Author: Breffni Banks

Dublin based producer and artist Chris Kabs has an impressive track record with work featured on FIFA 20 and “Normal People” and will continue to add to his following with the release of new single ‘Moon’ on October 22, 2021. ‘Moon’ is the first single from Chris Kabs off his upcoming album and positions him as an artist to watch for 2022.

The smooth RnB single  ‘Moon’ follows the desire to reform and even transcend a breakup and sees Chris blend the futuristic sensibilities of the late 90’s/early 2000’s with the laid back production from the likes of Drake. Of the single Chris says, “the moon represents a new beginning where anything is possible”. ‘Moon’ was co-written with long time close friend & business partner JyllowL and composed & produced by Chris Kabs.

Having grown up in Sweden Chris moved to Ireland 17 years ago. Drawing influence from the likes of Labrinth, Wyclef Jean and Drake, Chris’ work showcases his unique blend of pop, R&B, hip-hop and Afrobeat – a dynamic style is attributes to his time spent living in France and the Ivory Coast. The multi-talented artist speaks English, Swedish, French and Lingala, and has written music in three of those languages.

Most recently, Chris has worked with Irish rapper Jyellowl as producer on the singles ‘Ozone’, which was featured on the FIFA 20 soundtrack, and ‘Oh Lawd’ that was featured on the BBC series “Normal People”. Chris Kabs’ time, creativity, and fearless imagination for individual sound has allowed both his vocal and production style to develop to create such unique music. This dedication and passion for his sound has driven Chris to create diverse work that appeals to a wide audience. As an artist Chris has performed at Hard Working Class Heroes and Longitude.

Chris has been building his profile as an artist since 2016 with the release of singles ‘When a Man Loves a Woman’, ‘I Wanna Love You ‘, and ‘Space’. After leaving his job to pursue music full time things began to ramp up in 2020 with the release of a string of singles including ‘Loyalty’, ‘Sun Gon’ Shine’, ‘Jealously (Broke Us Up), ‘Around The World’, ‘Fly Away, and ‘Your Ex’. In June 2020, Chris also penned a tribute track for the Black Lives Matter movement titled ‘No Justice No Peace’ inspired by the popular protest chant. ‘More Than a Number’ released in 2021 was written to honour the victims of police brutality.

‘Moon’ is out October 22, 2021.

Twitter: @chriskabs

Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisKabs

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

Soundcloud:  https://soundcloud.com/chriskabs

Breaking Tunes:  https://www.breakingtunes.com/chriskabs

THUMPER will release a brand new single ‘The Loser’, due for release, October 15th.

This follows the success of the rereleased Ad Nauseam picking up support from BBC6, US Radio  and playlisting on Spotify and Apple Music. 

This highly anticipated single is a fresh start, kicking off an extensive UK tour and the build up to their debut album.

Lead singer, Oisin, says that: “ ‘The Loser’ is presented as a love song but is howled by an unreliable narrator. A fishing-for-compliments style tirade of non-sequiturs, each verse is bursting at the seams with faux self-depreciation. The song races along at breakneck speed, each section pushing past the crescendo of the last. As the final chorus blasts through your speakers, the saccharine melody reveals a pathetic character that has spent the whole song talking about themselves.”

A mainstay of THUMPER’s live set for years, this long requested studio version of The Loser comes in the lead up to THUMPER’s UK tour. With packed houses for shows in Liverpool, Wales, Blackpool, and Manchester last weekend, this October is ramping up for their debut album dropping early 2022 .

Website| Facebook | Twitter | Instagram |

‘White Trails’ is the latest single from Cork trio Greenshine and is taken from their album ‘Family’. This is a song that will hopefully offer reassurance and comfort to anyone that has lost a loved one or kind companion. “Don’t give in to the night…..In the darkest night my stars will find you.”

Greenshine have had quite the run in the last few years, continuing to release single after well-received single during the pandemic, and are looking to brighter times ahead with the opening up of live performance.

Since reopening, they have played two sold out festival shows, The Clifden Arts Festival and The Drimoleague Singing Festival, and are now looking forward to many more including Mary’s appearance along with Fiona Kennedy and Anna Mitchell at Cork Folk Festival favourite “Gals At Play” at Triskel Arts Centre on Sunday Oct 3rd.

Greenshine Live:

Wed 20th October – MAYO, CASTLEBAR, LINENHALL ARTS CENTRE

Sun 31st October – CORK, MALLOW ARTS FEST

with more dates in the coming months.

Greenshine Music:

All music available at www.greenshine.bandcamp.com

Follow Greenshine:

http://greenshinemusic.com/

www.facebook.com/greenshinepeople

www.twitter.com/greenshinemusic

www.greenshine.bandcamp.com

ROOUE releases their next eagerly anticipated single “Dancing Sad”.

