Getting dumped undoubtedly sucks, but there’s extra salt in the wound when your partner doesn’t even bother to break up with you in a memorable way. You’re left sitting there in some banal coffee shop, wondering what you did wrong and whether you should stick around to finish your lukewarm latte.
This kind of dissatisfying break is the subject of pop duo Elkin’s latest single “Tuesday.” Over undulating synth, Ellen O’Mahony and Carla Ryan sing in autotuned voices about how “You chose the chain / a neutral space for when you made your exit.” There’s disdain dripping from every word as they retort, “Babe… it’s a fucking Tuesday.”
“Our last song was kinda deep. This song isn’t deep at all. Who breaks up with someone on a fucking Tuesday?” they explain.
“Obviously a messy break-up is emotionally draining, but the drama of it all can be gas as you retell the stories to your girlies,” the pair continue. “But when the break-up is as boring and predictable as the relationship itself, you’re left thinking – ‘I didn’t even get a good story out of that’.”
“Tuesday” is tongue-in-cheek, but also extremely groove-able thanks to vivid production by Ivor Novello-nominated electronic artist lullahush (aka Daniel McIntyre). The track is the second release from ANTHOLOGY, a series of singles Elkin are sharing from February to August this year.
“We began 2020 with a plan to release the most music we could. But when we all went into lockdown, we cancelled our plan. We started working on an EP, which slowly became a bigger project,” O’Mahony and Ryan say. “As the year went on we realised that we wouldn’t be able to release an album in the way we wanted to for a very long time. But we missed releasing tunes and we had this collection of songs that we were really excited about.”
Throughout Ireland’s whole sorry Catholic history, art has been a mode of resistance and a vehicle of change.
From doomsaying the supposed “immorality” of popular music to Anti-Jazz Campaigns to Public Dance Hall Acts, the Church has historically done their utmost to create a homogenous and compliant Catholic people.
And yet, Irish artists through the ages have resisted. Diagnosing what they saw as a tumour on the freedom and creative potential of both individuals and groups in Irish society, they sang and wrote and played what they wanted in spite of the opposition. Who could forget Sinéad O’Connor ripping up a picture of the pope during a cover of Bob Marley’s “War” on SNL in 1992, or her searching, chilling unaccompanied rendition of “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace” in 1993, or her dressing up as a priest for the 50th anniversary of The Late Late Show, her iconic buzz cut paired with a crucifix and dog-collar?
What we have here, for your consideration, is a timeline of this creative resistance – sparse at first, but gaining momentum from the foundation laid by artists like O’Connor.
Today, we see a generation of musicians emerging in Ireland who understand the necessity of representing groups previously marginalised by dominant modes of power. Many of the artists listed here were born or came of age in an Ireland where the Church still held vestigial – if rapidly diminishing – authority. Mostly born in the ‘90s or ‘00s, they were baptised to get into the local National School and probably had (as I did) regular calls from the parish priest in their primary school class.
But these Millennial and Gen Z musicians also grew up in a society characterised by growing levels of disgust at a Church who treated women, children, and minorities as subhuman. They are part of a generation who voted Yes Equality, Yes to Repeal and organised protest concerts at the pope’s 2018 visit. Put it this way: if Pope John Paul II had a comeback tour, if he tried his “young people of Ireland, I love you” shtick today, he wouldn’t get such a warm reception from this crowd.
The songs gathered here offer an alternative lens on the interlinked histories of the Church and the Irish state. Some are mainstream, some are not. Some are by established artists, others come from emerging voices. Some speak directly to injustices perpetrated on the innocent and vulnerable by the Church, channeling serious Sinéad O’Connor energy. Others completely ignore the Church, instead choosing to celebrate minority identities vilified by Catholic doctrine. Some seize hold of the religious iconography we grew up with and subvert it, and others simply sing about the Church in an irreverent way.
All of them, however, demonstrate the power of music and narrative to represent, reprehend and speak truth to power.
All of them represent – thank Christ – a changing Ireland.
“Gay Girls” — Pillow Queens (2018)
Dublin indie-rock group Pillow Queens frequently draw on Irish cultural, religious or political lodestones for topic matter – they have even been described as “Tayto punk.” The queer 4-piece’s 2018 single “Gay Girls” is no exception. From grass-stained Communion dresses, to brown paper chip bags repurposed as bishops’ hats, to the substitution of flying saucer sweets for the host, to Cadet red lemonade becoming Communion wine, this song and its video subvert the religious at every turn.
Playing on the trope of the First Holy Communion, the music video (dir. Kate Dolan) opens with a young girl in a white dress. Outside the bedroom, her parents argue, their hands paused in poses of prayer and open-palmed supplication. As the first verse closes, the girl escapes through the back door, stumbling on three other girls – also dressed in white – gambling with their Communion money.
As the multi-vocal choruses build, there is a heightened sense of collectivity in the “gay girls” and the sisterhood portrayed in the video. In this way, the song is a clever riposte to our societal construction of childhood, innocence and femininity – these chicks are far from silent, pious supplicants. As the lyrics entreat “Marie, Marie, Maria” to “Tell me where to find you when I lose my way”, the girls’ runners under their dresses and the craic they’re having totally contradict the idea that they’re lost. Instead, the connotations of “fallen” female sexuality – of “losing my way” – is repurposed as an intentional escape, an exercise in collective female agency.
