Featuring Isaac Jones, Rudy, Naoise Roo, Elaine Malone, The Drifter, Noden, Louise Gaffney, Sloucho, Roisin El Cherif, Bonnie Spencer, Sarah-Beth, Samuel Blaney.
A lot of music from Ireland and Northern Ireland 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.
1.
Isaac Jones
The Pits
Isaac Jones is one of the three main artists embarking on a 32-date tour of all 32 counties of Ireland this month. To coincide with the tour, Jones will release the Get Lost! EP this month, and I’m loving the indie R&B vibe of the latest single ‘The Pits’, like a singer-songwriter song drawing on hyperpop production, Steve Lacy guitar style and cerebral Brainfeeder electronica.
2.
Rudy
Stevie
A second feature for the now 23 year-old singer-songwriter from Drimnagh – Rudy.
‘Stevie’ is a lilting dreamy indie pop band song anchored by Rudy’s sweet vocal, it’s got a little shoegaze vibe too.
The song is Rudy’s first since she put together her band featuring Daniel Farrell (guitar) Cian Tisdall (bass) and Aran Sheehy (drums / production).
Stated influences include Prefab Sprout and The Sundays.
Rudy:
3.
Samuel Blaney
Ember
Irish singer-songwriter and horticulturist Samuel Blaney merges both his titular interests with the earthy acoustic song ‘Ember’, part of a suite of songs themed on the transitions of the seasons.
“The songs were usually written in one takes, recorded at dawn. Sometimes from a dream or vivid image, they are held together by the surrounding landscape which was silent and spacious. No lyric was prepared or written in advance; allowing a searching and vulnerability to form. The songs are tender because there was little outside noise, other than the birds and animals.”
4.
Sarah-Beth
Blame
London-based Irish singer and producer Sarah-Beth is the former frontwoman of the band Luunah who now makes music she calls “melantronic,” a melancholic take on ethereal electronic music, and ‘Blame’, the artist’s latest single certainly fits that bill.
The delicate song features soft piano and gentle beats, a result of a zen recording process. “I light candles and burn incense in my bedroom and treat it like a spiritual practice,’ says Sarah-Beth.
The song is a collaboration with co-producer, mixer, and mastering engineer Josh Northwood, and an album is forthcoming.
5.
Bonnie Spencer
Enough
Dublin artist Bonnie Spencer comes through with an Amapiano and Afrobeats song called ‘Enough’.
Spencer took a break from music but this one which will feature on an upcoming EP. Spencer also featured here with her first single in 2019 and a collab with Uwmami.
6.
Roisin El Cherif, Yescene
Daylight
The Irish-Palestinian artist and video director Roisin El Cherif and Morrocan artist Yescene bring the Soul Makossa on ‘Daylight’, a lightly bumping electronic vocal pop song.
The track is from Roisin’s forthcoming debut album. El Cherif is playing Electric Picnic in September.
8.
Naoise Roo
Sacred Cow
Belfast-based artist Naoise Roo has announced a second album Emotionally Magnificent will be released on October 27th via North Carolina label Schoolkids Records, the followup to 2022’s Lilith.
‘Sacred Cow’ is the album’s lead single, an alternative noir country-tinged song with a light touch, “my Odelay-era Beck song,” says Naoise.
“It’s a satirical take on the notion of the “sacred cow,” in this context it’s referring to someone who you see as perfect or a ‘white knight'”‘ figure. I wanted to explore my own reactions to the notion of being saved and taken care of, whether I felt worthy or indeed if I really needed it. My reluctance to accept it, questioning what I can give in return. While musically, it’s something I haven’t done before and that’s the goal.”
The album was produced by Liam Mulvaney with assistance from Jamie Hyland (Mhaol) and live players include Daniel Fox on guitar/bass (Gilla Band), Rian Trench (Solar Bears) on drums/synths and Karl Tobin on guitar.
The cowboy-themed video for ‘Sacred Cow’ is by Cici Clancy.
9.
Elaine Malone
Eat Out Of Your Hand
Cork artist Elaine Malone has announced a new album called Pyrrhic, will be released on Pizza Pizza Records on September 8th.
‘Eat Out of Your Hand’ is typical of Malone’s output, taut,, atmospheric and dreamy while leaning on distant lo-fi sounds and alternative rock.
‘Pyrrhic’ features Sam Clague (Crying Loser), James Christie (The Bonk) and Ruairí Dale and was recorded in Cork City in December 2021 by Cathal MacGabhann of The Altered Hours and mixed by Sam Clague.
A Dublin launch show at the Bello Bar, presented by Foggy Notions, happens on the same night as the album, on Sept 8th.
10.
Louise Gaffney
Instant Unending
A delicately spun circular meditative track from Louise Gaffney, formerly of Come On Live Long..
‘Instant Unending’ is an airy ambient folk number, a ripple effect in song form. It was written in the Burren in Co. Clare last summer and self-produced.
“instant unending is one of those pieces that came together very quickly and was a direct response to my surroundings at summers end last year. It came from wanting to slow down or suspend time in the same way we often want to hold on to experiences in our lives that are positive. It felt like life was moving particularly fast, things were changing at an uncomfortable speed. I was thinking about how seemingly small interactions can have a lasting and unending effect even amidst all this change. The concept of slowing worked its way into the production of the piece, arranging elements off the grid and using tape to slow vocals in real time. Nothing in this piece of work is fixed to any set tempo or time, which is a new way of working for me having often used a basis of sampled beats in my past work. This feels to me to be more free, and makes the rhythm feel a bit fluid and undefinable.”
11.
Noden
Just Won’t Do
The London/Cork dance duo Noden kicked off their Not Another Disco! label and party (monthly in The Pav in Cork) with the first release ‘Just Won’t Do’, a starry-eyed brassy disco dancefloor with nods to the origins of Chicago house.
12.
The Drifter
Ultraviolet
‘Ultraviolet’ is the lead track from the latest EP on the Maeve label, from Mark Flynn aka The Drifter.
It’s a brooding near seven-minute slice of dark electro, synth pop and vocal electronica.
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.
