New Irish music (Feb 28-Mar 7) from M(h)aol, Varo, Lullahush and more
Plus Fontaines DC finally win the Choice Music Prize!
Here’s your new music playlist on Tidal
M(h)aol - ‘DM:AM’
Just over a year after releasing the utterly brilliant, ferocious ‘Pursuit’ and ‘Snare’ in October, Dublin/Belfast/London-based M(h)aol are back with ‘DM:AM’ and details of their second album Something Soft, due outMay 16 via Merge Records. They say: "This song is about men DMing women online and then getting aggressive when they don’t get the response they want. They quickly turn to insults about the women, and then once the woman says she’ll expose what they’ve done, she gets a laundry list of reasons why he behaves like this and how much he has to lose, which is meant to make the women feel sorry for them." Preorder Something Soft here.
M(h)aol tour dates with Cola and Junk Drawer:
May 28: The Black Box, Belfast
May 29: Sandinos, Derry
May 30: The Roisin Dubh, Galway
May 31: Kasbah Social Club, Limerick
June 1, 2: Coughlans, Cork
June 3: Luca Records and Decks, Waterford
June 4: Whelan’s, Dublin
Lullahush - 'Maggie na bhFlaitheas'
Athens-based Lullahush aka Daniel McIntyre follows up 2022’s A City Made of Water and Small Love and the 2024 EP An Todhchaí with 'Maggie na bhFlaitheas', the first single to be taken off second LP Ithaca, due out April 11. It’s a unique track, sounding occasionally familiar but with those faded electronic underpinnings, something totally different too. He says: “I am very excited by the power that sampling offers a bedroom producer like me to build multi-layer narratives and self-referential worlds.” Of the album as a whole, it’s inspired by the harsh reality of Ireland in 2025 - “economically uninhabitable”, as he puts it. “I miss it, but I have a difficult relationship with it. Ithaca is where Odyssus is trying to get back to in the Odyssey - my search for a sense of home since leaving has made me think about what Ithaca means. Maybe it's not a place, maybe it's a series of circumstances, maybe it's something internal, maybe it’s something you carry around with you.” Lullahush on Bandcamp.
Crash Ensemble - ‘Bláth Bán’
Composed by Jonathan Nangle, Blue Haze of Deep Time is the new album from the Crash Ensemble, due out April 4 to coincide with the world premiere performance and installation at New Music Dublin 2025. His first commission for the ensemble, the press release notes that Blue Haze of Deep Time (2021–2025) marks the culmination of Nangle’s residency with Crash Ensemble. Nangle says: ““What does the sea sound like? Blue Haze of Deep Time is a profound and immersive musical exploration, a sequence of journeys that seeks to answer this question, at least from my perspective. The piece consists of six movements, each designed to capture the sound and colour of the sea, evoking a journey through my creative imagination. The inspiration for the work came from several field recording trips, which provided unique snapshots of specific times and places that are forever etched in my memory. As I listen to the recordings, I can vividly recall where and when I captured the sounds of the various seashores. Through this piece, I hope to convey the same sense of calm that these moments brought me.” Preorder Blue Haze of Deep Time here.
Varo - ‘Green Grows The Laurel’ (featuring John Francis Flynn)
This is the second track to be taken from Dublin-based trad music duo Varo’s highly anticipated collaborations album The World That I Knew , due out May 9, following ‘Red Robin’ (ft. Alannah Thornburgh) at the end of January . Produced by John ‘Spud’ Murphy, Lucie Azconaga and Consuelo Nerea Breschi VARO, say: “John is one of the first people we physically met to work with for this project at the time. It’s been extremely enjoyable. We'd known each other and had played together for years, but that was the very first time we were taking a song from scratch in order to build it together. His voice is so beautiful and deep. It contrasted really well with ours while being very complementary at the same time. It all happened very easily. We all agreed to bring some dark level of pain and loneliness to it. The double-whistle he’s using creates this tense and kind of crying line that opens and concludes the song. We decided to keep the rest quite bare to represent the loneliness of the main character until we reach the ending with a heavy crescendo accompanying the pain and struggles of this heartbroken narrator. We’ve invited John to perform it with us on several occasions since then and it’s always been an absolute pleasure.” John Francis Flynn says: “I first heard ‘Green Grows The Laurel’ sung by Delores Keane and was immediately struck by its beautiful melody. Keane’s version with John Faulkner is iconic but it was exciting to try something a little different with it with my friends Consuelo and Lucie. It was really nice to work with the excellent John Murphy who recorded and mixed the track. I’m very happy with the result.”
Bantum - ‘Clang Clang’ (CNTRAST Remix)
‘Clang Clang’ featured on Cork producer Bantum’s brilliant self-titled album released in 2024. This remix marks the first official release by Dublin-based producer and cinematographer Ciaran O’Neill ala CNTRAST. Per the PR: Their collaboration started after a post-show chat and turned into an official collaboration. The remix incorporates field recordings of penguins and ambient sounds captured during a recent trip to Antarctica, where CNTRAST was filming as part of Artists in Antarctica. The accompanying video, made up of footage from the trip, showcases the raw landscapes and wildlife of the region. The experience of being surrounded by artists and inspiring individuals on the expedition—including Oliver Tree and Wim Hof—helped push CNTRAST towards finally putting his music out into the world.
