Author: Breffni Banks

Singer-songwriter J Smith follows his critically acclaimed debut album with his first single ‘Skipping Stones’, further cementing him as one of the “most fearlessly honest and authentic artists in the country”. [Hotpress Magazine]

Inspired by Elliot Smith and Ben Howard, ‘Skipping Stones’ is a delicate reflection on his relationship with his father, wondering if this might be the last song he ever writes about him. With ‘Skipping Stones’, Smith delivers a captivating follow up to his debut album which featured heavily in 2021’s Top-20 lists and was named one of the 10 albums you must hear before you die. [Tony Clayton-Lea, The Irish Times]

‘Skipping Stones’ is the first single from J Smith’s Three Dots EP, a collection of songs that didn’t fit his debut album, ‘(…) And you chose not to laugh.’ The first of four songs, it was completely recorded, performed, produced and mixed by himself, showcasing his prolific talents. Those skills have led him to recent collaborations with ZASKA, Tolü Makay, Stevie Appleby, Nnic, Audible Chocolate, and Big Sleep for major releases this year.

‘It has been hard to find time to get these songs together, becoming a new father myself. But I think the time has been invaluable to get a good perspective and deeper connection to my own father which made it all the more humbling finishing this body of work. I think it gives people a different side to myself to hear before embarking on my second album.’

Skipping Stones is set for release on Wednesday March 2nd as part of the Three Dots EP which is out on the 20th of April.

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Dublin duo Phoeno release their follow-up single ‘Follower’, out Friday March 10th.

‘Follower’ is a recognition of the many faces that we turn a blind eye to. The unease in our own skin that that adheres to the status quo. An awareness of what we hold back, yet not brave enough to face up… so we follow.

The stunningly cinematic music video shot by Luca Truffarelli, features rising star Lloyd Cooney (seen recently in RTE’s KIN).

Phoeno is Adam Matthews and Liam Corbett – a Pop/Indie/Rock duo from Dublin formed in late 2019. Long-time friends and collaborators, their perspective of music is borne of self-realisations, joys, and questions of the world.

Their quest for emotional truth can be heard in their anthemic declarations & battle cries, such as their success debut single ALIVE.

Their new single ‘Follower’, a more sombre touch, this time looks at the world from the out, in, and debuts on Thursday March 10th.

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Dublin electronic artist ZOiD brought us two beat-filled psalms of positivity towards the end of a long 2021 when he dropped ‘Wish You’ (featuring Esosa Ighodaro O’Brien) and ‘Static’ (with Belfast vocalist Suzanne Savage), both taken from his upcoming long player, ZONGS.

Fusing elements of Jazz, Techno, IDM and House, ZOiD’s music exists on a pioneering soundscape that simultaneously manages to be bold and interesting with a pop sensibility. ZOiD’s latest track, ‘Looking in the Rain’, continues his collaborative verve, co-written by Polish vocalist/producer Dorota Konchevska.

ZOiD met Dorota when he was teaching jazz at Newpark Academy of Music in the late 2000s while Dorota was a student there. Hitting it off as they both had interests in jazz and electronic music, they started a collaborative process that resulted in a critically well-received EP, released in 2019, ‘ZOiD Vs Dorota Konchevska’.

For their ZONGS collaboration, Dorota was based in Poland and they worked remotely, sending files back and forth. The track draws strong influences from house music, jazz, and classic songwriting. Dorota is releasing the first single from her own solo album on February 18, ‘Gold Goes Out’ (https://imro.ie/news/new-single-gold-goes-out-from-dorota-konchevska/).

“When I got the Dorota’s melody part back for Looking In The Rain I was blown away,” says Daniel. “I love the vibe and the lyrics. It’s always so fun collaborating like this, never knowing what’s going to come back when you send someone a track. Usually it’s a nice surprise!”

The much-anticipated ZONGS is due for release this April and with a special launch show at The Grand Social, Dublin, Sunday April 3, to herald its arrival. The gig will feature four of the vocalists featured on the album – Aoife Doyle, Jenna Harris, Suzanne Savage and Miriam Ingram – all performing with ZOiD for what will be a live re-imagining of one of this year’s most adventurous and experimental dance albums.

Release Date: Friday March 11 – Special Live Stream on Bandcamp Live at 9.30pm that night

Taken from the album ZONGS due out April 8th

ZONGS album launch: The Grand Social, Dublin, Sunday April 3

Irish artist Rory and the Island is set to release his brand new single “Call My Name” on 26 February, alongside announcing the release of his highly anticipated new album “Centre Falls Apart” – which is set for release on 11 March on new Irish indie label Voices of the Sea.

“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”

Donegal singer/songwriter Rory Gallagher, who has been releasing music since 2011 under the project name Rory and the Island has had quite the 17 months 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 then 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.

“Call My Name” the brand new single from Rory & The Island is out on 26 February across all digital platforms, 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

Corinna Swara amps up the meditative vibe of her debut EP Sounds Of The Soul with an explosive drum & bass remix by producer Kenny Dread.

The new single The Jewel In The Lotus (Kenny Dread Remix) soars in a bhakti trance as Corinna’s ecstatic singing is perfectly propelled by Kenny Dread’s bass-heavy frenetic beats, exotic temple bells, and hypnotic tamboura drone.

