Author: Breffni Banks

West Cork singer Molly O’Mahony has shared a live video of her second solo single ‘Brother Blue’, featuring beautiful blood harmonies from her brother and sister, Matilda & Fiachra O’Mahony.

The film was captured at no. 6 Lombard Street, Dublin, some months back.

Molly says it was a “fairly spontaneous endeavour- we arranged the vocals in the car en route to studio – it is raw and sweet. It was filmed by best sport and biggest sweet pea in the biz Johnny Branagan, and the audio was recorded by studio boss Alex Borwick.”

“Brother Blue was inspired by a meeting with my younger brother some years back, which triggered a storm of sadness in me and frustration around my powerlessness to halt family patterns of self-criticism. I wrote it as a means of reaching out and closing a gap with him; to remind him of his inherent worth and esteem in my eyes, and to offer a sense of succour through the commonality of our experiences. I was reading Cheryl Strayed’s Tiny Beautiful Things at the time, which is referenced in the final line of the song. It is ultimately a song of hope and a declaration of one’s birth right to live as one deserving of life in all its richness.” – Molly O’Mahony

Possessing of a “rich 80% dark chocolate” voice and an acute sensitivity for the emotive power of words, Molly O’Mahony’s song writing is raw and unabashed. Brother Blue is currently featured on the RTE Radio 1 Recommends Playlist, Rising Time presenter Lillian Smith introduced it as “such a gorgeous raw and vulnerable track… beautiful… and her voice is perfect”, and Late Date presenter Fiachna Ó Braonáin described Molly as a “wonderful singer and songwriter”.

Molly spent the past decade writing and performing with art-folk group Mongoose, who have been a fixture of the Irish music scene since their formation in 2012. The band have released two albums and two EPS in that time and have shared stages with the likes of Glen Hansard, Mary Coughlan and Eddi Reader.

She returned to her family home to Ballydehob, West Cork, in March of last year. Against the backdrop of the unfolding pandemic, she began work on her debut solo collection. The first single ‘Remember to Be Brave’, was released in June. Brother Blue is the follow-up single from the highly anticipated album, due for release in 2022.

For more, visit https://linktr.ee/mollyomahony

Twitter: https://twitter.com/molly_omahony

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mollyomahonymusic

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

Movment release their dark, compelling new album, TRANSFORMATION, on Distort The Scene on 02 December 2021.

The 10 tracks were recorded in End of Light Studios, Mullingar, Ireland & mixed at Milocco, London.

The album wase preceded by the launch of a new single, ‘We All Must Go’, on 26 November.

Movment are a post-punk alternative indie rock band. They are more dark than light, more strong than weak, more direct.
They make observations on life and living. They mean what they say.

There is a divergence in society. The new album Transformation explores this situation.
We are bombarded with information, opinions, viewpoints, and words.
We drown in ideas, in solutions, in propaganda. There needs to be a TRANSFORMATION from where we are now.
The album explores What We Are. Movment have been through it before. They examine What Way Should It Be. Their time is now. There is nothing we cannot do.

Although guitars and bass are at the heart of their sound, it is hard to ignore the electronics that have infiltrated Movment’s core.
In a shallow world of untruth, fabrication, and falsehoods, get inspired and transform yourself into a new way of thinking and of being.
There is another way.

The album is available on CD via movment.bandcamp.com and on all Digital Streaming Platforms including Spotify, Apple, and Amazon.

The final part of Aaron Everything’s Western trilogy is upon us.

The Outlaw flees Dodge city after shooting down the local Sheriff and his entourage who attempted to take The Outlaw in for his crimes. A talented marksman like The Outlaw made it out of this altercation by the skin of his teeth and left a trail of blood in his wake. 

The Outlaw and his wife make their way down South to the swamps of Louisiana to try to escape the pursuit of law enforcement. On the way to his hideout in the bayou The Outlaws caravan was attacked by the local law enforcement they managed to wound The Outlaw and take out his wife but he managed to yet again escape into the swamp.

It was clear to The Chief he’d have to send in his best men who were under The Marshals command. The Marshal follows a trail of cigarettes and blood through the unforgiving marshlands and finds The Outlaw held up in the old abandoned saw mill.

