Author: Breffni Banks

‘Staycation’ is the new uplifting, positive, fun, summer vibe single from Francie Conway set for release on the 9^th of July, looks like the ‘Dove of PL&R’n’R’ rides again, the recordings started in Ireland, then over to England, Switzerland & Germany.

Francie is joined on ‘Staycation’ by an incredible team; Vivienne Boucherat & Chris White (Vocals) from The Zombies , Chris was inducted into The Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Fame 2019 in NYC. Dom Torche (Hammond Organ) from the legendary Relief Studio Switzerland. Peter Miklos Erdai (Bass Guitar) the Hungarian Groove Master, Matt Kelleghan (Drums & Percussion) from Moving Hearts , their album ‘The Storm’ will go down as one of the most original and innovative albums in the history of Irish Music. Rory Conway (Vocal & Shaker), Francie’s son has blossomed and grown in confidence singing with his Dad, on the many hugely popular videos shown on social media during the lockdown. Francie wrote the song, sings it and plays 12 string guitar.

‘Hidden Gems’ the current highly acclaimed album from Francie, continues to make playlists around the world, over the last two weeks in California USA and South Africa.

Website: www.francieconway.com

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/francieconway?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/francie_conway/?hI=en

Marty Mone is set to release ‘Six Days On The Road’ on 9th July. Marty recorded this cover live with his band in Marty’s Living Room of his Irish Cottage in County Monaghan Ireland.

The song was recorded by complete chance when Marty and the Band were warming up and waiting on the kettle to boil before starting to practice some of Marty’s own original songs for an upcoming tour.

Marty had wired all the mics down the hall to his studio and hit record before practice started and left it to chance to see what it captured during the practice session.

It was only after sorting through hours of audio combined with music, stories, jokes and craic that Marty took a shine to this random recording that just seemed to capture the magic of playing live.

‘Six Days On The Road’ is a cover of a Country Rock song wrote by Earl Green and Carl Montgomery and made famous by Dave Dudley, telling a true story of life on the road, six days a week.

Marty could relate to this song more than most as he used to work full time as a truck driver and he is often still seen traveling in his R580 Scania, which is the setting for the Official Music Video.

Marty decided he wanted people to really see the true story of life on the road, Marty decided to leave the studio and get back out on the road for 6 long days with his truck and cameras to capture in real-time footage about the life of a trucker travelling for 6 days on the road.

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Get ready to step on in and ‘Drive’!

‘Drive’ is the new summertime EDM-pop release from Sindri Bjornsson, written with Dublin singer-songwriter Ben Pyne.

The release is co-penned by Ben, who has fired out a string of releases in the past three years, including GigsIreland’s Album of the Year 2019 ‘Calm In The Wild’;  and writing collaborations with D. Cullen  on ‘Windows’.

‘Drive’ is the second collaborative effort between Ben and Norway’s Sindri Bjornsson and follows ‘Love Like Mine’, which has clocked up tens of thousands of Spotify plays.

‘Drive’ could be a perfectly-timed release capturing the return to freedom and the taste of escape, which will resonate with many right now.

‘Drive’ is released to all music platforms on Friday, July 16th.

With ‘Self’ featuring Emma Steinbakken, Robert Grace has once again managed to produce cool and sincere pop with a unique ease. ‘Self’ is carried by a breezy laidback beat and completed by Robert’s and Emma’s distinctive voices. The song is about fighting the inner monologue that tries to ruin every good situation you put yourself in. Robert himself says about ‘Self’: “I love this song so much because it’s about me. It IS me essentially. Super personal, super raw.”

Robert has managed to collect over 1.7 million followers on TikTok and over 72 thousand followers on Instagram in record time. He also has over 16.5 million streams to date. Robert has enlisted the support of Emma Steinbakken for his new project. Age 18 Emma is already in the midst of a successful career. For example, she has managed to release a number 1 single in Norway and has already collected several million views on YouTube.

