Author: Breffni Banks

Irish artist Rory and the Island has announced the release of his highly anticipated new album “Centre Falls Apart” on 11 March on new Irish indie label Voices of the Sea. His brand new single “Call My Name” is also out now.

“Call My Name” from the forthcoming album “Centre Falls Apart” is a celebration of the few people in life who you can call at 1am on a rainy night if you are in trouble. It is even more of an honour to be considered one of these people. The simple but vibey chord rotation elicits feelings of a hallowed late night acoustic session. Echoes of Radiohead and The Verve inspire as the guitar is passed round. The track was recorded in Abbey Road in London, the melody for the live Cello and Violin were captured in just 3 takes.

Speaking of the single and the announcement of the album Rory and the Island said: “I’m so delighted and shocked that 25 years after releasing my first self funded album in Donegal at the age of 18, and then moving on through “The Revs” in the noughties that I am still able to write and release my own original songs into the public domain. I have become immune to supposed failures and rejections and I still have the exact same love for it as I did when i was 18, it’s the music and the communication that matters”

“Centre Falls Apart” is Rory Gallaghers’ 4th studio album since going solo in 2008. The album is melodic modern folk with nods to indie-rock and even 1970s Disco.  It draws inspiration from diverse sources such as The Beatles, Luka Bloom, Neil Finn, George Ezra and Squeeze. The release of “Centre Falls Apart” on 11 March also kicks off Rory and the Island’s Ireland and UK 2022 tour.

Donegal singer/songwriter Rory Gallagher, who has been releasing music since 2011 under the project name Rory and the Island has had quite the time since the global pandemic began. After moving his family to Edinburgh in Scotland to open a brand new live music bar in the city called “The Wildcat” in March 2020, the venue never saw it’s official opening night due to Covid19 and Rory Gallagher found himself locked down in a new city and very very lost.

Like most musicians Rory and the Island began live Facebook gigs every week and opted for “escapism” in his shows making them very colourful, upbeat and quirky as opposed to holding a mirror up to the depressing situation. Rory and the Island gradually built up 30,000 facebook followers with some of his shows averaging up to 50k views on FB watch playback during the week.

As he has done all of his life, Rory and the Island decided to keep playing original music among all the requests he was getting from the public, and two of his new songs “When the Lights go Down” and “Miss This” both charted at Number 1 on iTunes Ireland. This huge outpouring of new interest has led to Rory and the Island having 7 sold-out shows in Ireland and the UK, with his Dublin and Belfast shows in Opium and the Blackbox selling out in less than 48 hours.

Rory Gallagher was previously the lead singer and bass player with Donegal Power Pop Punk trio The Revs – 20 years ago in the summer of 2001 The Revs had a huge hit with their debut single “Wired to the Moon” which stayed in the Irish charts for 9 weeks and led to the band being asked to support Muse, The Hives and even a Slane Castle appearance with Counting Crows and The Stereophonics.

TRACKLIST

1 When the Lights Go Down (Valhalla)

2 Miss This

3 It’s Been a Good Day

4 Call My Name

5 Centre Falls Apart

6 Donna Don’t Take My Summer

7 Leaving Las Vegas

8 Give Me Some Good News (Live)

9 Surely There Is More To Life Than This

10 Little Fire

“Call My Name” the brand new single from Rory & The Island is out now, with his highly anticipated new album “Centre Falls Apart” set for release on 11 March on new Irish indie label Voices of the Sea.

Follow Rory & The Island:

www.roryandtheisland.com

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Since we last heard from Pastiche, she has truly cemented herself as one of Ireland’s standout pop artists, with outstanding radio support (almost 2,000 plays of her singles in the past year), live support slots for Aimée and Robert Grace and Hot Press naming her ‘Hot for 2022’ – and that’s just the start.

This year, Pastiche is ready to step into her own spotlight. ‘Disco Junkie’, released on Friday 4th March, is the latest single to be taken from her recently-announced debut EP, ‘Freak Show Symphony’.

Pastiche says: “‘Disco Junkie’ is the second single from my debut EP and I’m so excited to share it! The song is a celebration of nightlife and how much we all missed it over the past few years. It’s a love letter to nightclub culture and all of us who use it as a form of escapism while finding somewhere we feel we can be ourselves and have a sense of belonging.”

Following her lauded performance at Ireland Music Week and her own sold-out headline show at Whelan’s in November, Pastiche is earning a reputation as a live performer not to be missed. She has just finished supporting Aimée on her Irish tour, on 1st April she supports Robert Grace at The Academy Dublin and the summer is looking stacked with festival dates already booked for Indiependence, SoFFT Nights and more to be announced.

Pastiche’s previous singles ‘Bad Loser’, ‘Supernatural’, ‘Paraphernalia’, and ‘Heaven’ have given her some serious wins at radio, amounting to 8 million impacts on Irish radio alone, which is remarkable for a new, independent artist. It’s no wonder she has received praise from the likes of iRadio (iLove Irish track of the month), 2fm (Track of the Week), Spin 1038 (“Pastiche is the complete package”), BBC Radio Ulster (“A promising future ahead”) and Today FM (“An artist well worth keeping your eye on”). Press has also taken notice, with Hot Press calling Pastiche “one of the most exciting Irish pop acts of recent memory”. Spotify has added her singles to editorial playlists like New Pop UK, New Music Friday UK and Equal UK & Ireland.

