I’ve been loving the music being released by the Limerick new wave four-piece this year.
From the Beach House-esque ‘Forgot To Feed’ to April’s ‘Arm’s Length’ , and now to their newest single ‘The Blues’, HFV are a band catching the ones to watch tag fast.
The song brandishes darkly lit guitar lines under Ash O’Connor’s bright melodies and underscores the duality of the light and dark with a video by Graham Patterson (Out of Place / Feile na Gréine), that was inspired by the 1981 psychological horror film Possession.
The band cite Siouxsie & the Banshees, Protomartyr, Drahla and The Altered Hours as sonic inspirations and share the following statement alongside the release:
His Father’s Voice are singer Ash O’Connor, lead guitarist James Reidy, and rhythm section Laya Meabhdh Kenny and Cian McGuirk.
Stay tuned to their socials tomorrow (Friday July 19th) for a further announcement.
The Blues – Artist statement :
“The song fixates on how uncanny props are within corporate hospitality spaces and how they’re used to draw customers in. It’s incredibly uncomfortable how alluring they are despite being obvious imitations, and how successfully they distract from communities that once existed before profit built over them – communities these spaces both extrapolate wealth from and push under the floorboards. While the song is lyrically grim, the name itself is quite tongue in cheek, with the riff being an obvious nod to the twelve-bar blues. But that’s as far as the blues influence goes, it’s as deceptive as the topic of interest.”

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.