Their latest release channels the same dark melodies as previous singles, and incorporates a unique R’n’B palette. This song is about choosing to dance broken-hearted instead of dancing sad with the wrong person. ROOUE wrote this song based on a phrase their Mum always said to them: “One cup of tea at a time”.

ROOUE’s last single “Bad Blood” welcomed great critical acclaim from popular music publications Hot Press and The Last Mixed Tape, describing ROOUE as “weaving their lush harmony rich music around a warping production that moves around vocals in kind.”

Speaking on the single ROOUE says, “We wrote this song when one of us was going through a hard breakup we wanted to write an anthem for ourselves to get us out of bed and moving again, and to help others who may be struggling to do the same.”

ROOUE will play their first Headliner gig in The Workman’s Club Cellar, November 19th.

‘Dancing Sad’ will be released on Friday October 15th 2021.

ROOUE Online:

http://www.instagram.com/rooueofficial/

http://www.facebook.com/rooueofficial

http://www.rooueofficial.com

The Whileaways release their new single ‘The Milking Parlour Bar’ on 8^th October, a song about the importance of true friends and the magic nights of music shared.

The song showcases a new, fresh sound from The Whileaways while still featuring the band’s trademark rich vocal harmonies – a taste of what’s to come from their forthcoming album ‘In All Honesty’ due for release in Spring 2022.

Noelie explains the inspiration for the song: ‘It’s been a time when we’ve all missed things that we previously took for granted – singing together, playing together, dancing together, even just being together. This song is a celebration of friendship and the simple joy of being in each other’s company all under one little roof, one blanket of truth, full of music and laughter and joy. And whatever they happened to be serving at The Milking Parlour Bar.’

The Whileaways are Noelie McDonnell, Noriana Kennedy and Nicola Joyce, three accomplished singers who came to know each other while on the session circuit in Galway in 2012. Since then they have released three critically acclaimed albums, toured all over the world, and been nominated for Best Group and Best Album in the RTÉ Folk Awards. Praise from international press has been heaped upon the band with The Irish Echo calling their sound ‘perfected simplicity’, and Hot Press saying that the trio ‘stake their claim to being among the finest singers in the country’.

2019 saw the band broaden their repertoire with Bird On The Wire, a collaboration between The Whileaways and Pauline Scanlon. Featuring a ten-piece band including strings, the show is a unique combination of outstanding singers exploring their own interpretations of the wonderfully rich music and words of the icon that is Leonard Cohen. The show has been performed to sold-out audiences at The Pepper Canister Church in Dublin and Belfast’s Empire Music Hall and London’s Union Chapel. The show comes to Dublin’s 3Olympia Theatre on October 30^th , and tickets are almost sold out!

‘The Milking Parlour Bar’ is taken from the band’s upcoming album In All Honesty , produced by Alex Borwick and Sean Og Graham. Borwick and Og Graham brought a subtle electronica influence to the project which was very much a new direction for the band. The combination of band and producers has resulted in a wonderful marriage of minds and an album that, while still very acoustic sounding, is elevated by more creative studio production.

The Whileaways will tour for their album launch in spring 2022. The band trialled many of the songs at their ‘Live from Home’ online gigs during lockdown. People tuned in every single week from all over the world: mothers in Galway watching with their daughter in London and their son in New York, Zookeepers in England, people from Alaska to New Zealand. But mostly it was neighbours and friends who couldn’t meet each other in person saying instead ‘See you at the gig’. It became a very special and unique time for the band to connect with their fans. As a result, The Whileaways can’t wait to get out and see these people in person and play their new material from In All Honesty, so they’ve just announced a very special hometown show in Town Hall Theatre in Galway on 11 December.

www.thewhileaways.com

Aimée is back and she’s back with a banger!

‘just a phase’ is Aimée’s newest statement release and is out now, via Universal Music Ireland.

 This strategically fashioned, beguiling track is true to Aimée’s deep-rooted love of 90’s nostalgia, airing a rush of hybrid Irish-Swedish influence along with a determined, no nonsense approach and an unadulterated love of pop music.

Having tucked herself away over the past year and a half, the talented singer songwriter took time to reflect on her journey and successes to date, while also taking a deep dive into her next wave of creative aspirations.  With this in mind, Aimée teased ideas with long-time collaborator Richey McCourt and decided a fusion of Irish-Swedish influence would be the magic ingredient for their next creation, and Swedish writer Nick Jarl was the perfect fit.

