It’s not easy to call time on a project that you’re invested in and love, especially with your childhood buddies.
As creators of math-rock, instrumental post-rock, music whatever you call it Wicklow’s Enemies weren’t ones to stay still.
Their own discography charts a course from melodic instrumentals to a different take onto a more expanded and vocal-incorporating third and final album.
Valuables was finished with the band having been through a tough time and deciding to finish Enemies for good. “A lack of shared vision” is one of the reasons but ultimately, this band didn’t want to end up being enemies with each other.
As a result, Valuables has a strong willingness to let go and explore, to bring in vocals from Come On Live Long’s Louise Gaffney, to revel in lushness, to hark back to rudimentary charms, to create fresh guitar textures. The band are more popular abroad than at home but that won’t stop their last show in Dublin’s Vicar Street on December 18th to be a band saying goodbye on a high, having released their best album.
Listen to it here:
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.
