Author: Breffni Banks

SoFFT Nights are thrilled to welcome ticket buyers to Dunderry Park, Co. Meath for a series of live music performances, mindfulness activities, restorative yoga, and drumming workshops. Tickets are sold out for Saturday, 17th July but limited tickets remain for Friday, 16th July, available from Tickets.ie.  

Live music performances throughout the weekend of 16th & 17th July will be from bass, baritone, treble, and piccolo concertina player Cormac Begley with special guests alternative Irish folk Bunoscionn and crowned as ‘Best Emerging Folk Act’ duo, Lemoncello.

SoFFT Nights will run throughout the months of July-September this year in Dunderry Park, Co. Meath. 

Full music lineup for SoFFT Nights this year: 

Cormac Begley with special guests Bunscionn and Lemoncello, 16th & 17th July 2021 

Soda Blonde with special guests Maija Sofia and Callistan 27th & 28th August 2021 

Pillow Queens, Roe, Art of Algebra and Dani Larkin, 3rd & 4th September 2021 

The full program for Friday, 16th & Saturday, 17th July 2021 

The Beehive Stage

14:00: Sli Croi Drumming, Drumming Workshop
15:00: Restorative yoga with Fat Savasana (Sound bath) – Fiona McDonagh
16:10: Mindful Movement with Sharon Cagney
17:15: Shamanic Journeying | Shamanic Journey to your power animal 

18:15: Sli na Croi Drumming | Fete style around the fire 

19:00: Lemoncello
20:00: Bunoscionn
21:30: Cormac Begley 

The Pigsty Stage 

Gates: Open from 13:00 PM

13:00: Club Flamingo | DJ Conor Kirwan
14:00: Circus Performance
15:00: Club Flamingo | DJ Conor Kirwan
16:00: Storytelling with Aideen McBride
17:00: Club Flamingo | DJ Conor Kirwan
Pig out in the pig sty! 

The Badgers Bandstand 

18:00: Harmonic Waves: Gong Baths in the woods 

The Cabbage Patch 

14:30: Children’s Mindfulness Storytelling
16:30: Children’s sound baths | Storytelling and mythology 

Co-founder of SoFFT Productions and festival creator Natasha Duffy says: “People coming out of lockdown are curious. We have had lots of time for self-reflection but not much of a chance to do it in a community or supportive environment. We’re also really missing communal experiences. As well as the concerts, Sofft Nights Summer 2021 day festivals will be hosting all sorts of interesting events from shamanic journeying and storytelling to forest gong baths and nighttime astronomy lessons. We have been through a lot and these gatherings are about connecting back in with each other in meaningful ways!”

Ticket information: 

All purchased tickets will be available for the new rescheduled dates 

Tickets are available from Tickets.ie

@sofftprod on Twitter and @SOFFTproductions on Instagram and Facebook 

Join the conversation #sofftnights #sofftproductions 

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Photo: Ruth Medjber

Dublin indie folk band Blue Fish Diamond are releasing their new single ’Song For Love’ today across all platforms. Along with the single release they are also announcing their new album, ‘Frozen Stars On The Night’ will be released October 28th and is now available for preorder via Bandcamp.

‘Song For Love’ is a dreamy number that is reminiscent of a Burt Bacharach classic. With influences ranging from Leonard Cohen, R.E.M., Paul Simon and Neil Young, Blue Fish Diamond bring a new delicately harmonic and refreshing take to a staple genre.

Produced by Gavin Glass in Orphan Recording studios, ‘Song For Love’ describes a form of love to which many of us aspire.

About the song Jim Murphy says, “‘Song For Lov’e is about pure love. It speaks to a connection that transcends the material world, conveyed through dreamy imagery. While the picture it paints is utopian, I think that many of us try to build aspects of its sentiment into our relationships.”

Formed in 2016 by Jim Murphy, Blue Fish Diamond released their debut album ‘From Dark To Light’ in 2018, which HotPress magazine described as, “essential listening for those who like their music powerful and heartfelt.” They will be releasing their second album ‘Frozen Stars On The Night’ on 28th October. ‘Frozen Stars On The Night’ is available to pre-order from here (vinyl, CD and digital formats available).

