Here’s a rundown of new albums and releases, including new albums and EPs on DSPs and physical releases in record shops this week.
Nialler9 keeps a rolling list of Irish album releases for 2025.
New Albums and Releases
New Albums
Fever Ray – The Year of the Radical Romantics
Not quite a new Fever Ray album but live and studio alternative takes on tracks recorded around the Swedish electronic pop artist Karin Dreijer’s There’s No Place I’d Rather Be Tour in 2023.
The new album consists of live-to-tape studio versions of tracks from Radical Romantics in addition to highlights from 2017’s Plunge and massive new iterations of early classics performed by the musicians who accompanied Dreijer on tour — Minna Koivisto on keyboards; Romarna Campbell on drums; Maryam Nikandish and Helena Gutarra on keytars and vocals.
Bicep – TAKKUUK (Original Soundtrack)
TAKKUUK is a new immersive installation from Bicep, visual artist Zak Norman and filmmaker Charlie Miller that explores the lives, communities and challenges facing artists Indigenous to the Arctic Region.
Created in partnership with the charity In Place of War, as part of their EarthSonic programme, the installation sees Andy Ferguson and Matthew McBriar — collaborating with a number of Indigenous vocalists, including Katarina Barruk, Andachan, Sebastian Enequist (from Sound of the Damned), Tarrak, Nuija, Niilas and Silla. The music was recorded in 2024 by Detroit-based producer and musician Matthew Dear in Árni Árnason from The Vaccines studio, during Iceland Airwaves festival in Reykjavík.
The resulting demos, combined with additional field recordings taken by Ferguson from the Russell Glacier in Greenland, form the backbone of this unique soundtrack set to accompany the remarkable TAKKUUK visual installation which premiers on July 3rd at Outernet London, before touring venues and festivals across the globe over the coming year.
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – Alfredo 2
Indigo De Souza – Precipice
North Carolina musician’s fourth album stands on the ledge over a wild space and asks ““What if I just jumped?”
On Precipice, De Souza looks over the creative and spiritual cliff and leaps, taking control of difficult memories and charged emotions via pop bombast and diaristic clarity, and finding a stronger self through the journey.
Folk Bitch Trio – Now Would Be A Good Time
The Melbourne / Naarm-based trio who have been friends since secondary school thrive on “gnarled Americana, classic rock, piquant, and clear-eyed balladry,” and have been playing together for five years.
They play Whelan’s on August 22nd.
Far Caspian – Autofiction
Fermanaghman Joel Johnston is a Leeds-based indie musician who records and performs all his own music, two albums at this point, performed live as a six-piece – with a third called Autofiction out today.
‘An Outstretched Hand / Rain From Here to Kerry’ from the record unfurls as a diptych, a barrelling acoustic indie first half reminscent of Duster, Broken Social Scene or Sparklehorse and a reflective ditty in its contrasting half.
The album arrives after Johnston’s diagnosis Crohn’s disease in 2021 which he says “I’m now at the point where I don’t really let it define me.”
White Sage – Queen Maeve’s Grave
Dublin experimental record label and live night Little Gem Records release the third full-length record from founder Andy Walsh.
Recorded around a space jaunt to the west of Ireland & a serendipitous trip down the mountainside of Knocknarea (where the title track was first performed), the album focuses on enchanting the listener through coaxing out
the gentler emotions of being, before bestowing affirming releases of the senses, passing from meditative rhythm movements, melodic saxophone in nature sounds, to straight ahead arrangements & psychedelic prog stone rocks.
The A side being taken from a single live performance given at Graceland in Sligo, the B side in contrast, is a collage of field recordings & performances given over 2023 at Anseo in Dublin.
Bonniesongs – Strangest Feeling
Irish-born, Australian-based multi-instrumentalist Bonnie Stewart releases a second album of indie-rock-inspired songwriting, “music that is both mellow and hazy and driven and edgy, traversing art-folk, psychedelia, dream-pop and grunge.”
Strangest Feeling is a collection of songs written amongst the limbo of the lockdowns and the transition back to life. A flavour of autumn runs through the album, intwined with themes of spells, the ocean and Halloween. The punky riffs and driving drums of new single ‘Olive Oil’ and the album’s second single ‘Bittersweet’ are reminders of fun and joy, with ‘Bittersweet’ offering a slice of unadulterated punky grunge in the playful ode to finding fun in chaos, inspired by Bonnie’s stay in New Zealand during the pandemic.
April – An Axe To Grind EP
Kildare singer-songwriter April Lawlor shares her fourth EP of “introspective pop”, her first on The Fader label. The EP was co-produced collaboratively with musicians Kim Tee and koby.
It features ‘Puppy’ and ‘TV Show’.
Jean Pack – Allora EP
Jean Pack is a solo project from a member of The Cork ‘experimental no-wave bitch-punk’ five-piece I Dreamed I Dream.
‘Ruby’ is the debut single from the project, the sort of ’60s throwback girl-group indie single that sounds like it should belong in a 7″ record.
“Pack calls Allora ‘a dirty aperitif with the first pint of the night’” ‘- drawing from a wide palette: lush harmonies, lo-fi edges, sly lyricism, and storytelling that’s equal parts cabaret and confessional”.
Influences cited include Nancy & Lee, The Raincoats, and The Velvet Underground.
The Night Institute Presents – Good Vibes For Uncertain Times Vol. II
6-track compilation from the Belfast electronic community run by Jordan Nocturne and Timmy Stewart featuring tracks from the pair and their peers Lauer, Capes, Spencer Parker and Viper Patrol.
Scoobz – A Routine Day EP
Derry-based electronic producer Scoobz is a former winner of AVA Festival’s Emerging DJ Competition, and this latest EP is inspired by his local forebearers like Jordan Nocturne and a sense of place (one track ‘Twitchin’ is named after the Belfast club night Twitch), with disco-house, Italo soul and acid sounds in this club-focused release.
Also released this week
- Boldy James & Rome Streetz – manhunt
- Cory Hanson – I Love People
- Kurt Vile – Classic Love EP
- Luke Haines & Peter Buck – Going Down To The River… To Blow My Mind
- Madonna – Veronica Electronica
- Paul Weller. – Find El Dorado
- The Alien Territory Archives: A Collection of Radical, Experimental, & Irrelevant Music from 1970s San Diego (Nyahh Records)
- Yokisha Colwell – On The Wing
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.