Musically, as well as visually, the track draws on religious motifs and subverts them. We go from the plaintive Gregorian style melisma of the opening “Holy / Are we” to a group chant of the final chorus, amplified as though in a church atrium.
The generally easy, melodic rock vibe is occasionally broken by piercing, high-pitched guitar riffs and vocals straining through a megaphone – another reminder of the activism and protest movements on issues like gay marriage and abortion, both causes about which Pillow Queens themselves were vocal.
Ending with a key change, and an assertive descending arpeggio motif, the track is decisive and confident – a refusal by the “gay girls” to be defined by the iconography they harness and repurpose for their own ends.
“Nothing Compares 2 U” — Sinéad O’Connor (1990)
Did you know this was a cover of a Prince song?
Me neither.
It seems so much Sinéad O’Connor’s own, her plaintive vocals winding their way through all the sustained synth-strings and making it something new.
O’Connor is a well-known critic of the Catholic Church, and her run-ins with theocratic Ireland started young – at 15, she spent a year and a half in a Magdalene Asylum after she was caught shoplifting.
While her music is not always political as such, much of O’Connor’s public appearances, interviews and performances have featured overt criticism of the Church, particularly its dealings with women and children.
Is it too much to say that there’s a mixture of sacred sincerity and religious pastiche underlining everything O’Connor does?
She stares into the camera in “Nothing Compares 2 U,” looking like a nun without her coif crossed with a 1940s Hollywood starlet. In one breath, she tells Gay Byrne she would be a priest if she couldn’t be a singer, and calls the pope evil in the next. She is ordained as a priest, and then begs three popes in a row to excommunicate her. If O’Connor has struggled to reconcile different aspects of herself and the society she finds herself in, she’s not entirely wrong to link her issues back to a Church who, in her own words, consistently abused, undermined and distrusted women like her.
O’Connor is a complex woman, but she should occupy a special place in Irish music for her voice, her presence, and her consistent bewilderment of the expectations put on her.
“Take Me to Church” — Hozier (2014)
Ah, the single that launched a thousand anti-pope protests.
The endearingly shy, alluringly anti-Church poster child of the Irish millennial generation.
His ponytail, his Breton tees and nonetheless strangely feral appearance, his visceral guitar playing.
God bless Hozier.
I have heard some strange recitations of the lyrics of this, perhaps Hozier’s best-known song. Through and through, it’s an anti-clerical anthem, yet somehow “the shrine of your lies” translates to “every Saturday night” in the mouths of the baying crowds at his gigs.
The song will forever be associated for me with the gay marriage referendum of 2015 – shout out, as well, to “Nina Cried Power,” whose video makes me cry, remembering May 2018.
“Take Me to Church” spells out, in no uncertain terms, the hypocrisy of the Church. It pulls you into a sensual retelling of a relationship embroiled in the discourse of sin. It begs forgiveness and defies those who would presume to grant it. Hozier tells us to take him to church like he’s asking for a fight.
“Take Me to Church” is a tribute to the generations of Irish people who were steeped in the doctrine of damnation, who had the purity of love poisoned for them. But also, it promises hope, it reminds us of our humanity: “There is,” Hozier croons, “no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin.”
This is a song, in the midst of all we have overthrown and all we have yet to dismantle, which “command[s us] to be well.”
Amen.
“Holy Grail” — Denise Chaila (2020)
From day one, Denise Chaila has not been shy about speaking truth to power. From blasting open misogyny in the music industry to tackling racist misconceptions of “Irishness,” the Limerick artist’s grime-y music looks right in the eye of those in charge, and then corrects them.
“Holy Grail” is no different.
From the opening brassy motif to Chaila’s supremely assured vocals, she is the boss here.
You only have to read her lyrics – or anything she’s written – to get a sense of her intense intelligence. Her rhymes are metaphorically rich and conceptually tight, flowing from one linguistic gem to the next.
Having already amply demonstrated her lyrical proficiency in her macaronic songs – easily melding Irish and English – Chaila builds on this with her effortless harnessing of religious imagery in “Holy Grail”. She is fluent in Biblical language, of “olive branches” and “chilling like Luke” – as she proclaims, she’s “got Genesis in my chromosomes.”
Her central hook is an entreaty to Galileo, the father of modern physics who was renounced on suspicion of heresy by the Church in the 1600s.
She coyly instructs the master of planetary observation to aim his telescope at her Holy Grail – but she’s not interested in just being watched. She wants to tell him all about it, too. If she opens the track by saying that she “lost the plot,” she still manages to “flip it.” Chaila has previously stated that she’s not interested in “self-flagellation” in her music, and her confidence is captivating.
She knows the language of religion, she knows the narrative of history, but she is in charge of her own destiny. When she tells us “I am the author / I am the / I am the –”, Chaila stops just short of calling herself the way, the truth and the life.
And what is there left to do but answer: all hail.
“Death Sentence” — Alien She (2017)
Released as part of the “Goodbye 8 Campaign”, Dublin experimental outfit Alien She’s track makes no bones about its beef with the Catholic Church.