The Marshal’s lieutenant who was sent to scout ahead has already been intercepted and killed by The Outlaw so The Marshal finally makes his move and confronts The Outlaw. How will it all end?

Aaron Everything uses a huge bit of Swamp and Southern imagery in his lyrics all stemming from his love of horror games like Resident Evil 7 and Hunt Showdown which are both set in these kinds of climates.

‘This trilogy may seem calculated but honestly I never even meant to start this, the Western style trap tracks just kept finding their way to me’.

Aaron Everything’s unmistakable approach to music marries the familiar with the unpredictable. Growing up in the rural settings of Donegal in the west of Ireland, the 23-year-old singer and rapper channels the visceral energy of the storms that frequent the wild Atlantic way with the staple sounds of emo rap.

A product of the internet era, Aaron’s catalogue owes as much to online communities as it does to his rejection of close-minded surroundings he calls home. Though pushed to take part in sport by his father, Aaron never felt at home taking part in the long-established activities in his town, nor did he indulge in the traditional music that sound tracked the cobblestone streets and cosy pubs of Donegal. Instead, he declined the trodden path and found comfort in music. Fed a diet of Rod Stewart, Fleetwood Mac and James Blunt by his parents, Aaron later gravitated toward SoundCloud and its melancholic styles finding solace in the pain-stricken lyricism of Lil Peep.

Coupled with a growing contempt for the unforgiving mindset of rural Ireland and the almost non-existent gigging circuit for artists outside traditional styles Aaron picked up a mic as a form of escapism. He’d later immerse himself in online spaces embracing a remote and collaborative approach championed by the likes of Flying Lotus.

“Here, it’s very samey though and everything is very sparse. If you’ve been to town a couple of times you’ve seen it all. There’s no real music scene unless you love Irish country music as that’s all a lot of venues will put on bar a couple of clubs and maybe two pubs in my area.”

“I worked with Lederrick on my first track, he produced a lot of peep’s tracks and I thought it was only right because Lil Peep was the catalyst.I bought my first set up, started recording and getting reposts to establish a fanbase.”

Following years spent grinding in his bedroom and further co-signs from the likes of multi-platinum producer Bighead who brought ‘Gucci Gang’ to the world, Aaron emerged as a versatile songwriter capable of shapeshifting to suit a myriad of styles. Working with established artists from across Ireland such as Uwmami and ØMEGA he’s proved capable of laying down emotive and fearless offerings. Now, more confident in his own ability, Aaron is beginning to develop his own world akin to Phoebe Bridgers ghostly universe, mirroring the vacant landscapes that surrounded his family home. Add that to a diverse musical palette and it starts to build a picture of an artist only scratching the surface of his potential.

Whilst Aaron has been prolific in his number of releases in the past two years, he’s also been simultaneously contributing to other multimedia projects. Most notably, Aaron teamed up with one of Depop’s most popular sellers and fellow Donegal native SADSAC on a short film. With established acts like Jacob Sartorius, Biig Piig and Wifi’s Funeral donning his clothing and having worked with Caterpillar on a line exclusive to Depop, Aaron Everything went on to provide music for his subsequent film documenting his rise.

Aaron Everything is an artist on the rise that speaks to the universal emotions of pain, grief and growth through the lens of his own unique experience.

Ruttlemush is Seamus Ruttledge in a collaboration with producer Axel Grude.

‘Strange’ the new album from Seamus Ruttledge and Ruttlemush came about as an experimental project with producer Axel Grude.

It started with the demoing of new songs, that were already written as poetry; some were being worked on as spoken word pieces.

This developed into a fully-fledged album project, as the new material took shape and we recorded some of the songs like ‘Long Story’, ‘Ancients’, ‘New Time’, and ‘Strange’, the title track of the new album.

Axel Grude then started to listen to older songs, like ‘New Shoes’, ‘All the Blooms’ and ‘Secret Child’ that had already appeared on previous albums released by the Mayo born singer songwriter, Seamus Ruttledge.

As producer Axel reimagined the older work of Ruttledge in a more Soulful and ambient context. This started a process of working with Seamus Ruttledge as poet-songwriter

This new album, ‘Strange‘ was recorded with Axel Grude at Songcraft studio.  He has previously mixed the ‘Judas Diary Live’ double Album, and remastered older works from the band. He also has recorded renowned Folk singer and songwriter Mick Brown.

