Author: Breffni Banks

Badhands announces the release of new album, ‘Far Away’, (1st April 2022) with new single, ‘Wasted’, out today, 21st January 2022.

Reflecting on a two-year struggle with feelings of isolation and detachment, award-winning composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Badhands is back with a brand new single, ‘Wasted’, released today Friday, 21st January 2022.

‘Wasted’ is the second single from Badhands’ upcoming album, Far Away, which is scheduled for release on Friday, 1st April 2022.

Driven by a steady drum beat and droning bass, ‘Wasted’ beautifully illustrates Badhands’ raw sense of vulnerability,  vibrancy and a willingness to explore themes of sorrow and self-doubt, all the while embracing his upbeat and optimistic instrumental stylings.

Dubliner Daniel Fitzpatrick, A.K.A. Badhands, has spent the past number years composing scores for wildlife documentaries in collaboration with some of the world’s largest TV organisations, including the BBC, PBS and RTÉ. In 2019, his score for the Wild Cuba documentary won an award at the prestigious Jackson Wild Film Festival in the U.S. in 2019, as well as winning Best Score at the 2021 Green Screen Wildlife Festival in Germany.

Badhands says of ‘Wasted’: “This song was written in January 2021 and describes the isolation I was experiencing at the time, exploring themes of escapism and detachment, as well as disillusionment with a career path that seemed more than ever to be an unsustainable one. The downbeat nature of the lyrics, though, are counterbalanced by the upbeat nature of the music, injecting life and some optimism into the song, which adds a bit of lightheartedness to all the self-pity in the lyrics!”

Far Away will follow the release of Badhands’ acclaimed 2018 debut album Predictable Boy. In 2020, Badhands produced and released a five-track EP Oceans, which was inspired by the unique nature of each of the world’s five oceans.

Irish born singer-songwriter Megan O’Neill is set to release her highly anticipated new single ‘Wildfire’ across all digital platforms on the 21 January.

Speaking of the brand new single Megan O’Neill said;

“For me, ‘Wildfire’ feels like the beginning of the next phase of my career – merging my folk, storytelling roots with more pop and electronic elements. The past two years have been a really creative time for me thankfully, despite what’s been going on! I’ve immersed myself in new music, new styles and new sounds and I’ve been working with many different songwriters and producers in varying genres, as well as improving my own skills as a producer, writer and musician. All of that exploration and work has led me here – to this new sonic direction. It feels very authentically me and I’m excited for people to hear it.”

Deemed a “rising star” by uDiscover and Timeout Magazine London, Megan O’Neill’s songs have received great attention over the past year – including her recent single ‘Ireland’, which hit over 400,000 views on social media during release month and was shared by major media outlets Joe.ie, Her.ie, Image Magazine, Irish TV and more. The video was also picked up and shared by none other than Olivia Newton-John as well as being added to the RTE Radio 1 playlist for three weeks running.

Megan O’Neill released her second full length studio album last year (March 12th, 2021) – titled ‘Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty’. This much anticipated album follows her last release, ‘Ghost of You’ (June 2018) which hit #1 on the iTunes singer/songwriter charts in the UK and Ireland, and two EP’s previous to this (‘Coming Home’, 2015 and ‘Stories to Tell’, 2017).

‘Time in a Bottle’, the bonus track off the new album, featured on episode one of hit Netflix TV Show Firefly Lane. One week later, she performed the song live on the RTE Late Late Show – reaching an audience of approximately 2 million and the single charted that same weekend in Ireland across all genres. ‘Time in a Bottle’ was the highest new entry on the Irish Homegrown Charts at the end of February and playlisted by RTE Radio 1.

Alongside her releases as an artist, Megan O’Neill writes for many other artists across the world in multiple genres. Over the coming 12 months, she has some incredibly exciting releases on the horizon with artists in the UK and Ireland – yet to be announced. Megan also works independently as a songwriter with multiple publishing houses, writing to brief for sync projects and for other artist projects.

To date Megan O’Neill has toured the UK, Ireland, US and Germany. She has performed at private Oscars’ parties in LA alongside Gavin James (on invite from JJ Abrams) and has had her song ‘Don’t You’ featured on ABC’s hit TV Show ‘Nashville’ (Season 3). Megan has also opened shows for the likes of Sir Tom Jones, Lighthouse Family and Jamie Cullum to name a few.