True to its title, the single repeated note refrain “DEATH SENTENCE” is sung dozens of times. In caps.
And, just in case it wasn’t clear who was meting out death sentences to whom, the music video comprises a spectacularly creepy moving image of a nun, floating unnervingly in the foreground, backlit like a camera roll negative.
The song opens with a solo guitar, which sounds like it’s being de-tuned. This feeling of being cut adrift, of being unmoored, is continued throughout the track. The seemingly straightforward 1, 2, 3, 4 drumbeat is constantly messed with, with the result that, as the song trips from one section into the next, from jostling chorus to punchy verse, the listener has to focus to keep up with the changing terms of the rhythm.
This feels intentional.
It might appear raw and messy but, within the anarchic chaos, there’s real musical prowess on display here. Drumming diversions, shifting time signatures, counter vocal riffs, contrapuntal guitar – this track is richly textured. But there is also a strong sense of centre – a centrifugal (if frantic) force driving it home. This is not the type of song you hear playing in the background of a bar – it demands your full attention.
And Jesus, don’t get me started on the false end – you check whether the video has glitched and there’s a spectral nun slowly crossing herself on your screen.
A song that will linger on.
“Hungover at Mass” — Junior Brother (2016)
I wanna say we’ve all been there, but I have not (thank the lord Jesus).
The very idea of dragging myself through our national lip service – standing, kneeling, sitting, genuflecting – with rapidly souring alcohol swirling around the pit of my stomach makes me wanna vom.
Which, of course, is exactly the position Junior Brother finds himself in, pegging it down the aisle for fear of boking on the old biddy next to him in the pew.
I’m obsessed with the thrashing, brash acoustic guitar in this track. I am in love with his forthright, yet also self-abashed, vocals. There is something alluringly no-nonsense about Junior Brother’s approach to music-making – I give you the EP title, Fuck Off I Love You.
This take-it-or-leave-it attitude seeps into his performance. He makes no effort to disguise his accent, his face is steady and expressionless to the point where he could be the lad at school giving an ill-advised rendition of a risqué song in a music practical. His voice feels trad-sy; its condensed flatness sounds – dare I say it – sean nós-y.
But Junior Brother skimps on the grace notes and somehow delivers much more oomph.
One area, though, where he clearly draws on this folksy heritage is in his lyrics – the man is a consummate storyteller. Local idioms, colloquialisms and turns-of-phrases all find their way into his writing whether he’s “trying to get the head straight” or “nearly fucking sprinting.” Not to mention the Catholic guilt – “Does God want me embarrassed?” he wonders, “Does Jesus have me cursed?”
I defy you to listen to this song and not feel an acute wave of sympathy for the poor lad, a grimacing memory of a similar incident you’ve buried.
We’ll never know if he makes it out in time to throw up in a flower bed – “How long’s this fucking church?” – or whether there’s clean up in aisle six.
Whatever the outcome, I doubt the parish priest is impressed.
“Laundries” — M(h)aol (2020)
Socio-political commentary – particularly that of an intersectional feminist persuasion – has always been central to M(h)aol’s musical and conceptual project.
The post-punk four-piece released the single “Laundries” in October 2020, just three months before the release of the 2,865-page report into the Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby Homes.
From the off, the track is classic M(h)aol, the pulsing repetition of a single note creating an eerie feel which is only heightened by the addition of a waspish guitar drone.
When the rhythmic bass-snare combo kicks in, there’s a sense of momentum which pushes the listener through the singer’s forcefully realised sense of outrage at the legacy of the Catholic Church.
Unlike the steady progress of the drumline, however, there is – as the Commission proves and as the last lyric proclaims – no progress for the survivors: “A decade and a half is never enough / sometimes these cases need a woman’s touch.”
If M(h)aol does anything well (which they do), it’s the wholeness of their artistic vision, which melds politics, music and visual aesthetics to realise a bigger meaning.
“Laundries” as a song is brought to another level by the accompanying video by Zoe Greenway, which curates footage of women in Our Lady of Charity Magdalene Asylum in Dublin and an abandoned Laundry in Donnybrook. The black and white archive footage of women – dressed in white and dancing in religious pageants – is overlaid with swirling, disorientating washes of acid colour. Against the thrumming build of guitar and drum and the harsh vocals, the women twirl in a kind of dans macabre. This, the video seems to say, is the dystopia we created; this is the nightmare we can’t seem to wake up from.
M(h)aol wants to use their music to “redress historical violence.” But they know that this violence continues, and that we in contemporary society are cut off from the deepest depths of historic suffering. This is what the combination of lyrics and video seems to get at – with its multimedia interjections obscuring the archive footage, we cannot fully reach the women themselves.
But we, in the present, can still scream on their behalf.
“The girls are so pious,” the singer tells us of the women on screen:
“They shut up and put up.”
But these women won’t.
“I Love You, Sadie” — Wyvern Lingo (2017)
“I Love You, Sadie” is an undeniably boppy song, the type that makes you want to dance in a small smoky venue, ginger beer and bitters in hand.
The opening snappy drum machine and perfectly pitched, layered vocals are what this Bray all-female trio does best. Shimmery guitar reverberates around every chorus like a peal of laughter. The band members are smiling throughout the music video – they bounce their shoulders and nod their heads along to the music.
