Stellar Dublin singer Sorcha Richardson (top) returns with a taster for her new album, the follow-up to First Prize Bravery.
Sorcha writes:
“Archie is a song about teenage hopes and dreams and about losing touch with the people who you once shared them with. I wrote the earliest version of it at a writing camp in the Spring of 2021 with some of my favourite Irish songwriters.
“We recorded it at The Clinic in Dublin with my band mates Joe Furlong, Cian Hanley and Jake Curran and it’s quickly become my favourite song to play live. As lame as it sounds, It makes me feel like I’m living out my teenage dreams when we play it. I think that’s one of the greatest feelings you can have.”
The video is directed by James Baldwin and stars Adam Lunnon Collery and Conor Fitzpatrick.
Northern guitar gods Axis Of have released one of the finest alt.rock albums of the year.
The title track imagines the big yearning soundscapes of Built To Spill reverberating through the scenic landscapes of remote Scottish islands and the Wild Atlantic Way.
Bella Pacifica is Axis Of’s third album, following on from Finding St.Kilda and The Mid Brae Inn – which were released on the Smalltown America Label.
This album will be released in Ireland, the UK and Europe via No Dancing Records and will be pressed on eco-mix vinyl, using surplus vinyl in the manufacturing process to help reduce its impact on the environment.
Axis Of is Niall Lawlor (guitar, vocals), Ewen Friers (bass, vocals) and Ethan Harman (drums); friends raised on Ireland’s north coast, between the tourist towns of Portstewart, Portrush and Portballintrae.
Niall writes:
“It has sad songs…but it is hopeful that there can be good times again.”
Kildare songstress Sive (aka Sadhbh O’Sullivan) takes us on a deep enchanted journey on her new album We Begin in Darkness, out now on Veta Records.
Sive writes:
“These 11 songs lean into themes of place, death, judgement, anxiety, mythology, and what it is to live in a human body. I hope they’ll carry you on an expedition through a cycle of inner seasons, casting light into all of the dark corners along the way.”
Sive is also the co-founder of Embrace Music, a collective of “musicians and arts in health specialists on a mission to share opportunities for embracing music, movement and other artforms.”
It’s always a good day when Cormac O Caoimh releases new material. The Corkonian’s first single since his widely acclaimed album Swim Crawl Walk Run in 2020 is a beautifully written and sung ode to being surprised by joy.
And the archive Chaplin video is the perfect visual match-up.
Nick says:The People’s Republic of Classic Songwriting.
Five Grand Stereo pay tribute to one of the last true characters of the Fair City: Mary Dunne aka Mad Mary, who in decades past could be seen dancing and praying on O’Connell Street.
Written by singer Chris Singleton, the song was recorded in London during lockdown and is released by Brown Paper Records/Style Factory.
Actually the new single by Seba Safe (aka Michael D’Alton, top) is not a cover of the Springsteen classic but an original composition.
Released on the Nettwerk label, it has echoes of vintage Bon Iver.
Michael writes:
“This song is about not feeling good enough for anyone and finding the differences between you and others to use as validation to end things.
“The choruses deal with happier times when things felt better to try again. I blame myself for the relationship ending but ultimately know it was never going to work.”
Indefatigable firebrand Cathal Coughlan releases a new single from his 4-song EP Of Co-Aklan on Dimple Discs.
Cathal writes:
“The theme of “Tangerine” is the extent to which an ancient festival of remembrance and comfort such as Samhain has had its worth parlayed right down to little more than a colour code and some Disney visual tropes through the heart-free steamroller that is Capital.
“The last few years, especially since the start of the first wave of the pandemic, have shown that a lot of the cushy assumptions we were encouraged to adopt in regard to prosperity, the purpose of paid work, and the “guarantees” made by the modern capitalist society to the citizen can ring hollow in the face of something as dumb as a killer/maimer virus that won’t just give up when it’s told that the public is getting bored with it.
“At the same time, the trinket-selling business of capitalism goes on, hoping that the same old annual or weekly cycle of consumption will remain alive. This can mean anything from chain coffee shops on streets which used to house only independent businesses, to greeting card shops which somehow have to keep the lights on in times of little cheer.
“And so Hallowe’en inevitably rolls around. Once quite a sombre and spartan matter of children’s treats and games, the whole planet has been pressed to adopt the North American way – house “decorations”, horror movie rentals and of course a dedicated set of greeting cards.
“There’s no time to stop and reflect that 2020, especially, was a time of greater bereavement than usual, much of it concealed by lockdown circumstances. No slack cut by the tat hacks. This by-rote pageantry of the seasonal tat for trademark Hallowe’en serves only to mock this true suffering, and by extension, I’d assert, most genuine human feeling at a time when the course of history is perceptibly altering.”
The video is directed by Marry Waterson, of the legendary Waterson folk dynasty.
The last two years have shown us that there are precious few real rebels left in the entertainment industry.
One of the rare exceptions has come from the unlikeliest of sources: take a bow, Right Said Fred.
Now The Freds have found time in between dropping truth bombs (or ‘medical misinformation’ – the choice is yours!) on Twitter to deliver a heartfelt and soulful new single with an equally arresting video.
Nick says: Never mind the begrudgers and curmudgeons.
Former Grand Pocket Orchestra frontman Paddy Hanna (top) returns with the second single from his forthcoming album Imagine I’m Hoping, due in Autumn on the Strange Brew imprint.
Paddy writes:
“The song started as an improvised rap about Mike Love from The Beach Boys, and over time it mutated into a cheerful bop about an identity crisis. There isn’t a day where I don’t feel like an imposter, so why not write a catchy tune about it.”
The video was directed and edited by Alex Lynch and Liam Farrell.
Paddy adds:
“I feel the directors and crew captured the fear, anxiety and joyful absurdity of a performer’s life. Perhaps the most concerning part is that despite the video’s peculiarities, it mirrors reality to an almost uncomfortable degree.”
Rising Dublin indie songstress Aoife Nessa Frances (top) returns with her first video since her acclaimed Land Of No Junction album in 2020, which made into Broadsheet’s Top Ten Irish albums of that year.
A wistful mellotron-friendly tune, it comes with a beguiling video by Zoe Greenway which features Katy Mullins as the gold woman.