The collaboration with Emma Steinbakken began initially through Robert’s management. About this Robert says: “They got in touch with Emma’s team to see what they thought of the song and if she would be interested in the collab. Thankfully she was because her voice is amazing and works so well on the track. We got to chat a few times and since then we are both so excited for the release!”

Robert’s first track for Columbia Germany / RCA US was ‘Fake Fine’  which went platinum in Ireland, spent five weeks at No 1 on both the Irish Homegrown Charts and the Shazam Ireland Charts.

Alongside Dermot Kennedy and Niall Horan Robert was only the third Irish male solo act to have a top 20 hit in his native country last year. ‘Fake Fine’ spent 6 months in the Irish Airplay charts. The track currently has amassed 10 million plays on Spotify.

His second single for Sony / RCA ‘The Hurt You Gave Me’ currently has 2 million streams and performed well at both International & Irish radio and has achieved significant DSP support.

Over the past number of months Robert has collaborated and written with artists and writers like gnash, KIDDO, KIN, Jamie Hartman (Rag N’ Bone Man), and Jake Gosling (Ed Sheeran) and has developed into an artist ready to take on the world.

Robert is an accomplished live performer and has performed at Ireland’s leading festivals including Electric Picnic and Indiependence. He was also selected to perform at ESNS in January and at The Great Escape in May.

He has a headline gig booked at Dublin’s prestigious ‘Academy’ venue for Friday November 5^th as part of an extensive Irish Tour. Robert will be announcing German, UK & other European dates in due course.

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Filmed in the atmospheric and awe-inspiring caverns of the Mitchelstown Cave, Subterranean Sessions will air on RTE 2 on Thursday July 15th at 22.30h.

Subterranean Sessions: Songs from Beneath the Surface of the Earth, is presented by Roisin O and Barry Murphy (Hermitage Green) and features stunning performances from Lisa Hannigan, Gavin James, Paul Noonan, Lyra, Talos, Eve Belle, Moncrieff and Roisin O.

Recorded live, Subterranean Sessions was filmed in the beautiful Mitchelstown Cave in December 2020. The superb acoustics and the vast natural auditorium of the cavern makes for a unique and unforgettable concert experience.

Set in spectacular surroundings that will simply take your breath away, Subterranean Sessions has captured unforgettable performances from some of Ireland’s leading artists. Some of the highlights include musical gems such as Lisa Hannigan’s ‘Fall’, Gavin James’ ‘Nervous (OOH)’, Paul Noonan’s ‘Some Surprise’ and Lyra’s ‘New Day’.

Producer Shane Dunne says: “At the point this was recorded we as an industry hadn’t worked or seen our colleagues for months. While we are still very much in the worst impacted industry of the pandemic, recordings like this were such a special few days for artists and crew alike. It was a chance to feel normal, to feel valued and to see brilliant artists express themselves in a beautiful location. Now as we hopefully see green shoots and look to the future, it’s nice to look back to those dark December days in South Tipperary and believe this time, that some summer night we’ll see our friends again.”

Subterranean Sessions was part-funded by The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport & Media through the Live Performance Support Scheme.

Subterranean Sessions: Songs from Beneath the Surface of the Earth will air on RTE 2 on Thursday 15 July 2021 at 22.30h.

‘Handcuffed Man Shoots Himself’ is the second single from Invaderband’s forthcoming second album, ‘Peter Gabriel’, following up March’s single ‘I Won’t Remember You’ which was featured on The Thin Air (‘Irish Tracks Of The Week’), GoldenPlec (‘Songs You Need To Hear’), Chordblossom (“Will have you reaching for the repeat button. Two minutes just isn’t enough”), The Irish News (“a cracking new single … a catchy garage pop nugget”), extensive radio play on Today FM, BBC Radio Ulster, RTE2, RTE RNag, etc. and a spot on the BBC Music NI Where Music Matters Playlist for March.