It feels like a celebration.
And this is part of the song’s genius.
Any expectations we have around female vocal music are utterly subverted by this track. The backing vocals may be swoony, and it certainly wouldn’t be amiss to add some hip sways and finger snaps. But, as the lyrics remind us, Wyvern Lingo is “no ceramic doll.”
Against its poppy aesthetic, the track’s topic matter is deep and dark – Sadie is “undercover,” she “dare[s] not show your colours off,” she’s scared of “what they might say of you.”
But against this fear is a joyful confidence.
The speaker knows what it’s like to be “paranoid” – she tells us “she was just a little girl / who wanted to be a little boy.” But after all, she says, you can’t let people’s expectations “bother you at all.” You’ve “got to let go.”
Against the soft, panning vocals, then, and the serious themes of the song, the ending refrain “Yes, I wanna give my love to you” starts lower and more insistent. The repetition of the word “Yes” feels joyous in the context of the queer topic matter and the legalisation of gay marriage in 2015.
As the lyrics flash across the screen in the pop-arty music video, we are reminded of the power of narrative and personal stories in the context of testimony-driven activism in Ireland recently. When people speak to their experiences, silences are broken and oppression is lifted.
And then, like Wyvern Lingo, we can dance.
“The Kids Are All Rebels” — Lenii (2020)
Lenii’s 2020 single totally contradicts the artist’s Insta bio: “Nothing really matters.”
The song’s lyrics read as an anthem to Gen-Z activism across a range of issues, especially in the context of sweeping social liberalisation in Ireland over the last five or so years.
“We’ll take to the streets,” Lenii warns the powers that be in her (again to the Insta bio) couldn’t-care-less tone.
Her vocals are fluid and ethereal and the track definitely has mainstream legibility. The simple, muffled guitar triad recalls ‘90s grunge, and the goth pop vibes evoke the likes of Billie Eilish.
But this mix of references doesn’t do justice to Lenii’s fundamental defiance to those “in your ivory tower[s]” “getting high off a power trip.”
The TikTok generation is vulnerable and compassionate – “feeling kinda helpless” – but they’re “breaking your rules, baby / we’re making history.”
Bishop Brennan definitely would not approve of Lenii’s defiance. But he’d better watch out, ‘cause Lenii is gonna kick him up the arse.
And what’s even better?
She couldn’t give a fuck about you and your outraged sense of moral decorum.
“Say that we’re young, dumb and being too aggressive?” Lenii asks.
Okay, boomer.
Ireland’s Whole Sorry Catholic History: A Brief Synopsis
In 1934, Bunreacht na hÉireann – whose drafting was presided over by the patriarch of modern Irish Catholicism, Archbishop John Charles McQuaid – enshrined the “special place” of the Roman Catholic Church in Irish society. For the following decades, Ireland operated as an effective theocracy, the distinction between church and state perilously thin.
In 1946, Pope Paul VI called Ireland the most Catholic country in the world.
In 1979, Pope John Paul addressed 2.5 million Irish faithfuls at events in Dublin, Drogheda, Clonmacnoise, Galway, Knock, Limerick, and Maynooth. At his Mass in the Phoenix Park, he rhapsodised about “how Divine Providence has used this Island on the edge of Europe for the conversion of the European continent.”
In 1992, it emerged that Bishop of Galway, Eamon Casey, had had an affair and a son with an American woman, Annie Murphy. In 1993, she appeared on The Late Late Show with Gay Byrne, where audience members accused her of lying about the father of her child, of depicting the Bishop “as a villain,” and of bringing “rubbers” into Ireland. In response to her allegations that Casey “harangued” her to have her son adopted, Byrne put it to Murphy that Casey did so because “he didn’t have faith in your capacity to look after the child.” The interview closed with Byrne telling Murphy: “if your son is half as good a man as his father, he won’t be doing too badly.”
From the 1990s, revelations of the systematic abuse of children in Catholic-run schools, industrial schools and other institutions mounted.
In 1996, the last Magdalene Laundry for “fallen women” shut its doors on Sean McDermott street; in 1997, the last Mother and Baby Home closed.
In 2005, the Ferns Report found that bishops in the diocese of Ferns, Wexford, failed to keep known paedophilic priests away from children, and that sexual abuse of children had been treated as a moral – rather than criminal – issue by the church hierarchy.
In 2009, the Ryan Report found that the Department of Education had failed to investigate allegations of sexual, physical and emotional abuse as well as neglect at Church-run educational institutions from as early as 1936.
In 2013, the Irish government agreed to pay €58 million to survivors of the Magdalene Laundries. The four religious orders responsible for operating the Laundries stated that they had no intention to contribute to the compensation fund.[1] In 2014, the UN Human Rights Committee demanded that the Vatican compensate the Magdalens, who had performed free labour for the duration of their internment in the Laundries.[2]
In 2014, historian Catherine Corless’s work shot to the top of the national media agenda. Corless had, since 2011, been attempting to draw state and media attention to the former Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, having uncovered 796 death certificates for babies born there. Noting the lack of corresponding burial records, Corless later found that these children had been interred in a mass, unmarked grave in a septic tank on the site.
