Author: Breffni Banks

Following on from a whirlwind of successful singles since her debut in 2020, acclaimed Irish singer-songwriter Lea Heart is captivating audiences once again with her latest release ‘Stolen.’

A breathtaking and deeply personal single that marks a significant shift in her artistic journey “Stolen,” showcases Heart’s evolution as an artist, as she fearlessly exposes her own personal journey and experiences.

With a musical career that has consistently garnered praise for it’s refreshing and invigorating pop hits, Lea Heart has cemented her position in the Irish pop music scene with one infectious track after another.

This single demonstrates Lea Heart’s growth as an artist, showcasing a new level of lyrical depth and vocal prowess as “Stolen” invites listeners to connect with Heart’s experiences in a way that feels both relatable and cathartic.

‘Stolen’ is a heartfelt & powerful song discussing Lea’s personal experiences with loss throughout her childhood. Written from a child’s perspective during a time when a family system changes and the impact & emotions that come along with grieving someone who hasn’t died. “Only three when you were thirty, said you loved me like your own.” The song’s powerful melodies and poignant lyrics are a testament to Heart’s dedication to her craft and her commitment to delivering music that speaks directly to the hearts of her audience. Lea Heart shared her thoughts on the creative process behind ‘Stolen’, saying, ” One of most important things to me when writing ‘Stolen’ was to create a song that described an experience that other people with similar stories could connect to. Through this shared experience, my hope is that other people will relate to the complex emotions and often unanswered questions that can arise under these circumstances and in turn feel less alone.

‘Stolen’ is accompanied by a visually stunning music video that further amplifies the song’s emotional impact. The video is a visual representation of Heart’s personal narrative, bringing her lyrics to life through evocative imagery and captivating storytelling.

Directed by Lar Kinlan ( Love/Hate, Charlie, Breakfast on Pluto) with the award winning and Bafta, RTS and Emmy nominated John Conroy (Luther, Penny Dreadful, Fortitude) on cinematography and Starring Paul Reid ( The Ritual, Raw, Boy Eats Girl).

As Lea Heart continues to evolve as an artist, ‘Stolen’ stands as a testament to her unwavering commitment to her art and her determination to create music that leaves a lasting impression. With this new single, Heart solidifies her status as a true musical force, ready to take her audience on a transformative and unforgettable musical journey.

The single will be available on all major streaming platforms from September 22nd

Connect with Lea Heart

TikTok | YouTube | Website | Instagram | Spotify | Facebook

Irish Independent artist Natalie Moran is a singer songwriter releasing music in the genre of pop soul and new wave pop with a love for putting a modern twist on soul and synth.

Natalie’s tracks have gained notoriety including track of the week and features across publications and radio stations such as Hot Press, GoldenPlec, FM104, 98FM, Today FM, Red FM, Spin networks, RTE networks and more. Natalie further flourishes with track traction, streams and live performances.

‘Thunder’ is a pop soul track with soulful vocals, instruments and emotive uplifting song moments. The song’s message is about how we don’t always realise how strong we are until being strong is our only choice and there is a fighter in us and helping us push through to the brighter days ahead. It further acknowledges that even when we don’t realise it we have guidance and are rooted for and to know that it is okay not to be okay.

Available for play/released on 13 October 2023

Connect with Natalie Moran

YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify

Eurovision hopefuls Victoria Keating and Áine O’Gorman join forces to release their cover of Johnny Logan’s ‘What’s Another Year’. The West Cork duo release their tender version of the Eurovision favourite on September 29, 2023.

When singer/ songwriters Victoria Keating and Áine O’ Gorman collaborate, they create magic. The two singers unite once again to release their own version of ‘What’s Another Year’. Originally made famous by Johnny Logan the duo has put their own mark on the song imbuing it with raw emotion and tenderness. Following Victoria’s cancer diagnosis in May 2023, the West Cork natives decided to submit their own entry to the Eurovision this year. As they were writing, full of new meaning and hope the Johnny Logan classic came to mind and it felt right that the duo records their own version. Speaking on the single Victoria Keating says, “It’s back to the glory days of songwriting, and we have dedicated it to Shay Healy”. ‘What’s Another Year’ was produced, mixed, and mastered by Martin Leahy who also performs pedal-steel, synth, and drums on the single. With Áine O’Gorman performing on piano and strings.  All monies raised through sales of the single will go to the Parkinson’s Association of Ireland.

