2022 Best of | Best albums | Best songs | Irish albums | Irish songs | Best Of Podcasts | Guest lists | Best New Irish artists
20.
Ye Vagabonds
Nine Waves
Brothers Diarmuid and Brían Mac Gloinn’s second album, on Rough Trade’s River Lea label, spins classic-sounding new folk and trad songs in a live room manner, eschewing any studio tinkering in favour of directness, and a focus on the dual voices of the pair, with pared back arrangements of guitar, and embellishments from Kate Ellis (cello) and Caimin Gilmore (double bass), both of Crash Ensemble, and Ryan Hargadon (Anna Mieke, Rachael Lavelle, Kojaque, moondiver) on piano and saxophone, along with concertina from Cormac Begley, and harmonium from Ye Vagabonds touring member Alain McFadden.
In-demand producer John “Spud” Murphy lets the songs and the brothers do their thing, with harmony-laden songs given a deft modern brush.
19.
Selló
Sellótape
Selló had already made a name for himself with his uniquely Irish take on drill music, dubbed “Gaelic drill”.
On his debut mixtape, the had-to-be-named Sellótape, the Clondalkin rapper brings together previously released tracks with samples of Lankum’s Radie Peat and Sinead O’Connor, with fresh tracks repping Irish culture with references to rousing Irish trad singsongs, and vanguards of Irish football Damien Duff and Robbie Keane. With Irish MC guests A92, Reggie, Evans Junior and Jrilla underscoring the fertile Irish scene and an album made by young black Irish creatives, helped by its release on Atlantic Records UK, through local label Trust It, Sellótape is an inflection point for black Irish music and Irish drill.
Selló is only just starting to roll out.
18.
Anna Mieke
Theatre
Wicklow singer-songwriter Anna Mieke’s second album Theatre, released on Nettwerk, finds a deeper palette of alt-folk textures to draw from.
At eight songs spread out over 45 minutes, there’s an unhurried pace that allows more individually-spun songs to develop, whether its the lilting ‘Twin’, the Nick Drake-esque arrangement of ‘For A Time’, or the looping acoustics of ‘Seraphim’, with song informed by nostalgia, family, memory, death and dreaming.
Theatre was recorded at Dundalk’s Black Mountain after writing residencies in the West Of Ireland and in a barn at a former school in Hyrynsalmi, Finland.
Players helping make the rich orchestration come to life on the the record include Rozi Leyden (This Is The Kit), Matthew Jacobson, Ryan Hargadon (Moondiver), Brían Mac Gloinn (Ye Vagabonds), Alannah Thornburgh, Cora Venus Lunny, Lina Andonovska, with Nick Rayner as engineer and co-producer.
17.
Yenkee
Yen
Cork-born London-based artist Yenkee’s Yen (Soft Boy Records) might be a long seven-track EP rather than a debut album, but Graham Cooney packs a lot of kaleidoscopic pop smarts into this 28 minute release, from the tropical bossa nova of ‘It’s A Video’ to the smudged psych pop of ‘Easy Does It’ or the warped pop of ‘Dolly’.
16.
Pillow Queens
Leave the Light On
Pillow Queens reached a different plinth of open-hearted songwriting on the evidence of second album Leave The Light On… (Royal Mountain), which is stuffed with anthemic indie-rock songs, from a band who were already deft hands at creating singalong lyrics.
While there’s less of the dynamic colloquial charm of their debut album In Waiting, this album (again produced by Tommy McLaughlin) of “queer dream blues,” writes introspection large and loneliness with a greater solemnity than before, with big moments shining through, like on the chorus of ‘Historian’, the post-chorus of ‘Be By Your Side’ and the casual ‘Well Kept Wife’.
15.
Daithí
I’m Here Now
By now, Clare producer and fiddle player Daithí O’Dronaí has established his core foundation of his music-making, taking inspiration from the West of Ireland that raised him, and which he has recently returned to.
It makes his music a fertile ground of sounds inspired by the rugged landscapes, the people and the surrounding atmosphere.
Daithí’s third album I’m Here Now (Strange Brew Records) is refreshingly free of the heartbreak that informed 2019’s L.O.S.S. , but what remains is a thirst for collaboration with Ailbhe Reddy, David Tapley of Tandem Felix, Uly and Neil Dexter on hand to imbue these electronic productions with narrative and emotion to match the true sense of place. He’s here now.
14.
Meryl Streek
796
The Dublin artist Meryl Streek viscerally attacks the wrongdoings of the Catholic Church and the government in their role in the mother and baby homes, septic tanks scandal on his debut album 796.
With a backdrop of searing metallic punk energy with electronic flourishes and vocals brandishing the frustration of living in the wake of coverups and deep intergenerational trauma.
The title of the album 796 refers to the number of babies found in Tuam in a septic tank, put there methodically by the Catholic church, uncovered years later with the help of Catherine Corless.
Bleak subject matter it is, no doubt, but Meryl Streek bravely squares up to the trauma, hurt and pain.
What 796 ditches in nuance, it makes up with a bludgeoning directness.
13.
Just Mustard
Heart Under
Dundalk five-piece alt-rock band Just Mustard joined Fontaines D.C. and Aoife Nessa Frances on the roster of Partisan Records, with the release of their second album Heart Under. The album was recorded in Attica Studios in Donegal, with additional recording and post-production then completed at home in Dundalk, before being mixed by David Wrench.
Building on the abrasive shoegaze that defined their surprise hit debut album Wednesday, Heart Under allows the band to double down on creating steely dirges, as if applying a higher definition to their industrial-sounding creations. There is a heaviness to the record both contrasted and underscored by Katie Ball’s hypnotic vocals, sonically and lyrically, with the album, the band say, informed by sadness and sorrow.
12.
Junior Brother
The Great Irish Famine
The Kerry singer-songwriter Ronan Kealy’s second album The Great Irish Famine (Strange Brew) much like the cover art, finds the alt-folk artist sinking deeper into the murky puddle of surreality.
By now, you likely know where you stand with Kealy’s idiosyncratic plucky twang that makes his accent a big part of his appeal.
Paired with off-kilter acoustic songs (produced by Julie MacLarnon and Kealy) that find Flann O’Brien-esque profundity and humour in the everyday drudgery of getting a haircut, metaphorical and real (‘Life’s New Haircut‘) corporeal decay (‘This Is My Body’) while illuminating the Irish housing crisis (‘No Country For Young Men’), Junior Brother songs barrel along with a homespun rhythm (largely just a foot tambourine) and a singular avant-garde edge.
11.
Silverbacks
Archive Material
Dublin/Kildare five-piece Silverbacks’ second album of art-rock (on Full Time Hobby), kept the Irish band’s penchant for creating idiosyncratic music while holding sonic parallels to some classics in the canon, as heard on debut album Fad.
Archive Material, also produced by Daniel Fox (who has four records on the list this year) wears post-punk, new wave and slacker rock music with a more comfortable suit, maintaining Dan O’Kelly’s wry lyrical delivery.
There’s a greater grasp in the band’s craft that makes for a confident release, with highlights including the fizzy opening title song, Emma Hanlon taking lead vocals on ‘Wear My Medals’, the Television-esque property developer punk-funk of Rolodex City’ and the stuttering rock of ‘Different Kind Of Holiday’.