In 2017, it was reported that the Vatican had failed to pay the €1.3 billion owed to the Irish state for compensating survivors of child abuse in Church-run institutions.[3]
In August 2018, it was revealed that, of the 1,300 priests accused of sexual abuse of children, only 82 had been convicted.[4]
In 2020, the archive of records pertaining to the Mother and Baby Homes were sealed by the Irish government, making it virtually impossible for babies born there to access information about their birth mothers.
In 2021, the Commission of Investigation into the Mother and Baby Homes Report was released and subsequently widely criticised for ignoring the testimony of survivors and alleging that there was no evidence of forced adoptions. Taoiseach Micháel Martin subsequently blamed “Irish society” for the horrors meted out to survivors by the Catholic Church.
Happy Bandcamp Friday! Honestly, if there’s anything good to come from the seemingly unending pandemic, it has to be Bandcamp’s decision to waive their cut on every first Friday of the month (more specifically, 8am GMT Friday to 8am GMT Saturday). We love buying music and band merch, and it’s even better knowing that every penny is going towards the artist.
Bandcamp Friday is handy for supporting your favourite musicians or finding new artists to love. We couldn’t possibly hope to cover every single Irish act selling their tracks and wares today, but we’re highlighting some below in case you need help narrowing down your purchasing decisions.
Aoife Nessa Frances
Fresh off her appearance at SXSW 2021, Aoife Nessa Frances has plenty of merch to offer: t-shirts, tote bags, vinyl, and CDs. The limited edition white vinyl pressing of the singer/songwriter’s debut album Land of No Junction is definitely not one to sleep on.
Besides CDs of their debut album Be Kind, Belfast duo Beauty Sleep are also selling prints of the record’s cover art on Bandcamp. They’re bright and colourful and even sport a hand-painted “reminder to be kinder to yourself” on the back.
We’re staying in the North but heading over to Derry, where pop-punk group Cherym are selling their super cool “Abigail” t-shirts (which come with unlimited streams and downloads of the single).
“I Love You But I’m In A Bad….Mood” is a pretty universal feeling, and also the name of Dublin-based Jafaris’ 2020 EP. The hip hop artist is selling face masks and jumpers emblazoned with the EP title, as well as vinyl of his celebrated debut album STRIDE.
If you haven’t listened to JyellowL’s stellar debut album 2020 D|Vision, now’s your chance to pick up a copy of the record on vinyl. The rapper also has face masks and prints of the atmospheric album cover art on the go.
Belfast four-piece Problem Patterns are selling their 20-page zineGood For You, Aren’t You Late?, as well as a “Big Shouty” bundle of a cute t-shirt and the titular digital track.
Pop-funk group Toshín are a joy to behold and to rep in the t-shirts they’re offering today. The Dublin band are also selling tote bags with “Get Your Life” written on them.
March may have felt like another shitty notch in the COVID belt, but the one silver lining has been all of the brilliant music by Irish artists. From the RTÉ Choice Music Prize broadcast to the numerous St. Patrick’s Festival live streams, we weren’t left wanting for entertainment. A closed-set performance may not quite itch the same scratch as in-person gigs, but they’ll do for now.
Even more impressive, though, is the sheer output by musical acts that soundtrack our daily walks or dances around the kitchen. Check out some of our favourite music releases from March below, which are also on the Spotify playlist at the bottom of the page.
AE Mak — Class Exercises EP
The new EP Class Exercises by Aoife McCann, better known as AE Mak, serves as a tribute to the house-parties-that-never-were, thanks to the pandemic. McCann pushes herself on her self-produced release, heralding the start of a stranger and even more wonderful era from the avant-garde pop artist. — Clare Martin
Ailbhe Reddy ft. Sacred Animals — “City Unfolds”
Ailbhe Reddy, whose debut album Personal History received an RTÉ Choice Music Prize nomination, teamed up with Wexford native Sacred Animals on “City Unfolds” to add some moody synth pop to her folk-infused sound. Reddy conjures up the image of a lonely cityscape at night—“Oh, street’s empty / Back of a taxi / Stretching before me”— on the melancholic track. — Clare Martin
Awkward Z. — “TRAPPED”
Awkward Z.’s latest single may be called “TRAPPED,” but the South Africa-born, Wexford/Waterford-based rapper proves that his creativity is anything but stymied. Over guitar and robust trap beats, the Anomaly Collective member recalls triumphing over personal struggles: “I was trapped in a dark place / and I made it / I can’t tell you how much I spent / now I save it.” — Clare Martin
Babylamb — “Mister Magic”
If you’re hankering for some colourful bubblegum pop euphoria, look no further than Babylamb and their effervescent single “Mister Magic.” The queer four-piece—made up of Tobias Barry, Rían Stephens, Laoise Fleming, and Cian King—bring their playful attitude to this sugary, incredibly catchy tune. — Clare Martin
Clannad ft. Denise Chaila — “In A Lifetime”
Celtic pop group Clannad’s re-release of their song “In A Lifetime” featuring Denise Chaila (filling in Bono’s role from the original 1986 single) is a moving intergenerational musical effort. Over haunting harp and with Poison Glen as their atmospheric backdrop, Moya Brennan and Chaila’s voices weave a beautiful tapestry. We’re so used to Chaila’s quick-witted rapping, but “In A Lifetime” reminds us of her impressive vocal chops. — Clare Martin
DYVR — “Holding Back”