Megan O’Neill’s brand new single ‘Wildfire’ is out across all digital platforms on the 21 January.

For More Information:

Megan-oneill.com / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter

Having performed with Adele and impressed greats like Elton John and Avicii with his songwriting, Irish-born singer/songwriter Moncrieff has just signed to German label Energie Musik and drops his brand new single “Warm” on 21 January across all digital platforms – ahead of his new EP which is set for release in Spring 2022.

Moncrieff’s “first-ever love song”, the latest track is incredibly personal and catchy. “I remember everything/the picnic in the park/how the rain played on the roof that night” Moncrieff sings over the crisp, spellbinding, no-frills arrangement. A heartfelt promise coming from an extremely promising new talent, “Warm” is pure sonic commitment, “a song that does what it says on the tin,” when Moncrieff sings that he’ll “be there keeping you warm”.

Speaking of the single Moncrieff says “Nobody’s perfect. This song is about being that person, and that rare moment in life when you find that person that truly sees you for you, your imperfections, flaws and scars as well as your good traits and loves you for them. It’s a really comforting and happy feeling to just know that all you have to do is be yourself.”

Moncrieff certainly didn’t rush things; he’s been working on his songwriting skills for years, and now he’s about to unleash a batch of songs that need “no bells and whistles,” as he puts it: “Warm” is condensed, crisp, straightforward pop that’s poignant and personal. A simple, heart-felt tune that immediately pricks listeners’ ears, even makes you want to sing along towards the end. A song about acceptance and dealing with another person’s faults, it feels soothing and “warm” indeed – like a sonic safety net of sorts.

Not only just a love story but a story of youth and what is really important in life, the small things that we take for granted – rainy nights and sunny days, and learning to appreciate sharing moments in our lives together.

Written and recorded with a deliberately small team of musician friends, “Warm” is the latest testament to Moncrieff’s incredible songwriting gift – a gift that has already brought him a great deal of attention in Ireland. Growing up in the countryside, he was into classic Soul and R&B at 16 – in love with big, massive voiced icons like Otis Redding, Etta James, and Ray Charles.

When his sister and, two years later, his older brother passed away, music became more and more important as an outlet, a way to deal with loss and the emotional turmoil. “As a young teenage boy, you just don’t really have the tools to express yourself, you can’t really put it in words“ admits the singer, who initially played in a cover band but eventually moved to London to really focus on music and his craft.

Owing his moniker to “some banker guy” who offered encouragement (and some beers) during an early phase of doubt, it didn’t take long until some of the biggest names took notice: A friend got him to sing backing vocals for Adele who was shooting a BBC performance, and soon after that, shortly after the release of his debut single in 2017, he learned that even Sir Elton John had played the single on his show. Right before Avicii’s death, Moncrieff had already booked a flight to L.A., where he was supposed to work with the Swedish superstar producer.

He released an EP entitled “The Early Hurts” in 2019, only to take some more time to work on his craft as a songwriter: “I now have the tools to create really personal, simple and direct songs that don’t need to have any bells and whistles to tell the story. Music has always been a lens that I use to look at the world… and to process my feelings.”

Moncrieff’s first release following signing to German label Energie Musik “Warm” is out on Friday 21 January, with his brand new EP scheduled for release in Spring 2022.

Irish rock band THUMPER are among the leading lights of the booming guitar scene in Ireland.

Their latest single, ‘Overbite’ ebbs and flows in THUMPER’s signature style, shifting from fuzzy, riff-riddled soundscapes with compelling melodic shifts to a subdued, stripped-back rendition of the song’s returning motif.

As contemporaries of Fontaines D.C. and The Murder Capital, THUMPER have cornered the noise-pop market with a maximalist approach, stuffing every corner of their sound with blown-out melody and psych-drenched noise. Their penchant for unabashed hooks and saccharine melody, set against their signature wall of sound, sets them apart.

Live, THUMPER are a massive beast. There is a line-up of three guitarists, a bassist, two drum kits, and four-part harmonies, often totally at odds with the chaos below. THUMPER combine intense and wry lyricism with a huge, punk, sonic assault to startling – and hugely powerful – musical effect.

