How has it taken this long for a band to name themselves after the Irish tradition of leaving a statue of Baby Jesus in the garden so a special day like a wedding will get good weather and luck?
Who are Child Of Prague?
Child of Prague are a band based in Dublin who have the intriguing proposition of being described as an Irish take on midwest emo, and who bring trad, chamber pop, math rock and more into their sound. A little bit like Black Country, New Road but with more introspective vulnerable influences.
Their members hail from San Francisco, Dublin, Boston, London, and Tipperary.
The band began as a writing project between Jack McDonnell and Adam Tracey, before evolving into its current six-piece lineup woth Amelia Durac, Rachel Baum, Noah ‘Fry’ Edwards and Miranda Gallacher on board.
What releases do they have?
Midwest Emo has traits of indie-pop, chamber pop and math-rock, all sounds you can detect in the debut EP from Child Of Prague – the five-track Clothed In The Sun EP which was released last September on Faction Records on 12″ vinyl.
You can hear their heart-on-sleeve disposition and intricate instrumentation on tracks like ‘Basking Sharks’ and Grey Hairs’.
The band’s contrasting and colliding styles comes from the members’ different backgrounds and collaboration is a key ethos, with violin and saxophone key to the EP stand out song ‘Skin’ with vocals by violinist Amelia Durac.
Irish trad, jazz, math-rock and influences of artists like Lisa Hannigan and Chicago are also cited, and you can certainly make the trad connection most obviously recent release ‘Cooley’s Reel’ which was released last week with the B-side an alternative version of ‘Burning’, which will feature on the upcoming from Clothed In The Sun Sessions EP, out February 20th on Faction.
Reflecting on childhood, adoration, connection; Clothed In The Sun represents a point of tension between reminiscing and moving forward.
Child Of Prague live
The band are playing European showcase festival Eurosonic this week, and further dates are below.
15th January – Eurosonic Festival, Groningen, Netherlands
14th February – Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes, London, UK
14th May – The Grand Social, Dublin, Ireland
16th May – London Calling Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Child Of Prague Band Members
Adam Tracey – Vocals, Electric Guitar
Amelia Durac – Vocals, Violin
Jack McDonnell – Vocals, Electric Guitar
Miranda Gallacher – Drums
Noah Edwards – Bass Guitar
Rachel Baum – Saxophone, Violin
Where can I follow them?
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, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