‘Strange’ has been described as an alternative soul record. It is the 4th Album from Mayo-born poet/songwriter Seamus Ruttledge

“Seamus Ruttledge has been as productive as ever during the lockdown. A beautiful new album of Seamus’s soulful songs and singing,  recorded and produced  by Axel Grude is out now.  This is a collaborate work, and the lads have taken the name Ruttlemush for the project,  The new album from Seamus Ruttledge aka Ruttlemush is called ‘Strange’. It all sounds good to me.” –  (Padraig Stevens)

Strange from Ruttlemush is available from Bandcamp link below:

Stay in touch with Seamus Ruttledge Music/Ruttlemush – via link below

https://www.facebook.com/RuttledgeMusic

Galway songwriter Me Auld Flower releases his second album ‘The Vaults of Consciousness, Vol. II’ on 26th November.

Like many others, the first lockdown of 2020 changed Me Auld Flower’s plans for the year. He decided to bunker down in his remote Connemara cottage and create an album with just the equipment and instruments he had to hand. The songs feature guitars, banjo, bass, mandolin, piano, synthesiser and percussion.

The album was completed in the second half of 2020 and he spent the first half of 2021 filming footage to accompany the nine songs in rural Connemara and Galway City, the first three of which are available on Youtube.

Challenging himself to write, produce and perform the entirety of the album himself, ‘The Vaults of Consciousness, Vol. II’ is nine songs of lyrical imagery, incident, and rich sonic texture.

On its contrast to his debut album, The Vaults of Consciousness, Vol. I,  he says:

“Volume II was a completely different experience to the first. While I didn’t have the expertise of a band of amazing musicians, I found working to my own schedule really liberating, and experimenting with an array of different instruments allowed me to pull the sounds out of my mind and into the record, exactly as I imagined them.”

“Making the videos for these songs was a labour of love. It took an inordinate amount of time but it allowed me to be present in these magical spaces in a way I had never really been before. I was getting up at four in the morning for sunrises, and tracking the light throughout the day as it dipped behind clouds and mountains. It was about more than just the camera I was carrying. It was a joy to spend that time getting to know this land more intimately, particularly as there were very few people around due to the lockdown.”

“It was like having Disneyland to myself. I felt blessed to be living in a place with such splendour and solitude on my doorstep.”

The Vaults of Consciousness, Vol. II will be released on Bandcamp on 26th November.

meauldflower.net | Spotify | Youtube | Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook

The debut single from pMad ‘Who Am I’ is due for release on 3rd December 2021. Taking the free time granted by the pandemic and a new approach to life.

Paul Dillon aka pMad got his act together and finally put an album full of tunes together.

The tunes, with help from friends in Latvia, Germany, Ireland and Mexico are now fully mixed, mastered and ready for release on Zedakube Records

The debut release ‘Who Am I’ is an emotional mix of pMad’s haunted, gloomy voice, choir and guest voices, dramatic keys, neat bass lines, guitars and all tied together with a pulsating drum groove. This is complimented by a visual masterpiece of a video that cumulates into an audio and visual feast

‘Who Am I’ is an audio and visual emotional rollercoaster.

Firstly, seeing the coroner examining a body, we are to decide is it the perpetrator or the victim. The song is asking – am I the perpetrator, am I the victim, am I the survivor, am I good or evil…Which one are you? Who Am I?

pMad is a survivor using hope as the medicine and amazed by the horror we can perpetrate on each other and our environment

Paul Dillon is a solo artist named pMad. He started out with writing and playing with The Suicidal Dufflecoats.  Now a member of The Greeting & his solo project pMad.

Covid-19 strikes and Paul sets up ‘The Best of Irish Indie’ on Facebook running a series of ‘Best of Irish’ polls with a wonderful group of Irish Indie fans.

Inspired by the group he unearthed all his own music collection and with the use of modern technologies, created a number of singles and a full album.

The debut single is ‘Who Am I’ released on 3rd December.

pMad on social media: 

TikTok

YouTube

Bandcamp

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Official Website

Linktree and Streaming Links

This is the first international release of The Mary Stokes Band’s seminal live album ‘Clouds In My Heart’, originally recorded just before Christmas 1999.