Blue Fish Diamond’s music has been played on radio stations across Ireland and they’re also a staple of the Irish live scene having played Electric Picnic, Whelan’s, The Workman’s Club and The Grand Social to name a few. With several singles and their second album planned for 2021, Jim Murphy (rhythm guitar & lead vocals), Shay Sweeney (drums), Ronan Quinn (bass), Laura Ryder (piano), Axel McDonald (lead guitar) and Matilda O’Mahony (backing vocals) are a band to keep a firm eye on as they are sure to rise the ranks over the coming months.

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Strawberry Sessions have announced a return to live shows with a series of intimate concerts set in the stunning surrounds of Luttrellstown Castle taking place from 28 July to 1 August 2021. Tickets for each intimate concert are priced at €209.95 for Pods of 4 and €299.95 for pods of 6. They go on sale on Wednesday July 14th at 9am from Ticketmaster.ie, with a limited capacity of only 100 people per concert.

The magnificent Luttrellstown Castle sets the scene for the intimate Strawberry Sessions outdoor concert series – Jerry Fish is the first to take to the stage on 28 July with Lisa Hannigan on 29 July, The Riptide Movement on 30 July, Wyvern Lingo on 31 July and two performances from Jack Lukeman on 1 August (3pm and 8pm).

Speaking of the Strawberry Sessions Promoter Ray O’Donoghue says: “We recorded The Strawberry Sessions TV show with no audience during the height of lockdown and we’re really grateful that the Department of Culture  & Arts helped in making that happen. Now we want to bring The Strawberry Sessions to a live audience and it feels great to be able to say that. Each gig will be really special and intimate and we expect them to sell out quickly. Here’s hoping everyone is just as excited as we are to get live music up and running again.” 

The live concert series follows on from the gorgeous TV show The Strawberry Sessions broadcast on Virgin Media One yesterday (7 July) which featured live performances from renowned artists such as Damien Dempsey, Jerry Fish, Wyvern Lingo, Paul Noonan(Bell X1), Gemma Dunleavy, The Scratch and True Tides – all filmed at the iconic Strawberry Beds in Dublin.

Tickets are priced at €209.95 for Pods of 4 and €299.95 for pods of 6. On sale Wed July 14th at 9am from Ticketmaster.ie.

Rushes has just released the video for his sophomore single from his upcoming project ‘Glowchild’, the uptempo, high-energy ‘Funds’.

That sense of uncertainty and unwillingness to give up is translated beautifully into the track’s music video, which finds Rushes exploring the supermarket (Fields in Skibbereen) he once worked in as a teenager late at night with nothing but canned goods for company. Rushes admits the experience of returning to his old workplace was somewhat surreal.  “I remember daydreaming a lot on my shifts about wanting to achieve something more,”  Rushes recalls,  “Nothing has really changed in my life but I’m on a different path right now. It really gets across the message of the song too,”  he adds,  “trying to reach for something but still being stuck in the same place, hoping that you’ll make it to where you want to be or see in your head.” The music video shot over one night with its subdued lighting and a sense of childish possibility made it the perfect vehicle through which to explore the song’s feelings of playful optimism.

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Dublin-based Four Nights has released his debut EP ‘Bed’. It features 5 tracks – including ‘Grow So Cold’ and ‘Want You Always’ – and is available on all streaming platforms. Four Nights (the moniker of Cork-based Tommy Buckley) has amassed over 4000 monthly listeners on Spotify, and combined streams of over 160k.

‘Bed’ is a concept record, centering around the journey of one relationship; from its beautiful beginnings to its inevitable, yet devastating, ending. “I’ve been building up to this moment since last June,” Tommy Buckley AKA Four Nights says upon revealing the news. “It feels strange, but exhilarating, that these songs are finally out in the world!”

