The 75 best Irish songs of 2017

2017 Best of | Best albums | Best songs | Irish albums | Irish songs | Club tracks | Guest selections

‘Meet You There’ is the Kilkenny drummer and multi-instrumentalist’s latest in a run of one-off singles that have featured his music growing in scope and direction, most obviously in texture and tone here, with strings, a more commanding vocal and a relentless hurtle rhythm.

64.

James Vincent McMorrow – ‘National’

A highlight of McMorrow’s surprise release of True Care, ‘National’ explores character idiosyncrasies and nostalgia for times listening to The National (“You said your favourite song / Was the one about death / I said every single one’s like that”). James asks his ptner to commit to him despite the “panic and worry” he often feels.

Jack Casey makes sweet and melodious EDM-leaning pop music and this track with vocals by Meadowlark was his highlight of the year.

Tipperary singer Molly Sterling’s ‘Plan Static’ is a piano-lead ballad based wholly in reality and all its flaws, that has intimacy in its construction and one that Sterling sings of her body “is not just feast for eyes / it’s a home / a prison / a craft / all at the same time ” and explores how her mind and body are interlinked in reaction to external forces. Sterling says she was liberated by the songwriting.

Belfast producer Phil Kieran nods to the Kraftwerk masters with this journeyed dance vista.

A slow dirge of a rock song that creeps across its running time menacingly.

Super Extra Bonus Party returned with their first song in 8 years. It’s a song that’s built on live instrumentation meeting electronics, which was always Super Extra Bonus Party’s main characteristic. It moves from an indie-rock track to one that gives way to the song’s underlying synthesizers and electronic percussion and goes into Caribou-esque territory.

The debut EP from Irish/Sierra Leonean was only released a few months ago which is surprising considering Loah’s prominence on Irish stages over the last few years. ‘Nothing’ celebrates character and empowerment and I suspect Loah will do a lot more of that uplift in the coming years.

ASIWYFA’s first album in two years returned them the crown of Ireland’s most emotive post-rock band. ‘A Slow Unfolding Of Wings’, like the album that houses it, dials back on the band’s forays into vocals in favour of focusing on what they’ve made their name with – riffs that radiate all the feels and drums that strap the song to crashing rock dynamics.

‘Shivers’ , a collaboration between Athy-based MC Ganiyu TLG and Dublin prodcer Plant Food, thar has a grime lean and features Huva also on the cut. Plant Food’s production is creepy like droplets of water.