Long time friends, Victoria and Áine have previously released three co-written songs including 2020’s ‘The Poor Ground’ written with Jamie Kelly in response to the Tuam Babies scandal; followed by singles ‘Brigid’ and 2023’s ‘Sweet Bird’.  Victoria and Áine were blown away by support for their Kickstarter fundraising campaign that will help the songwriters complete recording of their upcoming album. Victoria’s cancer diagnosis put an urgency to completing this project which she says has been a lifeline during her treatment. Anyone interested in finding out more about this can do so by visiting https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/953740193/victoria-keating-and-aine-o-gorman

Performed by Johnny Logan and composed by Shay Healy ‘What’s Another Year’ won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980. It was Johnny’s first Eurovision win (out of three, as performer and later songwriter) and Ireland’s second Eurovision win. The song went on to reach the Number 1 spot on the UK Singles Chart.

Victoria Keating has worked with Christy Moore extensively since 2011, providing harmony vocals on five albums. She has toured with both Christy and Declan Sinnott playing sold out shows such as Glastonbury and Vicar Street, Dublin. In 2017, Victoria was thrilled to be asked by composer Mark Wilkins to perform in ‘The Madrugada’ a song cycle based the lyrics of Mick Lynch, former frontman of Cork punk band Stump. Victoria is building a loyal fanbase on her lockdown project ‘Little Rooms, Big Music’. The weekly online show is live-streamed every Friday from her living room and reaches audiences of over 26,000 viewers. Victoria has steadily been releasing music since November 2020. Her single, ‘I’m Not Really Here’ was released on Oíche Nollaig na mBan. It’s the third single to be taken from her debut album, Little Rooms. A concept album, each song is a different ‘room’ in Victoria’s life; how she lives in or experiences that ‘room’ and how we all have different ‘rooms’ to visit, weave in and out of, or sometimes, ignore. Victoria is currently recording her debut album, Little Rooms in Wavefield Studio, Clonakilty which is due for release in September 2024.

Ballinadee singer-songwriter Áine O’Gorman writes songs from a deeply emotional perspective. With two musical parents, her mother a piano teacher Áine had no choice but to pursue a life of music. A full-time musician Áine after spending years performing in bands began releasing her own music in 2019 with her debut single ‘Lydia’. Since then, she has released more music including 2021’s self-titled EP and her 2022 single ‘These Empty Rooms’. ‘These Empty Rooms’ is a powerful tribute to Áine’s late mother Margaret O’ Gorman who died tragically 20 years ago and is a relatable song about grief and living with the empty spaces left behind. ‘These Empty Rooms’ has been included in this year’s Grammy submissions.

Praise for Victoria Keating

“I think this woman is quite brilliant” – John Creedon, RTE Radio 1

Praise for Áine O’Gorman

“Absolutely stunning!” – Eve Blair, BBC Radio Ulster’

“This is Beautiful” – Ryan Freeland, three-time Grammy Award winning producer

Connect with Victoria Keating

Facebook / Instagram / Twitter

Connect with Áine O‘Gorman

Facebook / Instagram / Twitter

For media enquiries contact mags@nullquestmedia.ie

New Single “Mole In The Ground”

Irish and UK Tour Dates

2^nd Dec – Vicar St, Dublin

Smart URL / Re-Order Link: https://johnfrancisflynn.ffm.to/lotwsts

Award winning singer and multi-instrumentalist John Francis Flynn today shares new single ‘Mole In The Ground’ and it’s video, alongside news of his new album Look Over The Wall, See The Sky, which will be released via River Lea Recordings on November 10^th 2023, and new Ireland and UK tour dates for 2023 and January 2024. The video was directed by Peadar Ó Goill.

