inspired by the overall theme, Irish folklore and dreams. Much like the Hungry Ghost in Buddhism, the music speaks to a longing for more, for a place I don’t quite belong, for connection with otherworldly creatures—always yearning, never satisfied. It’s about a feeling of being on the outside, looking in, always on the cusp of something, but never there.”

Pebbledash

Carraig Aonair

The six-piece shoegaze Cork alternative rock band Pebbledash’s ‘Carraig Aonair’ is on the current wave of Irish trad and noise music as Gaeigle, and it dashes its pebbles gloriously against that particularly sandy beach.

Thanks to Lankum and their ilk for encouraging more bands to draw together noise and trad.

Lemoncello

Harsh Truths

‘Harsh Truths’ finds the Folk duo Laura Quirke and Claire Kinsella aka Lemoncello leaning into a more alternative and expansive take on their folk sound.

Jordan Adetunji

Kehlani

Belfast-based rapper Jordan Adetunji has spent the last couple of years expanding his sonic repertoire and releases into hyperpop, punk, and jersey club, matched with high-grade visuals to accompany the songs.

But no-one could have seen what happened next when his song named after the American singer went stratospheric, Jordan performed it with her, she jumped on the remix and it became one of the bifggest songs in thee world.

The tune’s appeal is its simple hypnotic repeating autotuned hook, one that feels tailor-made for Tik-Tok virality, and earworm potential.

FOZSA

Droplets

Luke O’Brien aka FOZSA released his first full-length album fabric this year and this headphones-friendly dancefloor cut that spins on its earworm soulful vocal sample is indicative of the high quality to be found on it.