Pastiche’s debut EP ‘Freak Show Symphony’ will be released on Friday 20th May with an EP launch show presented by MCD at The Grand Social on Wednesday 25th May at 8pm (tickets €12.55 excl. booking fee on sale Friday 10am via Ticketmaster).

“Her voice is a superb mix of china cup fragility and steely strength” (The Irish Times, 2010.)

It’s 2022, more than a decade later, and this contradiction is still true of Pauline Scanlon’s voice. In fact, the pairing of opposites seems a true fit for this West Kerry native. Her voice comes from an ancient place but is always fresh. She is uniquely Irish yet universally understood, apparently traditional yet subversive at every turn. Perhaps now, it is the steely strength that comes to the fore in both her activism and her determination to constantly evolve as an artist.

As a founding member of FairPlé, the role of women in the arts is central to her creative path and something she is very vocal about and dedicated to. Her new album, The Unquiet, to be released 8th April 2022, is a piece of art possessed of an old soul, but thoroughly modern and of its time.

Following on from the first single ‘The Bird in the Bush’ released last month, Pauline shares a second track ‘Felton Lonnin’.

Watch the official video here:

Speaking of the song, Pauline says:

“My forthcoming album ‘The Unquiet’ is about an era of women whose lives and stories I wanted to sing about through the medium of traditional song. Felton Lonnin is a Northumbrian ballad about a missing child. I sing this song to honour the women and children who endured church and state systems of incarceration and separation in laundries, the mother and baby homes, county homes, residential institutions under systems of oppression, concealment, shame, abuse, and unspeakable cruelty

 I am deeply thankful to have once again collaborated with the extraordinary actor and dancer Siobhán Manson on the visual for this piece, with a video filmed, edited and directed by Alan Doherty. The lush, opulent harmony vocals on this track are by Nicola Joyce. Chris Pemberton played keys and synths, Graham Kearns played guitar, and John Reynolds played drums and produced the song.”

Pauline Scanlon’s album ‘The Unquiet’ is due for release April 8th 2022.

Pre-order on Bandcamp here: https://paulinescanlon.bandcamp.com/album/the-unquiet

LIVE DATES:

​​April

Friday 8th: Black Gate Galway

Saturday 9th: Duncairn Belfast

Thurs 14th: Pepper Canister Dublin

May

19th:  Royal Theatre CastleBar

21st: INEC Killarney

Tickets available from http://www.paulinescanlon.net/

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Photo: Ruth Medjber

It was a sight to behold – young, old, brave, bold. 100 women on four beaches in the four corners of Ireland, celebrating sisterhood in all its colours. Men fled as women marched, danced, sang, howled and embraced the Dublin, Connemara, Belfast and Cork sands and tides.

Led by fearless fiddler, bilingual singer & multi-instrumentalist Clare Sands, ‘Awe na Mná (Praise the Women)’ is the powerful, energetic, and fierce new single from Sands and is a celebration of women through the ages. Paying homage to the likes of Gráinne Mhaol, Countess Markievicz, Queen Maeve, Maggie Barry and modern day Irish women the Debenhams Workers, Awe Na Mná (Praise the Women) is a battle cry, a fervent call, a rebel yell, and a passionate proclamation to sing and dance in awe of mná.

 Official video ‘Awe na Mná’ (Praise the Women)

Speaking of the song, Clare says “The gatherings of women all over the country were joyful, empowering and fierce – and I could think of no better time to release Awe na Mná (Praise the Women) than International Women’s Day. I wrote the song on Inisheer and while I was there, I was struck by how resilient, fearless, and strong the women were. This song reflects on the past, embraces the present & strives towards a brighter future for women in Ireland and all over the world.”

Following on from the release of her critically acclaimed EP ‘Tírdhreacha Agus Fuaimdhreacha’ (Landscapes & Soundscapes) where Sands collaborated with four different artists across the four seasons in the four provinces of Ireland, Awe na Mná (Praise the Women) marks the start of a new journey for Sands and a highly-anticipated new body of work, which explores tradition, the sea and the power of women, through the dark and light, love and loss, rise and fall.

Never before was woman power more obvious than throughout the creation and launch of the trance-like tribal video, created by twin sisters Liadain Ní Bhraonáin & Kasia Kaminska alongside an all-female crew, filmed in four locations throughout the summer of 2021.

Public calls were made to gather women from all walks of life, to join in celebration of our resilience, strength and fearlessness – at a time when we need it most….

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClareSandsCeol

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/claresandsceol/ 

www.claresands.com

Liar Liar is the Debut Single for Irish duo One Flew Over.

The song depicts elements of betrayal, sleight of hand and triumph over deceit. It’s steeped in 60’s flavor and noir, but with a modern edge and comes under the genre of ‘blue-eyed soul’. Lyrics by Irene Ni Chuinn. Music by Irene Ni Chuinn & Martin Quinn.