A founding member of the band, Skipper’s Alley, with whom he has toured extensively throughout Europe and America. While supporting Lankum on their 2019 UK tour he caught the eye of Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee who quickly signed John to Rough Trade imprint label, River Lea. His debut album I Would Not Live Always subsequently won over critics across the board, including being MOJO magazine’s ‘Folk Album Of The Year’ and it led to him being crowned “Best Singer” and “Best Emerging Artist” at the 2021 RTE Folk Awards.

John Francis Flynn’s music evolves around traditional and folk material from Ireland, but that is only the starting point.  On the first single from the album ‘Mole In The Ground’, a cover of an American anti-establishment folk song recorded by Bascom Lamar Lunsford in 1928, John evokes the rebellious energy he felt in his home of Dublin during a time when it was being “torn to shreds by property developers and vulture funds.”

As John explains, “I was drawn to this song for its almost hallucinatory, anti-authoritian spirit at a time when Dublin was being torn to shreds by property developers and vulture funds. Nothing much has changed there if I’m honest, but there’s always hope when people are willing to fight for their communities. I wanted to get to grips with the rebellious energy I felt in the city through the jagged arrangement and to highlight the visceral language used in the song by speaking the lyrics as opposed to singing them.”

Often, to imagine Ireland is to fantasise about rolling hills, giants, saints and snakes. As John Francis Flynn says, it involves “a fair bit of paddywhackery and I hate paddywhackery.” The psyche-celtic album artwork for John’s second album Look Over The Wall, See The Sky, hints at this too though: a crystal goblet of luminous green Crème de Menthe resting upon a mossy ledge, perfectly encapsulating this imagined idea of Ireland in a way that is both funny and poignant. But, if you have to imagine Ireland in the first place, then you’re probably not too familiar with its reality: the towering glass giants of Google and Facebook, the unaffordable luxury hotels lining the Liffey amidst a homelessness epidemic and the highest rents in Europe.

To listen to Look Over The Wall, See The Sky is to witness history through a modern lens in a trance-like state. As expected, Flynn’s contemporary influences are sufficiently esoteric, from ‘The Heart Pumps Kool Aid’ by —__–___ to ‘The invention of the Human’ by Dylan Henner (a concept album about an AI learning to sing). However, he was also inspired by his contemporaries in the traditional music scene in Ireland, many of whom contributed to the album, as well as those outside of it, such as noise-rockers Gilla Band and Rising Damp.

On his last record, I Would Not Live Always, John was much more conscious of bringing acoustic instruments and weird synthesized sounds together as a concept. But now with his unique musical language fully formed, “I feel freer within that language to experiment and take it further without it being too conscious or premeditated”.

Album Tracklisting:

The Zoological Gardens

Mole In The Ground

Willie Crotty

Kitty

The Seasons

Within A Mile Of Dublin

The Lag Song

Dirty Old Town

Forthcoming Tour Dates [tickets on sale Friday Sept 15^th]