“Although the bulk of the record was written in 2020, there are no references to the pandemic. However I will say that Four Nights wouldn’t exist had it not been for the lockdown! In February 2020 I left Ireland with the intention of travelling South East Asia for a year, and with that, completely switching off from music. Only 5 weeks later, I was forced to come home as the world shut down. Music was the only thing I could do in an 8 week lockdown, so I bought a new mic and a midi keyboard, and began writing a new song everyday. ‘Bed’ is the by-product of that period of my life.”

‘Bed’ is out now.

Stream ‘Bed’ here:

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/fournights/bed

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In advance of the release of their highly anticipated debut album ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’ on Friday, Inhaler have today announced an intimate album show at Dublin’s The Workman’s Club on Saturday 11^th December. Tickets go on sale tomorrow morning at 10am and will be available to buy here: http://gigst.rs/InhalerDublin

On the new show date, the band say, “We cannot wait to come back to the Workman’s Club. This is one of our favourite venues in Dublin where we share a lot of memories of early gigging days. We look forward to seeing you all there in December.”

The Irish quartet are one of the most exciting bands to emerge over the past few years and ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This‘ lives up to their thrilling potential. Singer and guitarist Eli Hewson, bassist Robert Keating, guitarist Josh Jenkinson and drummer Ryan McMahon have made a record that captures their evolution from exciting upstarts to refined songsmiths. It takes in a dazzling array of sonic textures, where huge, hooky choruses perfectly meld with intricate, dynamic instrumentation.

A Covid-enforced delay encouraged the four-piece to find new levels as a band, opening up both their sound and their lyrical themes. Songs about meeting girls turned into reflections on society and how to get through tough periods. “We started writing this when we were teenagers and now we’re adults,” says Keating. “I wanted the songs to feel positive,” adds Hewson. “Because… it won’t always be like this.”

The album shares its title with one of the group’s early singles – a storming, exhilarating singalong of the sort that has become their calling card. But its meaning has changed for the band over the past year, becoming something more hopeful in uncertain times. “There’s a sense of optimism on this album and the song ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’ is the main catalyst for that,” says Hewson. “We kept coming back to that title.”

Recorded with long-term collaborator and producer Antony Genn at London’s Narcissus Studios, it’s a coming-of-age record about losing yourself and finding yourself again, trying to make sense of the world when the world doesn’t make much sense. It charts a path of sonic exploration, from the sweeping urgency of the title track and ‘My Honest Face’ to the lush synth-pop of ‘Slide Out The Window’ to the lithe, space-y grooves of ‘A Night On The Floor’. It is a debut of depth and colour.

In addition to the new Workman’s Club date, Inhaler will be touring Ireland later this year. Full run of dates is listed below:

December 2021

Sat 11 Dec – Dublin, Workman’s Club *NEW DATE* – Intimate album show
Sun 12 Dec – Belfast, Limelight 2 – Intimate album show
Tue 14 Dec – Belfast, Limelight 1
Wed 15 Dec – Limerick, Dolan’s Warehouse
Thu 16 Dec – Cork, Cyprus Avenue
Fri 17 Dec – Killarney, INEC Acoustic Club
Sun 19 Dec – Dublin, Academy
Mon 20 Dec – Dublin, Academy
Tue 21 Dec – Dublin, Academy
Wed 22 Dec – Dublin, Academy

Multi-instrumentalist, award-winning singer songwriter Sharon Corr today releases the first single from her upcoming third studio album: listen to brand new single ‘The Fool And the Scorpion’. The album, of the same name, is out 24th September and is available to pre-order now.

The new track is a potent depiction of the end of a relationship; a brutally honest yet poetic reflection of life’s imperfections. Written on a plane amidst stormy turbulence, Sharon’s vocals blend beautifully with the rousing piano motif.

Speaking on the new single, Sharon said: “I’m sitting in an airplane at the stand in Madrid airport bound for Montreux via Geneva. There’s a terrible storm, thunder and lightning, we cannot take off. I sit in my seat waiting, I am wretched. Torn from the events of the day before, the tears are piercing my skin like icicles. Again I am at one with the elements. Only this time my heart has been shattered into a million fractured pieces, never to return to who I was.”