Lead singer Oisín Leahy Furlong:

“With lyrics full of nightmarish images alluding to the failure of a relationship ‘Overbite’ is the first part of a sprawling 20-minute long psych opus that ends our debut album. Releasing one-third of a song as a single is probably a strange career move, but then nothing about the THUMPER process ever seems to go by the book.

“With ‘Overbite’, we applied a different method to our songwriting, changing from our usual approach where I bring a musical concept for the band to run with. It’s one of the first purely collaborative efforts, in that Alan wrote the music and I wrote the lyrics.”

Hear all of this in THUMPER’s debut LP, which finally drops 18 March 2022 on Eva Magical Music Sounds.

The Overbite Suite is broken down as follows:

(i) Overbite 4.21
(ii) The Ghost
(iii) Down in Heaven

THUMPER Online:

https://www.hellothumper.com/
https://www.instagram.com/thumper_666/
https://www.facebook.com/hellothumper

https://twitter.com/thumper666

Jaime Nanci, self-styled debonair deviant eagerly anticipated single – ‘Escalante Street’ releases today. A dark and melancholic pop ballad detailing the universal quest for joy on streets that were once awash with colour and music but are now darkened and silent.

‘Escalante Street’ is a  sweeping electronic ballad, and cinematic pandemic pop song taking inspiration from The Cure and Alison Moyet, wearing its ‘80s influences on its black chiffon sleeve while sounding contemporary, fresh and timeless.

The short film created to accompany ‘Escalante Street’ was co-written with, and directed by French filmmaker Jean-Marc Sanchez. It perfectly captures the eerie atmosphere of the Covid pandemic in footage from a late-night guerrilla shoot around the barrio of Cabañal, in the Spanish city of Valencia, at the height of the fourth wave.

‘Escalante Street’ is the first song taken from Nanci’s forthcoming EP and the first single he has released as a solo artist. Nanci was inspired to write the single while walking his dogs through his silent barrio, El Cabanyal as the pandemic took hold and the once-vibrant neighbourhood he and his husband had adopted as home became a strange and surreal ghost town.

Jaime Nanci began his career as the frontman of Cuckoo Savante an experimental, lounge punk band that became a fixture on Ireland’s live scene. Hailed as ‘Ireland’s most defiantly original jazz vocalist’ by the Irish Times following the release of his 2014 album TOY with his Blueboys outfit, Nanci spent the following years touring Ireland and internationally rapidly earning a reputation as a must see act.

After a decade on the live circuit in Ireland, Nanci stepped away from live performance due to health reasons (he is living with Multiple Sclerosis) and completed a Masters Degree in Vocal Jazz Performance at the University of Ulster.

Since then Nanci has relocated to Valencia, Spain where he infrequently performs with his new quintet QTF.

The onslaught of Covid 19 and the increasing uncertainty surrounding live performance possibilities inspired Nanci to re-evaluate his jazz positioning and being a child of the 80s, embrace a new direction collaborating with Brighton-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Tim Howarth. Together they have created a jazz-adjacent, southern gothic infused collection of new songs. The result is a fresh, original sound that promises to excite Jaime Nanci fans old and new.

Instagram @jaimenanciboy

NASA  is going back to the Moon in 2022 with its much anticipated Artemis 1 Flight and Dublin songwriter and IMRO member Tim McStay’s new song ‘Heaven Was Real’ is definitely a song to celebrate that mission – one for the new Space travel era.

“As a fifteen year old in Ireland I watched the 1969 Lunar landing – a Dublin boy on holiday in a cottage in the West of Ireland. The whole house was in awe. This is the song I wrote about that day. Recorded it in my new studio in Dublin. I know we have to fix a lot on this planet but let’s not lose the adventure of space travel too. Delighted the mission is going back again”

‘Heaven was real’ is live on Spotify, iTunes and over 30 platforms from January 28th.

Tim McStay is on Spotify, Deezer and 30+ Platforms.

Follow him on Facebook and Twitter @TMcstay for updates on his forthcoming new album and gigs on the way in first quarter of 2022

Today, the band are returning to announce their second LP Leave The Light On, which is due out April 1st on Royal Mountain Records, and sharing the first single from the new album, a track called “Be By Your Side”.