Suggesting an unlikely pairing of The Stranglers’ belligerence and the darker storytelling of The Kinks’ Ray Davies, ‘Handcuffed Man Shoots Himself’ is a muscular postpunk anti-anthem on police brutality. Featuring minimal synth layers, brutish guitars, a pulverizing rhythm section and a singular voice, the track is cut from a strain of intelligent punk rock musique vérité, à la Gang of Four, Swell Maps, the aforementioned Stranglers and more recently, Blur. Tough in sound and attitude, the song is pointed social reportage based on a true story.

Songwriter and frontman Adam Leonard says: “The song title is taken directly from a headline I saw. Always a good starting point for a song. A 21-year old guy called Chavis Carter was arrested, handcuffed and placed in the back of police patrol car. This was in Arkansas a few years ago. He was searched twice for a weapon and none was found. When the dashcam was (conveniently) switched off the detainee somehow managed to obtain a gun and fatally shoot himself in the head, all whilst cuffed with his hands behind his back…. or so the police officers claimed. Disturbing stuff.”

When asked who was on the single’s sleeve, Adam said “That’s Derek Chauvin, the policeman who killed George Floyd. The same kind of story, a ‘one-off incident’ which just keeps happening again and again … and again.”

Invaderband are a garage/art rock band assembled in Derry, Northern Ireland by Mancunian singer, guitarist and songwriter Adam Leonard, who enlisted local musicians to voltage-enhance his dystopian postpunk songs.

After the release of their debut single ‘The Implausible Man’ and follow-up ‘Attack Of The Pod People’, their self-titled debut album arrived in 2017 and was met with radio play throughout the UK & Ireland on BBC Radio 6Music (Steve Lamacq, Gideon Coe & Tom Robinson), BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Foyle, RTE 2FM, RTE 2XM, RTE RNAG & Today FM, receiving widespread critical acclaim and a shortlist in the Northern Ireland Music Prize for Album of the Year 2017.

The quartet have played shows all over Ireland and Northern Ireland including Other Voices, and their singles have been selected for Steve Lamacq’s 6Music Recommends show twice.

The new album ‘Peter Gabriel’ is scheduled for release by Tectona Grandis in September.

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Having just formed in 2021, Dublin based alt-electronic artist wornoc (aka Conor Walsh) has quickly championed the likes of  Rock Sound and Hot Press magazine, along with gaining national and international airplay. wornoc has also collaborated with highly respected artists; Andrew Marshall (Billie Eilish) and Justin Nace (PVRIS) on a live drum performance of his previous release ‘Signs’. Inspired by the sounds of artists such as Massive Attack, God Is An Astronaut, Tycho, Olafur Arnolds, and Bonobo, wornoc’s music is cinematic, intense and emotional. Driven by infectious grooves, lush ambient textures, melodic guitar riffs and electronic music, wornoc provides a spectacular sonic environment for introspections, sounds that are far removed from what’s going on in the Irish music scene.

Released on the 13th of July, wornoc celebrates the beauty of Ireland in minimalist instrumental journey ‘Four Corners’. Confined to his country during lockdown, Conor took off on an inspiring trip around Ireland visiting glorious coastal points such as Malin Head, Mizen Head and Belmullet, sites which can be viewed in his upcoming music video. Oozing alt-electronic and downbeat elements, ‘Four Corners’ is led by emotive strings and sax, soft percussion, intimate plucks, and dreamy keys.

“My mate Oscar Hackett and I took off on a spontaneous trip around Ireland for a few days with the intention to visit locations that we have never been to before such as Malin Head, Mizen Head and Belmullet. I always knew Ireland was a beautiful place but I never really properly explored it in this carefree kind of way. After coming home with a bursting array of inspiration, I began writing ‘Four Corners’. This track has a completely different vibe to my last single, it’s calming, emotional and hopeful.  Over the next few weeks I will be releasing the official music video which is basically a short documentary of the trip, along with cool visuals created by Oscar.”