The electro-pop track is the first off DYVR’s upcoming EP Part 3 and serves as a lush, thoughtful look at “the masks we wear in order to feel like we’re part of the world,” they explain. Glittering synth propels the melody forward and the thumping beat rattles in your chest, urging you to move. — Clare Martin
Gender Chores — “Night in the Woods”
“Landlords are bastards,” shouts grunge-punk band Gender Chores on their latest single “Night in The Woods.” Drawing influence from the riot grrrl manifesto, the Co. Down group blend loud guitars, hard-hitting drums and direct lyrics to bring awareness to socio-political issues. The track nails that familiar feeling of not being able to afford rent in an accommodation market designed to exploit: “For 1000 a month / you could live in this shoebox.’’ — Ellen Pentony
HAVVK — “No Patience”
Led by frontperson Julie Hawk, HAVVK return with the second single from their upcoming album Levelling. No stranger to political and social themes (“Always the Same,” “Glass,” and “Once Told”), the grunge-rock trio’s song “No Patience” is more introspective and personal. — Ellen Pentony
Lenii — “Straitjacket”
Lenii’s dark, heady pop single “Straitjacket” is both hypnotic and unsettling, with the melody on the chorus careening off the tracks. “Zip me up just to shut me down / Too loud so you shut my mouth,” the Cork artist sings in her high, crystal-clear voice, recalling how society often treats those who dare to break the mould. — Clare Martin
Maria Somerville — “Seabird”
For those of us who aren’t lucky enough to have the sea within 5km, Galway artist Maria Somerville has you covered with her atmospheric cover of Air Miami’s “Seabird.” Just put on your headphones, close your eyes, and drift off on imaginary waves as Somerville serenades you with her gorgeous voice. — Clare Martin
M(h)aol — “Asking For It”
Intersectional feminist band M(h)aol—made up of Róisín Nic Ghearailt, Constance Keane, Jamie Hyland, Zoe Greenway, and Sean Nolan—tackle rape culture head-on with their powerful single “Asking For It.” All proceeds from the song will be donated to Women’s Aid. — Clare Martin
NewDad — Waves EP
NewDad—made up of Julie Dawson (vocals, guitar), Áindle O’Beirn (bass), Sean O’Dowd (guitar), Fiachra Parslow (drums)—weave together Waves’ shoegaze-tinged tracks with hazy guitar and drums that oscillate between laid-back and stirring. Their dreamy slacker rock has arrived just in time as we’re getting that grand stretch in the evening. — Clare Martin
Pat Lagoon — “Put It Away”
Snappy drum machine and pensive guitar open up Waterford artist Pat Lagoon’s latest single “Put It Away.” The rapper and singer gets vulnerable on the track, opening up about his own self-doubts and the self-destructive desire to compare himself to others with lines like, “I’m just surfing a wave / Don’t know if I’m paving a way / I got some friends that are local / Got some feens going global.” — Clare Martin
Susie Blue — Boys Boys Boys EP
Derry native Susie Blue mixes dream-pop with grit and emotion on the EP Boys Boys Boys. This is the first release to be self-produced by Blue, working alongside Jonny Woods from alt-rock Belfast band Wynona Bleach. The result is a crossover between SOAK, CHVRCHES and Ailbhe Reddy. Boys Boys Boys is packed with thick synth, layers of guitar, electro-drums, and a lot of proud queer yearning. “May God Forgive You” and “Pretender” are particular stand-outs. — Ellen Pentony
Saint Sister — “Karaoke Song”
Saint Sister (Morgana MacIntyre and Gemma Doherty) have released their poppiest single yet, “Karaoke Song,” inspired by a night out two years ago when the pair celebrated MacIntyre’s birthday by singing Tom Jones’ “Sex Bomb” in a Parnell Street karaoke bar. The track comes from their sophomore album Where I Should End, out on June 25th. — Clare Martin
Soda Blonde — “Small Talk”
“Small Talk” throbs with ‘80s-esque synths, reminiscent of other retro-inspired acts such as Tennis. O’Rourke’s voice is the real show-stopper here, though, beautifully conveying yearning and evoking the likes of Caroline Polachek. — Clare Martin
sohotsospicy and darkmavis — sodarksospicy EP
It would have been easy for Irish DJs to feel disenchanted with the closure of venues and to stop producing altogether, but sohotsospicy and darkmavis have delivered a body of work that makes one hopeful for the state of the Irish electronic scene. The insatiable beats hit off some neural groove rendered in a basement club pre-pandemic. — Doireann Ní Dhufaigh
Sprints — Manifesto EP
There’s something so familiar and authentic about the music Sprints make. Their lyrics are to-the-point, unpretentious, and accessible. While their EP Manifesto doesn’t make explicit references to Dublin or Irish culture, Sprints offer relatable observations of what it’s like to live in the capital right now. — Ellen Pentony
Tolü Makay — “Used to Be”
Since the release of her cover of the Saw Doctors’ N17, the Nigerian born Offaly artist has captured the heart of the nation with her rich, soulful vocals. She brings much needed diversity to the Irish singer/songwriter landscape, which has been largely dominated by white men in recent years. Her latest release “Used to Be” is a heart-breaking piano ballad about letting go of someone you once loved. — Ellen Pentony
Belfast-based artist DYVR is premiering their single “Holding Back” featuring Benjamin Yellowitz here on Nameless Faceless today ahead of its wider release tomorrow. The electro-pop track is the first off their upcoming EP Part 3 and serves as a lush, thoughtful look at “the masks we wear in order to feel like we’re part of the world,” DYVR explains. “Before I began my journey into self-acceptance, I was performing a role; going through the motions of what I had been taught was the natural order of things.”