While curating ‘just a phase’, Aimée says: “Working on ‘just a phase’ was a completely different experience for me. In the past I had felt a need to identify myself through my lyrics, to establish who I am with the listener. Which I think we did effectively, especially with the last EP. But I felt this time round I needed to be free enough to write in a more fun, sensual, and light way. I adore that late 90s sound of Britney, NSYNC – the pure unadulterated pop of it all. So, it made perfect sense to work with a Swedish writer on this song. Myself and Richey McCourt, who I co-wrote the last EP with, wanted a very no nonsense, pop focused writer in on this one with us. There’s something very ambitious about how Swedish pop writers write, and Nick (Jarl) was the perfect person to bring that magic. I love that this unique Irish / Swedish collaboration has resulted in what I feel is my most determined & focused sound yet. ‘Just A Phase’ is all about that intense, charged stage of any romance, where it feels almost obsessive and all consuming, despite your best efforts to not let it take over.”

 “It feels like a fresh start coming back with new music at this particular point in time. I feel I’ve gained a maturity as a writer and as a woman through what was a trying time globally, and personally too. All I want to do ultimately is entertain. That might sound like a cliché, but pop music should do that – it has the ability to cut through the noise and just transport the listener for 3 minutes. The music I’m writing now feels like me embracing all that I love about pop music and it’s place both in the world, and in my personal history.”

Not one to stay creatively idle, Aimée teamed up with and featured on, international Grammy nominated DJ, Sonny Alven’s Summer release, Shut Up And Dance last June.  She also remained very active with the incredibly successful Irish Women In Harmony from conception in 2020 right through to their last release of a stunningly reimagined ‘Only A Woman’, just last July.

The Dublin singers’ latest single comes after her own sobering release, ‘Bulletproof’, a track that highlighted and tackled her experience with online bullying and the affects suffered. This track saw incredible success; debuting Top 3 in iTunes where it battled for the top spot with Billie Eilish’s ‘I Think Therefore I Am’, scoring the highest new entry in the Official Irish Homegrown Chart as well as reaching the singer’s best chart position to date at #13. The success of this track marked the end to a prosperous year for her, having also released her debut EP ‘Confession’ in March ‘20, that jumped to the #1 spot in the iTunes Pop Album Chart while also reaching #1 in the overall iTunes Album Chart. Aimée’s ascent continues, with a growing five million, combined global streams to date.

Having had to reschedule live shows over the past few months, Aimée is delighted to have a string of regional dates locked in for the new year, in great anticipation of performing live one again to fans after such a long time.

Tickets for the following shows are selling fast!

Live Dates

8 Feb ‘22

The Academy Green Room, Dublin

Tickets

9 Feb ‘22

Roisin Dubh, Galway

Tickets

10 Feb ‘22

Kasbah Social Club, Limerick

Tickets

11 Feb ‘22

Winthorp Avenue, Cork

Tickets

Follow Aimée on
AiméeMusicOfficial.com // Instagram // Facebook // Twitter // Youtube // Spotify

Ronan Keating, the celebrated international Irish artist, who has defined over two decades of pop music, hand-picks twelve homeland songs that he was born to sing.

Drawing from the wealth of Ireland’s talent, Songs From Home is an intimate album that boasts brilliant reworks as well as an original single from the star.

The album toasts Ronan Keating’s love for Irish music, as well as its continued significance in his life. Celebrating traditional poetry and folklore alongside contemporary pieces, Songs From Home forms the ultimate soundtrack to Ronan’s personal story. Masterfully, Ronan weaves between unheard tales of his youth to artists embedded in Ronan, and Ireland’s, substantial musical heritage.

No Frontiers is an elegant collaboration with fellow singer and inspiration, Mary Black. Heyday poignantly nods to Mic Christopher’s first and only solo album, Skylarkin. The track was released after Mic’s tragic death and was dedicated to his widely recognised musical influence. Raglan Road offers the story of a legendary Irish love affair that is well-known in Ronan Keating’s hometown. Crafted from a Patrick Kavanagh poem, Ronan sings fondly of the Raglan Road found in Ballsbridge, Dublin. Summer in Dublin is another nostalgic song for Ronan that’s recognised at the heart of the Irish community. Whilst singing Summer in Dublin, Ronan reminisces on the exciting summer of 1990, just before Boyzone’s rise to fame and much of Ireland’s attention was fixated on the World Cup.

Since his time in one of the most successful boy bands in history, Ronan Keating has crafted an epic solo career with 30 consecutive Top 10 singles, 10 studio albums and over 20 million records sold, and counting! In addition, his talents have expanded to the biggest international judging seats on the X Factor and The Voice in Australia, time in a highly acclaimed West End show and of course, his integral roles in Britain’s much-loved Magic FM breakfast show and The One Show. Amidst this impressive success, Ronan has circled back to his roots with Songs From Home, an album that authentically captures and represents his life in music.

Tracklist:

1. Raglan Road
2. Into The Mystic
3. Where The Streets Have No Name
4. The Voyage
5. The Island
6. Summer In Dublin
7. Guiding Light
8. No Frontiers
9. The Blower’s Daughter
10. The Parting Glass
11. Heyday
12. Set In Stone

Songs From Home is out November 12^th on Decca Records.