Also announced today were details of Sharon’s third studio album, ‘The Fool and the Scorpion‘, due to be released on 24th September. The album is available for pre-order now.

Driven by songwriting greats such as Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell, Sharon drew from a period of time she calls “the biggest storm of her life” for the album’s inspiration. As a result, the record is a cohesive body of work; a journey which centres on the desire to push on, to have faith and belief in yourself and your purpose. The 10-track album was recorded live in just 20 days at The Village in LA, with Larry Klein (Norah Jones, Tracy Chapman, Joni Mitchell) on producing duties and Tim Pierce (Bon Jovi, Celine Dion, Selena Gomez) on guitar. The album’s musicality highlights Sharon’s accomplishments as a multi-instrumentalist with over 30 years of songwriting behind her.

Sharon said: “It is my intention that you enjoy listening to the fruits of ‘he Fool and The Scorpion’ as an entire album. As Albert Camus said: ‘In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.’”

Alongside her siblings, Sharon was awarded an MBE in recognition of The Corrs’ musical success and charitable work. The band also secured two GRAMMY nominations and won countless other awards, including Best International Group at the BRIT Awards. In 2019 Sharon was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Open University in recognition of her contribution to education and culture.

As part of The Corrs, Sharon sold in excess of 45 million albums, toured arenas and stadiums across the globe and became a household name on every continent. With two solo albums under her belt, Sharon has enjoyed the freedom of total artistic expression with beautifully crafted melodies and intimate lyrics at the heart of her songwriting. ‘The Fool and the Scorpion’ promises to be an example of her storytelling prowess as she invites the listener to share in her joy, her heartache, and everything in between.

‘The Fool and the Scorpion’ track listing

1. The Fool and the Scorpion
2. Freefall
3. Lend Me Your Shoulder
4. A Thousand Lives
5. Under a Daylight Moon
6. Running on Rooftops
7. My Beautiful
8. Tease Me
9. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
10. Only You

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Irish neo-traditional musician Caoivín returns with fusion hit ‘Keep Her Lit’. Following the championing of his debut by the likes of 98fm, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and the Sound Sniffer, Caoivín sings about themes of personal growth and diligence in his highly anticipated second single ‘Keep Her Lit’, a unique blend of pop, dance and traditional Irish music elements.

The track was released on all streaming platforms on Friday 2/7/21.

Caoivín (pronounced “Kwee-veen”) is the pseudonym of Dublin-based producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Wade.

Born into a musical family, Caoivín began playing traditional Irish music at the tender age of 5 and spent the majority of his early childhood summers travelling to and from various different fleadhs and music weeks.

In his late teens and early twenties, the musician began to develop an interest in a wide variety of other genres outside of the traditional Irish music realm which led him to discover bands and artists such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, DARKSIDE, JJ Cale, Bonobo, Khruangbin, Tinariwen and many others.

The Caoivín project takes influence from the range of musical styles which Wade has been exploring from that point up until now, while being rooted at the same time to the long unbroken lineage of traditional music on which he was reared.

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‘Wide Open Road’, the new single from Paul Casey is set to hit all digital platforms this Saturday, 10 July in a brilliant contemporary throwback to the 80s! The songwriting sounds straight out of 1985, along with pristine production from Casey’s state-of-the-art Cable Junction Studio.

Traffic stopped and crowds gathered on a country road in Donegal’s Mamore Gap on a sunny day in June, as guitarist, singer and songwriter Paul Casey – complete with DMC DeLorean! – filmed and directed the video for his new single ‘Wide Open Road’. The video was released on July 3 –  the same day as the cinema release in 1985 of the iconic Back To The Future.

The video is an intriguing plutonium-packed homage to the classic movie. It opens with Casey recreating the Back To The Future opening scene, Derry-style. The film-obsessed musician nails the 80’s detail, while bringing a measure of fun to proceedings.