“As queer people, we aren’t educated about the possibilities of what our identities could be, so we can only choose to try and fit as much of ourselves into the limited space we are given,” they continue. “I wrote ‘Holding Back’ as a way of asking the question, ‘should real love hold me back?’ This song is about dropping the mask, and learning to love who you truly are. This is a journey I’m still on, but one that empowers me more every day.”
“Holding Back” feels like a sonic journey itself, ascending until it culminates in a moody bop. Glittering synth propels the melody forward and the thumping beat rattles in your chest, urging you to move. DYVR discusses embracing their queerness in their smooth falsetto: “Anger, lust, mercy, shame / All the ways you say my name.” Yellowitz adds his own story in a spoken word segment, cheekily alluding to the pervasiveness of heteronormativity as he muses, “I long for thick hair upon my lips / But Barbie and Ken were still riding that Jeep.”
The song ends with high chipmunk vocals stirring over a clip from the 1963 film The Haunting (an adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s beloved novel The Haunting of Hill House). In it, the character Eleanor (Julie Harris) throws barbs at the more worldly Theodora, whose character is often interpreted as queer: “I’d rather be innocent than like you. The world is full of inconsistencies. Unnatural things. Nature’s mistakes they’re called. You, for instance.”
These harsh words echo DYVR’s thoughts about “going through the motions of what I had been taught was the natural order of things” and the harmful words so many queer kids hear growing up in relation to their sexuality. On “Holding Back,” we can let go of the expectations thrust upon us, and find peace in exploring our authentic selves.
Listen to DYVR’s single “Holding Back” featuring Benjamin Yellowitz below.
Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, aka CMAT, shared the video for her track “I Don’t Really Care For You,” today, solidifying herself as an artist who puts as much care into crafting her visual output as she does her catchy songs. She aimed for her first single of 2021 to sound like “ABBA doing a spaghetti western soundtrack,” and the video is just as thoughtfully put together. Director Eilís Doherty and the Tiny Ark production team worked with CMAT to bring her singular vision to life.
“The director Eilís approached me some time ago to make a music video, and I really wanted it to be for ‘I Don’t Really Care For You’ because I knew she would be able to capture the high energy mood of the song, and also we are into the same old, niche and ugly design stuff,” Thompson explains.
“Visual references for this video range anywhere from the film Five Easy Pieces, to a BTS music video, and the dream sequence was inspired by a Nestle ad from the 1980’s,” she continues. “The choreographer, Nick, made my dreams come true. I was like, ‘I want to dance like Blackpink, but I have absolutely no technical ability whatsoever.’ I think that much is evident in the video but we pulled it off!”
With her big ‘80s hair and enthusiastic dancing, CMAT is clearly the star here. The video nails the aesthetics, from the cosy diner interior decked out in granny decor to the fantasy backdrop that looks like it’s from a Wild West bodice ripper.
Watch the video for “I Don’t Really Care For You” below.
The list of activities we miss could span the island, but karaoke is near the top. There’s nothing like rushing up to the mic with your mates a couple pints deep and belting out your favourite tune, or realising part way through the song that maybe you didn’t know the lyrics quite as well as you thought. Either way, you’re all up there together, sweaty and dancing and revelling in your moment onstage.
Morgana MacIntyre and Gemma Doherty, better known as Saint Sister, know this feeling well. Today they released their poppiest single yet, “Karaoke Song,” inspired by a night out two years ago when the pair celebrated MacIntyre’s birthday by singing Tom Jones’ “Sex Bomb” in a Parnell Street karaoke bar. Over heavenly, strummed harp and zinging synth, the pair recall, “Somewhere in between you and the television screen / I got down on my shaking knees / And serenaded you with a Britpop dream.” The track comes from their sophomore album Where I Should End, out on June 25th.
Two years ago we sang Sex Bomb by Tom Jones in the basement of a Karaoke Bar on Parnell Street. It was Morgana’s birthday and we had the craic, so we wrote a song about it.
Karaoke Song is out Wednesday. See ye’s on the floor. X
“Gemma had this gorgeous instrumental and I was trying to work in a load of grandiose lyrics that always felt clunky and out of place,” singer/songwriter MacIntyre says of her and harpist/arranger Doherty’s process crafting the single. “At the end of a particularly tiring day spent writing, I started using the song as a way to make fun of the night we had recently shared singing karaoke. I kept thinking ‘no one will take this seriously’ and then I realized maybe I don’t want them to, that’s not the point of the song.”