It was possibly the last Blues record of the 20th Century and definitely one of the first of the New Millennium.

The popular success of our “as live” album “Comin’ Home” (2020) inspired us to relaunch the fully live “Clouds In My Heart” to a broader audience.

Recorded in a landmark Dublin pub, this album captures the live energy and vitality for which The Mary Stokes Band are so widely known.

This is the first time this album has been available other than at The Mary Stokes Band’s live shows.

Recorded Live in Bruxelles Pub, December 12 1999.

Mary Stokes, Vocals; Brian Palm, Harmonica; Dermot Stokes, Piano; Graham Hynes, Guitar; Eoin O’Doherty, Drums; Ken Matthews Bass Guitar; Felim Gormley, Saxophones.

Engineered by Ivan O’Shea, assisted by Tom Skerrit; Additional recording, mixing and mastering completed at Totally Wired Recording Ltd., The Factory, Dublin.

Cover Artwork painted by Brian Palm, photographed by Gerry Farrell.

Live photos taken by Maureen Nesbitt and John McGarry.

Sleeve design by James Kelleher.

Podge Lane’s debut album ‘Outer Monologues’ was released November 26th via Teip Records.

The record showcases Lane’s prowess for emotive storytelling balanced with compelling swells of alt-country and folk instrumentation.

The flowing, interconnected tracks on ‘Outer Monologues’ are all written, performed, arranged and produced by Lane.

Following the story from the point of view of the narrator, the album moves through an anxious haze on a lonely, southern city night. ‘Outer Monologues’ highlights Lane’s ability to build tension through seemingly bright music melded with biting and vulnerable lyricism, which can be heard throughout his back catalogue of self-released EPs.

This rich dichotomy is reflected in the record’s lead single ‘Reasons To Scream’, where the narrator is fighting against the world and the music.

Developing on from his usual guitar based writing style, Lane initially wrote instrumental and lyrical fragments for each song, forging ideas for multiple tracks until an overall story started to take shape.

Lane reflects, “I started writing early in the year and had this idea of this one long walk, we meet the character, get to know him, watch him fall apart and build himself back up. Simple premise, but with some fun (and not so fun) twists and turns.”

With the album fully written, Lane began recording the majority of the instrumental and vocal duties. The album’s cast was kept to a minimum with backing vocals from Rebecca Dermody and all keys performed by Peter O’Sullivan.

Lane explores this intimate DIY feeling as he admits, “I wanted to record as much of this album as possible on my own at home, to really make it feel like there’s a band playing this one guys thoughts in his head, but in reality it’s just him.”

Lane has been recognised for his emotive writing style with alt-country and folk-rock leanings, which speak to his inspirations from Jeff Tweedy and Waxahatchee to John Prine and Harry Nilsson.

Gaining steady acclaim in response to his previous EP releases, Lane received the nomination for the Irish Post’s Indie Artist Of The Year 2018. In the run up to his records release, Lane has received notoriety as being a “serious one-to-watch” from Hot Press Magazine and IMRO.

Placing honest reflections at the heart of his music, melded with his love for country stylings and off-beat humour, Lane’s music emote the trials and tribulations of life, and how we can blame the world around us or choose to face our own short comings. Ultimately, the record holds a feeling of hope as the light breaks on a new day that promises to be better than the night before.

The next track, ‘On Your Own Terms’, from Audrey’s debut album, ‘Fire In Your Soul’, is out on 27^th November.

It is a ‘take no prisoners’, driving, fun song about living life on your own terms.

The key message is: don’t be a victim, don’t put all your eggs into one basket and there are many failures before success so keep on going!

This track features an impressive list of musicians who have played with BB King, Gary Moore, Frankie Miller, Sinead O’Connor, Eric Clapton and Paul Brady to name a few.

Mike Scott of The Waterboys mixed this track on the suggestion of her late father, legendary drummer Noel Nollaig Bridgeman (Skid Row, The Waterboys, Mary Black, Van Morrison, Jackson Browne).

Sensational bass player Tommy Moore lays down an incredible bass line and the magnificent Frank Mead plays a Little Walter infused blues harp which adds great excitement to the track! Not to mention the twin guitars by Ed Deane and Gerry Hendrick! Get yourself on this train!!!