One Flew Over is composed of Irene Ni Chuinn & Martin Quinn and was formed in 2019. Their sound, often with strong melodies and weighty arrangements contains influences of Rock, classic Rhythm & Blues and Soul.

The recording was produced by Martin Quinn (Ham Sandwich, Aine Cahill) and recorded & mixed at JAM Studios, Kells, Co. Meath, Ireland.

• Drums by Andrew Quinn.
• Hammond B3 Organ played by James Quinn.
• Bass, Guitars, Piano, Keys, Backing Vocals, String Arrangement by Martin Quinn.
• Strings by Roni Seller (Israel).
• Lead & Backing Vocals: Irene Ni Chuinn.

Social Media:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter

Website: www.oneflewover.ie

Belfast’s Robocobra Quartet return with their first new material in three years in the form of a double single “Heaven” / “Night”. The news comes on the heels of their recent signing to Deptford-based label First Taste Records and the announcement of a highly anticipated new album to come later in the year.

Having released two full-length studio albums to date, the new material finds the band revered as cult favourites.

Their musical freedom and proclivity for improvisation often result in Robocobra Quartet being spoken about in the same breath as jazz and experimental music but their background is in punk rock and indie rock just as much as the avant-garde. They simply deal with what they have at their disposal – a collective of six members of wildly different musical backgrounds swapping in and out to make a touring quartet, which has taken them across Europe to Montreux Jazz Festival, Latitude Festival, and as far as Inversia Festival in the polar north of Russia. All while receiving acclaim from the likes of The Quietus, The Line Of Best Fit, Prog, and BBC Radio 6, seeing comparisons to the likes of Fugazi, BadBadNotGood, Tortoise, Black Midi, Black Country, New Road, and Squid.

Improvisation and experimentation are at the core of Robocobra Quartet’s DNA, whether it be in the fluidity of their line-up or in their unique records which flirt with choral groups and string sections – almost intentionally at odds with their ostensible roots as a post-punk band.

These juxtapositions are ever present in the band’s new material, which harks back to the frenetic bite of the band’s debut album “Music For All Occasions” whilst naturally evolving into something altogether more dynamically explorative than ever before.

“Heaven” sees chaotic circular jazz sax lines weave around distorted bass riffing and groove-heavy, propulsive drumming, whilst drummer-vocalist Chris W Ryan throws out sardonic vocals that emotively snap between speaking, shouting, and singing would-be adages across a volatile narrative about capitalism.

Speaking on the first single, “Heaven”, Ryan says: “Heaven is about the cult-like mania of capitalism. I grew up listening to Dead Kennedys and always liked how they would write songs from the perspective of a character they didn’t necessarily agree with. There’s something fascinating about the stories that emerge and I wanted to get inside that extremely chaotic and self-absorbed headspace. I loved the idea of singing as someone so narcissistic they find their newborn child beautiful just because they look alike.”

Conversely, “Night” is one of the band’s most downtempo tracks yet. Born out of a “jam around a sampled chord from one of our old songs”, the song’s instrumentation is minimal yet affecting, whilst Ryan’s vocals night walk through a narrative around the sun setting on youth.

The new singles are also accompanied by two new contrasting videos, one of which sees the band performing upon a rooftop in Belfast, while the second sees Ryan pensively traveling around the city in the back of a cab on a dark and stormy night. You can see them below:

Robocobra Quartet has a rule: “No Guitars Allowed”. Their unique sound, concocted and self-produced in Belfast, Northern Ireland sees that ‘middle’ space filled by other instruments such as saxophones, samplers, keyboards and sound effects swirling around the melodic basslines and powerful drum rhythms which prop up the core of each of their songs. On top of this music sits a single vocal from behind the drum kit amid a fury of rhythm, sometimes marrying perfectly with the pulse of the drums and occasionally at complete odds with it.

For those who have yet to hear them, these new singles are just the beginning of the complex world of Robocobra Quartet – a band serious about their music but humorous in their approach, including members with no musical training alongside members with music conservatoire pedigree. The result is a collective of musicians inspired by Stravinsky and Black Flag in equal measures. On stage, the bands are protons and electrons circling Ryan; meticulous arrangements and on-the-spot improvisations hang on every word. These words and rhythms are what propel the music of Robocobra Quartet forward, and concoct a sound that is groove-driven but cerebral too.

In addition to the new material, Robocobra Quartet has also announced details of a free London headline show at The Shacklewell Arms for 4th March.

More information and free sign-up are available HERE. The band is also set to play Brilliant Corners Jazz Festival in Belfast with Ishmael Ensemble on 12th March. Tickets are available HERE.

“Heaven” / “Night” is out now via First Taste Records – Stream HERE

At the time of writing, Robocobra Quartet currently includes:

Chris W Ryan (Drums, Voice) Nathan Rodgers (Bass, Effects)

Ryan Burrowes (Sampler, Keys, Bass) Peter Howard (Tenor Sax, Alto Sax)

Tom Tabori (Soprano Sax, Sampler, Keys) Thibault Barillon (Tenor Sax)

Follow Robocobra Quartet:

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