Always keen to feature his supporting musicians – watch his version of In The Days Before Rock ‘N’ Roll, featuring Terri Hooley and friends, as part of Hot Press’ Rave On Van Morrison! – Casey brings his supporting cast right into the action. Along with renowned drummer Liam Bradley, we see the brilliant John McCullough on synths while Lauren Doherty turns on her 80’s chic with deftly delivered lines.

In 2005, Casey supported Huey Lewis and The News, whose songs famously formed the musical backdrop to Back To The Future. Paul has always been grateful to Huey (who also had a cameo in the movie) for the interest he showed at the time: “After my set, Huey came looking for me and we chatted for ages. He was so cool and very generous with his time and advice. I tend to see the word through an 80’s lens – and usually it’s a film lens, so it meant a lot. And it blew my mind that he wanted to buy my album afterwards!”

Paul Casey’s ‘Wide Open Road’ is released on all digital platforms on Saturday, July 10.

James Vincent McMorrow has today released the video for new single ‘Paradise’, which is available now on Columbia Records. ‘Paradise’ is the latest taste of James’ much-anticipated new album ‘Grapefruit Season’, which also features teaser singles ‘Headlights’, ‘Gone’, ‘I Should Go’ (with Kenny Beats) and is now set for release on September 17^th.

James recently made headlines playing the first concert in Ireland with a live audience since the beginning of the pandemic (tickets for the pilot gig sold out in just 30 seconds). With festivals including Latitude and Isle of Wight confirmed to follow this summer, McMorrow’s UK and European tour for early 2022 includes a London date at Kentish Town Forum on February 21st and two homecoming shows at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on April 19th/20th.

Produced by James alongside Paul Epworth and Lil Silva, ‘Paradise’ is about pretending everything is fine when, beneath the surface, it really isn’t. Initially struggling to find its visual concept, the ‘Paradise’ video started at as an off-hand remark (“why don’t I just dig out my rollerblades and film myself learning to skate again in the park behind my house?”) but now feels like the perfect fit to the track’s uplifting, feel-good but melancholic centre.

‘Paradise’ further previews ‘Grapefruit Season’, James Vincent McMorrow’s upcoming, fifth studio album – and one in which the artist, producer and songwriter pushes himself (and his sound) in all new ways. The record was recorded between London, Los Angeles and Dublin, largely before the pandemic struck. It embraces the timeless yet timely fact that life is chaos; the idea of growing up, but as ‘Paradise’ suggests, still feeling none the wiser. Each song is held together by McMorrow’s instantly-identifiable voice, an untethered musical imagination, and (from dancehall to soul, country to R&B) purposefully little else in its pursuit of fear-free pop music. Even the title, ‘Grapefruit Season’, seems to signpost doing simply what you want, rather than what you are supposed to do (it was inspired by James watching his mum eat grapefruit as a kid, and the idea that what’s good for you may not actually be pleasurable).

Throughout the emotional highs and lows of ‘Grapefruit Season’, you are reminded of the risks James Vincent McMorrow has taken since the singer-songwriter roots of debut album ‘Early In The Morning’ (which turned ten in 2020); but also that those same instincts – to follow inspiration wherever it leads, and to be as brutally honest possible – remain a refreshing constant. Whilst there may always be trouble in ‘Paradise’, what’s emerged is James Vincent McMorrow’s most essential album to date.

February 4th || Leuven || Het Depot
February 5th || Paris || Le Trianon
February 6th || Luxembourg || Den Atelier
February 8th || Frankfurt || Batschkapp
February 9th || Amsterdam || Paradiso
February 10th || Hamburg || Grunspan
February 12th || Stockholm || Nalen
February 13th || Copenhagen || Vega
February 15th || Berlin || Metropol
February 16th || Cologne || Gloria Theatre
February 18th || Manchester || O2 Ritz
February 20th || Birmingham || O2 Institute
February 21st || London || O2 Kentish Town Forum
February 22nd || Bristol || O2 Academy
February 23rd || Glasgow || Barrowland Ballroom
April 19th || Dublin || Olympia Theatre
April 20th || Dublin || Olympia Theatre
April 21st || Belfast || Limelight
April 22nd || Limerick || Milk Market