That sense of carefree fun bursts through on the glittery music video made for “Karaoke Song,” directed by Janna Kemperman and Kevin Freeney. MacIntyre and Doherty are having the time of their lives, with coordinated dance moves and a whole host of flamboyant costume changes. The candy-bright colours and iridescent, kaleidoscopic visuals pull you into the party atmosphere. The video is an ode to nights out, drunken sing-alongs, and friendship.
Check out the music video for “Karaoke Song” below, as well as the album artwork and track list further down. Saint Sister’s self-produced and self-released record Where I Should End can be pre-ordered here.
We’re certainly spoilt for choice when it comes to exciting female voices in Irish rock right now. Led by frontperson Julie Hawk, HAVVK return with the second single from their upcoming album Levelling. No stranger to political and social themes (“Always the Same”, “Glass” and “Once Told”), the latest release from the grunge-rock trio is more introspective and personal.
For Hawk, “‘No Patience’ is about the extreme emotions of going from feeling like you have total control of the path ahead, to feeling suddenly behind and insecure.”
That sense of uncertainty strikes a nerve with a socially-anxious generation constantly comparing ourselves to others and questioning if our decisions are the right ones.
You can almost visualise Hawk pacing around her room as hushed, impatient vocals, loud guitars and rapid drums build an anxious mood that is suddenly interrupted by a burst of released emotion. The shift from verse to chorus is indicative of what Hawk describes as the “tension between confidence and uncertainty,” something she says is central to the opening tracks of the album.
“No Patience” is the second single from HAVVK’s upcoming album Levelling set to be released on VETAmusic later this year.
Follow the band on Instagram to stay up to date with more news on their second album.
Out of the ashes of Little Green Cars, characterised by that folk-inflected indie sound that was so popular in the mid-2010s, comes Soda Blonde. Faye O’Rourke (lead vocals), Adam O’Regan (guitar), Dylan Lynch (drums), and Donagh Seaver-O’Leary (bass) have grown up since then both personally and sonically, and their debut album Small Talk reflects their coming-of-age.
“To put it simply, Small Talk is about life in our 20s. Every part of us is in here, both subliminally and literally. Lyrically, this record is like a collection of my flaws and insecurities. They’re lingering awkwardly by the bar at a crowded social gathering, waiting to integrate with the wider world,” O’Rourke explains.
The record is due out on July 9th via Velveteen Records, and today the Dublin outfit has released the title track to give us a taste of what to expect. “Small Talk” throbs with ‘80s-esque synths, reminiscent of other retro-inspired acts such as Tennis. O’Rourke’s voice is the real show-stopper here, though, beautifully conveying yearning and evoking the likes of Caroline Polachek. The track itself is about “rejection in its many forms,” O’Rourke explains.
“The song begins by leading the listener to believe it’s about a failed or failing relationship when in fact, it details the self-destructive dialogue inside someone’s own head. ‘Small Talk’ is also used to reference the wearisome and prosaic dialogue we encounter on a daily basis, whether that be actual ‘small talk’ or topics of a more serious nature, there’s no escaping the fact that in today’s western world, we all seem to speak from one or two scripts,” she goes on to say.
“In a broader sense, I am addressing the idea of optical virtue over the reality of how we treat those around us,” O’Rourke continues. “We’re seeing this concept more and more today by the application of social media to achieve fast-food activism.”
We can expect Soda Blonde to cut through any vapid chit-chat on Small Talk, which you can pre-save and pre-order here. O’Rourke uses the album to reckon with her own past heartbreaks and her position as an Irish woman, “with feminism on one shoulder and trans-generational Catholic guilt on the other.”
Listen to “Small Talk” below and check out Soda Blonde’s tour dates here.
Your pace quickens, your heart races. The headphones tucked over your ears are silent; you need to be able to hear any movement near you. Your hand grips your mobile, ready to dial.
This horrific routine is all too familiar for women and nonbinary people the world over. We’re taught it as children, before we can fully comprehend the systematic, misogynistic violence we’ll be subjected to for the rest of our lives. According to the Irish Times, more than half of Irish women avoid using public transport after dark out of fear for their own safety. It’s an exhausting existence, made worse when the blame is shifted from the perpetrators of such attacks to the victims themselves.
Intersectional feminist band M(h)aol—made up of Róisín Nic Ghearailt, Constance Keane, Jamie Hyland, Zoe Greenway, and Sean Nolan—speak to this experience on their powerful new single “Asking For It.” While the song was written a couple of years ago and initially due for release in May, the post-punk group shared the track early considering the ongoing conversation around violence against women and nonbinary people, especially in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard. The Irish outfit have long woven activism into their music. Their 2020 single “Laundries” highlights how the Catholic Church and the powers that be have abused women in Ireland for generations: “The shame of our secrets / the stain of those days.”
On M(h)aol’s latest release, low, droning guitar and insistent drums fill the air with a sense of sinister dread. The song pulses with righteous anger. Lead singer Nic Ghearailt sings with growing fury over the course of the track, “Was I asking for it?” The answer is a sharp, resounding no.
All proceeds from the song will be donated to Women’s Aid. Listen to “Asking For It” below or purchase it on their Bandcamp.
Nameless Faceless 