Corinna Swara’s background as a dancer and choreographer inspire full embodiment of the experience in a music video shot during the Covid lockdown on the wild abandoned beaches of West Cork Ireland.

Corinna Swara has sung in Berlin, Chicago, and Ireland and is always ready to travel and share her singing with the world.

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The collision of a number of key factors and the freedom afforded by the lockdowns inspired the Irish musician Josh Bass, aka as Brother Josh, to craft his own songs and sound, and the first creation off his post-lockdown  production line is a gritty original single called ‘Crawl Back’ due for release on February 25, 2022.

The single ‘Crawl Back’ will be followed by a video of the song that showcases Josh’s dramatic vocal and acting skills as well as his expressive way with a song that he honed in such outfits as A Million Little Gods and a number of covers bands.

As Josh himself explains, “The absence of work made the lockdowns a difficult time for musicians. Apart from the lack of income, most felt cut adrift by the absence of that magical connection between musicians and fans in the live context.” Fortunately, Josh found an app called Garage Band which inspired him to find his songwriting voice. He then discovered he could lay down cool demos of his songs on his phone and upload the recordings for overhauling in a fully-equipped studio.

Josh’s equally musical cousin, Daz Bass joined the project before noted Bulgarian Yanko Genov helped pull it all together in the studio. The result is a string of intriguing tracks with the debut single ‘Crawl Back’ already attracting rave comments from music industry insiders.

As manager-legend Louis Walsh said after catching the boys on the RTE website programme Sessions From Oblivion, “I reckon that if Brother Josh makes the right moves he has the creative potential to do really well.”

A support slot with Damien Dempsey on his recent national tour followed, including dates in Limerick and Killarney.

More positive reactions followed. Alan Corr of www.rte.ie described ‘Crawl Back’ as “a vaudevillian waltz of doom” and Jackie Hayden of Hot Press said, ‘Crawl Back’ is where post-lockdown passion meets high-intensity drama. We need more of it.”

‘Crawl Back’ by Brother Josh will be available from February 25 on Spotify and all key global platforms. The dramatic video for it will be live today too. As Josh says, “I’m determined to take this project all the way. I’m really excited by the material I’ve written and can’t wait to get it all out there and get back to playing live again.”

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Shane Codd has delivered a knock out anthem with his take on LYRA’s most recent single ‘Lose My Mind’ out now.

The Irish DJ has delivered a high tempo driven dance track that infuses summer beats and his signature dance-pop sound, combined with LYRA’s captivating vocals resulting in a remix which is a banger!

The DJ and producer’s star is on the rise as his previous hit single ‘Get Out My Head’ achieved a Top 10 smash on the Official UK Chart as well as a Top 10 hit in Ireland. Amassing over 125 million Global Streams and achieving 2 x platinum status in Ireland.

‘Lose My Mind” was released in 2021, it reached # 16 on the Irish Airplay Chart, went No # 1 on Irish Homegrown Chart, reached # 4 Shazam Chart and # 2 on the Irish Artists Breakers Chart.

This remix combines LYRA’s sonic Celtic beats with Shane Codd’s euphoric dance production and his influences from the 90’s and early 2000 sound.

“It was amazing to have Shane remix my song this guy knows how to bring the beats.” Lyra explains. “I wrote Lose My Mind for people to be able to dance to, so what better way to give it a fresh face than a remix to bring to the clubbing world. I’m ready to get my dancing shoes on. Let’s go!”

 “I was delighted to get the call to work on LYRA’s remix, she is an exciting artist and her vocals are unreal so I wanted to maintain her authenticity, it was a huge pleasure to produce a remix for a fellow Irish artist as exciting as Lyra” explains Shane.

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Irish multi-instrumentalist Abbacaxi has served a long and proper musical apprenticeship. Now stepping out on his own, he has a fresh and heartfelt sound that brings positive vibrations and good times. It draws on his love of jazz, funk and disco with very modern dynamics.

With his new single and video ‘Endless’ dropping today we dive deeper into the world of Abbacaxi. The title track from his upcoming EP, due in April, is a moody mixture of hypnotic beats and euphoric tones.

Bringing to mind artists like Massive Attack and Radiohead, Abbacaxi is now showing that he is here to stay with this atmospheric banger. Expect to hear great things from the Dublin-based artist in 2022.

About his new track Abbacaxi says “I wrote Endless when I was 25, I was really digging some Deep House and Breakbeats at the time. And getting used to the ebb and flow of life.”

With ‘Endless’ set to release as a part of his debut EP (of the same name) in April 2022, you have a big hint at what to expect from Abbacaxi. Though his fun, effervescent character is reflected in his music, he is just as able to break your heart with his melancholic chords and neo-soul vocals. Musicians as versatile as Abbacaxi don’t come along too often, so strap in and enjoy the ride.

About his new project Abbacaxi says… “I experienced a lot of highs and lows in a short period of time but I realised I wasn’t the only one around me feeling depressed from time to time. For every really bad experience, there is an amazing one waiting around the corner. Life is so much easier when you remember that” 

‘Endless’ was mixed by Ross Fortune at The Love Nest & Ken McCabe at Wolfhound Studios. Mastered by Ivan Jackman at Hellfire Studios

Abbacaxi plays The Workmans, Dublin Feb 26th. Tickets available here https://theworkmansclub.com/events/singular-artists-presents-abbacaxi/

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