Gigs: 29th January 2022 – Whelans (Upstairs) – Dublin

            6th February 2022 – Voodoo Lounge – Belfast

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2021 has already been a busy year for David Kitt with an album release as Sansbut with free jazz saxophonist Catherine Sikora and producing and composing music for Cornaleena, a film featuring writer Kevin Barry, composer Jennifer Walshe and legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Mary Margaret O’Hara amongst many other esteemed artists.

Around March/April 2020 having just arrived in Paris during peak Covid uncertainty and with gigs cancelled for the foreseeable future he decided it might be a good moment to mark 20 years since the release of his debut album, by revisiting 20 songs from his extensive back catalogue, spanning a career that includes 8 full-length record releases. Choosing 20 songs to re-record for an intimate reworking of some of his favourite and most successful tracks, the new collection, ’20’, is released independently on vinyl and digital, on Friday 2^nd July 2021.

“Choosing 20 songs was more difficult than I expected, but with one eye on what I feel fans might want to hear, especially in the absence of shows I was planning for this year, I’ve chosen the 20 songs that resonate with me the most at this moment in time. 20 songs I feel I can still fully inhabit and at times, find something new in too.”

Having chosen the songs, the recording process ended up taking longer than expected and a lot of the early recordings he made in Paris and Dublin were abandoned.

“I realised on what i thought was the home straight of doing this ’20’ record that I’d chickened out, once again, from doing what I’d set out to do – which was make a record centred around solo guitar performances off the tempo-locked grid. The record had slowly become overpopulated with beat-driven tracks, and while I felt it needed a bit of that, I’d gone too far.”

The recording process really began bear fruit once he moved himself to South Kerry where the majesty of the Kingdom and slower pace of life and a quiet place to record all helped provide the necessary setting to get it right.

“It’s funny how sometimes the most simple things are the hardest to pull off. I thought that simplifying things would make my job easier but it turned out to be the opposite. With so much relying on the solo performances I had to get it perfect, not technically perfect, it just had to have a certain magic to carry it – that magic proved elusive, especially against the tide of lockdown 3 and Irish January, but the circumstances probably helped in their own way too. It filled me with even greater respect and admiration for those classic singer-songwriter records of the 60s and 70s. like Joni Mitchell ‘Blue’, Nick Drake’s ‘Pink Moon’, you know the ones. They’re just so hard to pull off the guitar playing on those two in particular is just superhuman.

I’m not saying I’ve quite reached those dizzy heights, but I’ve definitely made a record that I haven’t made before and one that I’m really excited to share.”

Once Kitt had made the more stripped back record with the ten songs of Part 1, he says he felt free and excited to introduce more beats and electronic elements and filled out the arrangements for Part 2 “at times slipping in nods to the various productions styles of records like ‘The Big Romance’, ‘The Nightsaver’ and ‘Not Fade Away’. Part 2 leans heavily on ‘The Big Romance’ as it marks 20 years since its release. With no other plans to mark this occasion, no opportunities to gig it, and without the rights to the original to do a proper vinyl reissue, and Warners seemingly having no interest in doing so either, it felt good to reclaim some of these songs and have new versions that I was free to release myself.

There was always an attempt to bring something new out in the new versions. My favourite song on ‘The Big Romance’ was ‘Pale Blue Light’ and it’s the same on ’20’. I love how that turned with the involvement of Richie Egan and Matthew Bolger of The Redneck Manifesto. To my ears it has an Eno singing with Talking Heads kinda thing going on but sounds distinctly like me, Rich and Matty at the same time. I also added a middle 8 to ‘Say No More’ that I wrote shortly after it was recorded and it feels much closer to how I initially imagined that song originally now.