Dublin’s Pillow Queens had been quietly building momentum on their side of the Atlantic since the release of their 2017 debut EP Calm Girls. Selling out shows here in Ireland, supporting artists like IDLES, Pussy Riot and Future Islands, and earning enthusiastic support in the UK before they independently released their 2020 LP In Waiting. 

The album was a major breakthrough for the band, earning them praise from outlets like The Guardian, who called them “2020’s most exciting indie rockers,” NPR, NME, The Irish Times, and The Line of Best Fit, a Band To Watch feature from Stereogum, a Choice Prize Album of The Year nomination, and most remarkably of all a US national television appearance on the Late Late Show w/ James Corden.

“This song is about the mechanisms that are used to hide your vulnerabilities and carry on,” explains singer/bassist Pamela Connolly. “But also, the feeling of being about to burst and how cathartic it could be to allow yourself to let your emotions out and feel the world around you. This was one of the first songs we finished on the album as it was the quickest to become fully realized by all of us.”

The album announcement coincides with the announcement of the band’s first North American tour, which will include a stop at SXSW before the band return to the UK in May and their native Ireland in October. Full details can be found below.

When Pillow Queens set about recording their second album, before, after and during, great spaces were opening. The pauses in living and connection were profound. And so, they went two places: within, and towards each other.

Leave the Light On is an exploration of the uncertainty of emotions as they are in process, and an intuitive outpouring of ideas as they form. It’s about being intimately honest with yourself, and as a band. It’s about trusting that this state of vulnerability can be held as it emerges, by you, by us.

What do queer dream blues sound like? More importantly, what do they feel like? Leaving home at night, driving through the black back roads until the tungsten light starts to glow. “Uaigneas an chaldaigh”, the Irish sense of loneliness experienced on the shore. The confusion and discombobulation of waking and feeling unfamiliar. The liminal space between dreaming and being conscious. The unmooring that happens when a sense of self is being explored and sometimes slipping away.

But gravitating towards the unknown and the ambiguous can often yield the kinds of sounds and feelings that provide creative certainty, where the art is coming to you, as much as you going to it. Leave the Light On fills vast new sonic plains for Pillow Queens. It’s an album that encourages duality; to be soft and hard, delicate, and muscular, intimate and anthemic, alone and together. Collaborating on lyrics, a shared emotional experience fills these songs of hope and home, insecurity and estrangement, songs that track time passing and a sense of reflection grows deeper every day.

When real movement is stillness, when to be stationary feels transitionary, and when the most vital journey in life is to go within, then it’s time to leave the light on, and open up.

Leave The Light On is due out April 1st on Royal Mountain Records

Tour Dates
March 9th – Kilkenny, Ireland @ Set Theatre (Sold out)
March 10th – Galway, Ireland @ Roisin Dubh (Sold out)
March 11th – Dublin, Ireland @ Button Factory (Sold out)
March 12th – Dublin, Ireland @ Button Factory (Sold out)

March 14th-19th – SXSW
March 23rd – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room
March 24th – Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge
March 25th – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel SF
March 27th – Seattle, WA @ Clock-out Lounge
March 29th – Vancouver, BC @ Wise Hall
March 30th – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
April 1st – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
April 2nd – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
April 4th – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown Jr.
April 6th – Saint Paul, MN @ Turf Club
April 7th – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
April 9th – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
April 11th – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd
April 12th – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
April 14th – New York, NY @ The Mercury Lounge
April 15th – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall

May 3rd – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
May 5th – Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
May 6th – Glasgow, Scotland @ Stereo
May 7th – Newcastle, UK @ Cluny
May 10th – Brighton, UK @ Chalk
May 11th – London, UK @ Scala
May 12th – Birmingham, UK @ The Castle and Falcon
May 13th – Bristol, UK @ Thekla
June 12th  Berlin, Germany @ Tempelhof Festival
July 2nd –  Gdynia, Poland @ Open’er Festival

October 1st – Dublin @ Vicar St.
October 2nd – Dublin @ Vicar St.
October 7th – Limerick @ Dolan’s
October 8th – Cork @ Cyprus Avenue
October 14th – Belfast @ The Empire
October 15th – Galway @ The Roisin Dubh
October 16th – Galway @ The Roisin Dubh
October 20th – Kilkenny @ The Set Theatre

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Photo: Rich Gilligan