Lowli - ‘Undone’
Galway composer and songwriter Lowli aka Roisin Lowry has just released ‘Undone’, her first new music since the 2022 EP Otherworld. It’s the first taster of an album due out later in the year. She says: “It’s a song about those moments in life when things seem to be moving backwards, and progress begins to unravel…” It features Lowry on piano/vocals, Rob Campbell on cello/double bass, Aisling Bridgeman on violin and Shay Sweeney on drums.
Tigers of Tin Pan - ‘Under the Moonlight’
Gilla Band guitarist Alan Duggan Borges revealed his sideproject the Null Club last week and this week, we get Tigers of Tin Pan’s debut single ‘Under the Moonlight’, featuring Gilla Band bassist Daniel Fox. The project is led by Stray Planets’ John Butler and producer Liam Mulvaney. Fox features on this track alongside that pair and Naoise Roo (vocals, Derren Dempsey (guitar), Oisin Trench (drums) and Laura Coffey (backing vocals. The PR says ‘Under the Moonlight marks the official launch of the ambitious 1% Visible project, a singular sonic universe years in the making. Inspired by an episode of the lauded 99% Invisible podcast, the song delves into the arrival of street lighting in 19th-century Austin, weaving a tale set against the backdrop of an unsolved murder mystery. This narrative serves as a canvas for the band to paint a sonic landscape that is as haunting as it is captivating.
Zoé Basha - ‘Worried’
Dublin based French-American musician and composer Zoé Basha releases the latest taster of debut album Gamble, due out April 17. A beautiful, woozy track that kicks into life halfway through, Basha says: “This song was written when I was staying on friend's couch, following an eviction from a Dublin squat. I was feeling conflicted about the relationship I was in at the time. It had both a lot of good and a lot of challenges, and I was reflecting on why it was so difficult to talk about things and to find relief in this intimate relationship, when it felt so comparatively easy in my community.”
Zoé Basha tour dates:
March 23: (A performance of early jazz songs with trio) Dublin Jazz Co-op, The Cobblestone
April 17: Album Launch with full band at The Sugar Club, Dublin
April 18: Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh, Cork
April 20: Levis’ Corner House, Ballydehob, West Cork
April 21: Prim’s Bookshop, Kinsale, Cork
April 24: De Burgos Club, Galway
April 25: The Glen’s Centre, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim
April 26: The Duncairn, Belfast
April 27: The Record Room, Limerick
May 1: Fennelly’s of Callan, Co. Kilkenny
May 2: Bray Jazz Fest
May 3: Crane Lane, Cork City
May 4: Skelper Quane’s, Tralee
Blood Donor - Catalonia Tears
Two years on from the release of debut album Autofiction, former Otherkin frontman Luke Reilly aka Blood Donor returns with the three-track EP Catalonia Tears. A blast of indie rock, the three tracks sound so easy for Reilly, though there’s plenty depth there too; look at the lyrics to ‘maybe, i’m not sure’: “Honey, when we were 16
I was embarrassed at being in my skin… When you get to 33, things get boring. C’est la vie!” Blood Donor play the Workman’s Cellar on March 15 - tickets.
Ramper - Loner
Donegal-based Declan McClafferty aka Ramper releases his debut album Loner today. It’s a really lovely, slow, quiet record that, as the name might suggest, was made during lockdown. Ramper played every instrument on the LP, which he recorded and self-produced over six months at his own home studio during stolen moments when his sons were napping. Much of his music ruminates on the slow erosion of our language and culture: “It’s not a right-wing approach that things should be conserved and locked down, or that other cultures are not welcome. It’s a lament that the culture of a place and skills like weaving, fishing or boat building are lost, while the people who should be carrying that on are in Australia and priced out of returning.” Ramper will be on the TPOE podcast in the next couple of weeks.
Maria Kelly - Waiting Room
Wicklow-based artist Maria Kelly released her second album Waiting Room last week. Like her debut, The Sum of the In-Between, I think it’s a masterpiece that marks Kelly out as one of the best songwriters in the country. There’s a searing honesty flowing throughout her songs. Per the PR: The Waiting Room is both a very real place, as Maria found herself stuck in sterile clinics hoping for answers to inscrutable chronic pain, and a dream-like, surreal space representing her own inner world. “This album is an exploration of the roadblocks, both internally and externally, that keep us feeling powerless and taking away our agency.”
Fontaines DC win the Choice Music Prize for Irish album of the year
Their fourth straight nomination, Fontaines DC finally won the Choice Music Prize for Romance, released on XL, recorded by James Ford, and Grammy nominated. Artist Roisin El Cherif accepted the award on behalf of the band, on tour in Australia - they asked her to say ‘Free Palestine’ and she read out a poem by a Palestinian artist - you can read it on Nialler9. Kabin Crew & Lisdoonvarna Crew Irish Song of the Year for ‘The Spark’. Kneecap were named Breakthrough Irish Artist of the Year, Jordan Adetunji was Irish artist of the year, and Enya won classic Irish album for Watermark. The Kabin Crew & Lisdoonvarna Crew were the only ones to accept the award in person - they’re all so lovely and amazing at hula-hooping. But it was a bit of a damp squib that no other act was able to accept their awards in person. Maybe that’s testament to just how well they’re doing outside of Ireland. The show was also very long - longer than the Oscars! I don’t think Fontaines were announced until 11.30pm. Eight of the 10 nominated acts performed three songs each so I’m not really sure what they can do to cut down the length of the show - but you’ve got to give people time to get the last bus/train home. Róis was the best live act, I thought - an incredible voice; it’s no surprise her Workman’s Club show on May 1 is sold out already. Here are some pics and clips from the night…