The record also features Villager Conor O’Brien who performed a stunning chamber vocal arrangement on ‘Winter Song’, Michelle Stoddart of The Magic Numbers who brought some of her Numbers magic to ‘Lessa Lit A Candle For Me’, regular collaborators Margie Jean Lewis and Katie as well as drummer Graham Hopkins formerly of Therapy, Goodtime John, Ann Scott, Karl Odlum, David Singleton and Justin Carroll. Working with all these people remotely really helped with what was a very solitary existence in south Kerry during the pandemic and there were many zooms and chats reminiscing about the times shared over the years with all the musicians involved.

The intention was always for this to be a fans-only record but it turned out so good I thought it was worth giving a bit of promotion and getting it to as many people as possible. There are 2/3 albums of new material coming out in the next 12 months so this is it for the nostalgia.

I feel ready and very keen to take the songwriting wheel back from all these younger versions of myself I’ve been spending so much time with, but if ever there was a time to look back and even learn from getting back into the headspace of these old songs this was the time to do it”.

‘20’ by David Kitt is officially out on vinyl and all streaming platforms Friday 2^nd July 2021.

Order the record from Dublin Vinyl: https://store.dublinvinyl.com/pages/david-kitt

Buy/Stream Part 1 on Bandcamp: https://davidkitt.bandcamp.com/album/20-part-1

Buy/Stream Part 2 on Bandcamp: https://davidkitt.bandcamp.com/album/20-part-2

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‘Vesta’ is the debut track from The Ancient Sea, a newly launched project by Irish multi-instrumentalist James Gabriel Martin.

The song merges acoustic instruments from every continent with atmospheric textures and soundscapes, synthesizers and samples to take the listener on an engaging journey. At the core of the track is a steady driving Irish banjo that acts as a unique lynchpin in the narrative. Inspired in equal parts by science fiction media, the myths of Ancient Greece and old spaghetti westerns, the track features NASA library recordings, vintage analogue noisescapes and an exploding horn section reminiscent of Ennio Morricone.

Well-known for his work as a singer-songwriter with his band Cry Monster Cry, James has spent the past ten years working in the music industry and touring extensively to international audiences.

“I made no conscious decision to launch a new project. It happened by chance and at a time when I was feeling burnt out. Pre-Covid, we had spent two years producing a Cry Monster Cry album. A lot of time, energy and funding was put into it, and it looked set to be our most successful output to date. A full international tour was organised, and just like that the rug was pulled out from under us.”

“During the first lockdown in Ireland I felt that I had lost all confidence in myself and could not muster the energy to write or play music. My instruments sat for months. The thought of trying to say something at that time felt like a leviathan task.”

“Then, one day I decided to build a new pedal board, adding reverb and delay pedals to my existing setup. I recorded some short clips of myself playing my banjo through it and posted them online. They ended up getting over 1 million views, with many people getting in touch to request a full track.”

James set to work producing Vesta in his home studio, playing all the instruments himself, as well as doing the arranging and mixing. It proved to be a freeing experience.

“There was no pressure, I just enjoyed the process of creating. There was little expectation, and because it was so different to what I usually do, I allowed myself to just go in any new direction that felt right.”

‘Vesta’ is out now on all platforms.

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Emerging rock artist Black Pope has just released the third single from his debut EP, a seven-minute horror epic called ‘Demon Stomp’. The song is a nostalgia-tinged monster truck with tight instrumentation, wild drum fills and some serious dark swagger.

The lyrics tell the story of a young person witnessing a demonic possession on a dance floor.

“I guess the song is about not belonging anywhere, and the emotional chaos that can cause,” the songwriter explains. “We all find a balance of how much we’re willing to go along with other people’s expectations, but without a strong sense of self, it can be easy to get lost. All that, plus you’re 16 and possessed by the Devil.”

The track was recorded in Monique Studios in Cork, Ireland with producer Cian Riordan (who mixed St. Vincent’s latest album, “Daddy’s Home”) and is the third single from Black Pope’s upcoming EP “Music for Girls Vol. I”, which is set for a summer release.

Black Pope’s ‘Demon Stomp’ is out now.