New Irish songs you should hear: And, He The Fool; Burglar, Rua Rí, Kneecap and more

And, He The Fool

Little Women

Dublin seven-piece and he, the fool’s new single is a confounding singular melting pot of sheenful indie pop melodies and theatrical disco funk?

However you pitch it, ‘Little Women’ is a memorable song – not least for its fervent subject matter – the idea that came from songwriter and vocalist Kate Gurren’s experience of making herself small and slight in a bad relationship one summer.

“The word toxic is so cliche in this day and age but I spent a summer feeling poisoned, weak and very, very small. So with that concept of useful damage in my head – what good is a rotten experience if I can’t do anything with it? I set out to take all of that pain and vitriol and misogyny and turn it into a banger me and my friends could dance to. A Sertraline shuffle for the gals who used to have worrying Tumblr accounts.”

“I’m not trying to make any grand feminist statement with the song but to spotlight some of the crazy situations I found myself in during this time – my weight felt directly tied to my worth, my ability to be small and quiet and malleable was my star attribute. These are sad but frankly hilarious observations. I found with every live performance, more women and non-binary people were singing along and it felt like a big inside joke we all got to bathe in.”

The song is also inspired by CMAT and Carly Simon – definitely not women who shrink.

The seven members of And, He The Fool, are based between Dublin and London, drawing from Dublin, Meath, Westmeath, Wicklow and Donegal.

and he, the fool are: 

• Kevin Cleary (vocals, guitar) 
• Muirne Shaw (vocals, violin, keyboard) 
• Aaron Smith (bass) 
• Eoin O’Reilly (vocals, drums) 
• Ruairí Flynn (guitar, clarinet, saxophone, vocals) 
• Kate Gurren (vocals) 
• James O’Neill (saxophone, percussion)

Kneecap

Fenian

After everything that’s happened in the last year – it’s only a year since Coachella this week, and Cuba is the latest place the trio have emerged to show solidarity.

Kneecap’s new song ‘Fenian’ might be their best single song yet – it’s good to hear the Belfast rappers work with a different palette that arguably sits better than the sonic boom drum and bass bangers of their debut Fine Art.

An Anthem to embrace our Fenian past, and to cure our colonial hangover by reconnecting the warriors of Irish folklore with the Fenian c*nts from the North of Ireland today.

Second album Fenian is released on April 24th.

Burglar

Star-Crossed

Following on from the earworm of ‘Lovey’, the Dublin indie alt duo of Burglar – Willow Hannon and Eduardo Pinheiro very much continue in that vein with their latest, and do Music Generation’s work for them by getting the kids involved with some instruments and go wild on a VR headset.

It’s out now on the TULLE label.

 “It’s sad that we’re always encouraged to face our problems on our own, as if anything that isn’t you constantly being productive and working on yourself, was lame. I’m sick of right timings, and seeking inner-truths, and I hate that there’s no way of imagining a collective future. It’s car crash after car crash right now-especially in your 20s. I’m impatient, I’m afraid of the future, and all I’m trying to say with this song is that you don’t need big changes and reinventions all the time. You can stick around special people if they show up-there’s enough big changes out there.”

Live Dates
26 APR – Moor Brewing Co., Bristol (UK)
27 APR – The Castle Hotel, Manchester (UK)
28 APR – McChuills, Glasgow (UK)
29 APR – Headrow House, Leeds (UK)
30 APR – Our Mutual Friend, The Dublin Castle, London (UK)

Martha Dark

That’s Kind Of You

Belfast electronic producer Martha Dark continues a run of features with this latest electronic track – a sort of laid back jazzy cosmic house vibe – it’s one of two tracks released on the Mexican label House Salad Music, and Martha says it’s chilled in the vein of the artist Felipe Gordon

Just Mustard

Endless Deathless (Daniel Avery remix)

Serving as an addendum almost to Avery’s recent Tremor album and its accompanying Midnight Versions, his remix of Dundalk alt-rockers Just Mustard dismantles the original and puts it back together with a breakbeat skeletal foundation.

It could have easily been KT Ball on Tremor along with Julie Dawson by the sound of this.

Just Mustard are on their WE WERE JUST HERE tour.

Rua Rí

Makeover

I’m loving the new songs from Irish folk artist Rua Rí who is releasing a debut album on Soft Boy Records, called Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life, due May 1st.

Like the first single ‘Johnny Workman’, ‘Makeover’ came out of a bout of unemployment when Cobh singer-songwriter Seán Damery was busking on Shandon Bridge in Cork City and improv’d this track as he wasn’t making any money anyway.

The album is produced by Kean Kavanagh.

ZASKA, Melina Malone

Ever Cross My Mind

Max Zaska and Melina Malone take the smooth with the smooth here on the neo-soul song ‘Ever Cross My Mind’, the duo’s second collaboration on the upcoming ZASKA album Nectar on June 5th. Malone’s honeyed soul vocal never fails to lift the spirits and here a 10-piece band, with flute, Spanish guitar gracefully supporting.

Love this little Jimmy Fallon/ The Roots-style Insta clip too:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Max (@zaska.music)