Fri, Dec 1^st – Set Theatre, Kilkenny

Sat, Dec 2^nd – Vicar St, Dublin

Fri, Dec 8^th – Roisin Dubh, Galway

Sat, Dec 9^th – St Luke’s, Cork

Sun, Dec 10^th – De Barras, Clonakilty

Thurs, Dec 14^th – Dolan’s Warehouse, Limerick

Fri, Jan 12^th – Out To Lunch Festival, Ulster Sports Club, Belfast

Fri, Jan 19^th – Brudenell, Leeds

Sat, Jan 20^th – Celtic Connections, Drygate, Glasgow

Sun, Jan 21^st – The Caves, Edinburgh

Tues, Jan 23^rd – The Exchange, North Shields

Wed, Jan 24^th – YES. Manchester

Thurs, Jan 25^th – Hare and Hounds, Birmingham

Fri, Jan 26^th – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

Sat, Jan 27^th – The Exchange, Bristol

Tues, Jan 30^th – Concorde 2, Brighton

Wed, Jan 31^st – The Dome, London

Thu, Feb 22^nd – Theatre Royal, Waterford

https://shop.roughtraderecords.com/river-lea-recordings

https://recodepublicity.com/

Indigo Lights was formed in 2021 by frontman Ger who teamed up with Facebook friends Rob, Enzo and Adrien to complete the live line up and the band went on to release three singles that reached No 1 on the iTunes Rock Charts. Indigo Lights played their first show in February 2022 to a full house at Fibber Magees and have since gone on to play multiple dates in venues to big crowds around the country. The band have now released their new single, “Magic” which was recorded at Tsunami Studios and have recorded a live, 12 track album which will be released as 3 EPs.  The first EP “On the Fly” will be available on all streaming sites from Sept 1^st, 2023.

Glassonic is a Dublin based alternative rock group comprised of Jonathan (guitar and vocals), Peter (drums and vocals), Jason (keyboard and vocals) and Rourke (bass). The quartet, drawing influences from an array of musical spaces such as John Mayer, Foo Fighters and Hanson, started writing original music in early 2022. With years of songwriting and gigging behind them Glassonic now aim to express that experience in an eclectic live set.

A.Leigh is a Dublin based indie / pop / rock musician and songwriter. Named as one of Whelans “Ones to Watch’” in both 2017 and 2018, A.Leigh is a regular around the Dublin music scene and has opened for iconic Irish acts such as Brian Kennedy, Freddie White, Bagatelle and Christy Dignam. Following the independent release of her debut album, “Self Made Sorrows” in 2022, A.Leigh is back recording her second album which is due for release in 2024.

Bayo, a rising star ignites once again with an explosive new single, ‘How Are You’. Following the scorching success of his hit song ‘More Fire,’ which blazed its trail across the music scene. Bayo is a musical maestro known for blending genres into sonic masterpieces seamlessly.

Building upon the momentum of ‘More Fire,’ this track delivers an intoxicating blend of Afrobeat, dancehall, and R&B influences, creating a sonic experience that’s impossible to resist.

The smooth yet rhythmic tempo of “How Are You” maintains the same captivating energy that fans fell in love with during Bayo’s previous release, promising to keep listeners in the groove from start to finish. His dedication to creating music that resonates has earned him recognition from esteemed platforms such as IMRO and RTE, cementing his status as a rising star to watch.

With his finger on the pulse of what makes music both emotionally resonant and irresistibly catchy, Bayo once again proves his prowess as a storyteller. ‘How Are You’ invites listeners on an emotional journey, pulling them into an intricate web of feelings and melodies.

Prepare to be swept away by the magic of ‘How Are You’ as Bayo showcases his evolution as an artist while staying true to the signature elements that have endeared him to audiences nationally. The song is scheduled for release on the 22nd of September 2023.

For show bookings, interviews, or any media inquiries, please contact: Davygold26@nullgmail.com

Connect with Bayo

Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

Since launching his debut album “Ara” at Doolin Folk Festival in 2021, multi-instrumentalist and producer HUGSIE has gigged extensively in both the Irish-pub and original music scenes. Having supported artists like Guitar virtuoso Shane Hennessy, Multi-Genre aficionado Eric De Buitleir, and Traditional Irish Music Legends Dave Sheridan and Brian Hughes, HUGSIE headlined a sold out “YOUNGBLOOD MUSIC” show in Carlow in May of this year, before showcasing some of his new material at Carlow Arts Festival in June, 2023.

His second studio album, “Sound!”, was launched in August 2023 to a sold out room in Scraggs Alley, Carlow. This 10 track alternative folk album, supported by Carlow Arts Office, was written, performed, produced and mixed by HUGSIE; and mastered by Billy Farrell (Brian Kennedy, The Corrs, The High Kings) during the summer months of 2023. HUGSIE is joined by some exceptionally talented local traditional Irish musicians on the record.

This album shows the clear progression and maturing of HUGSIE as an artist, musician and song writer. He has refined his individual sound through creative experimentation and live gigging experience. Drawing inspiration from The Dubliners, The Wolfe Tones, Damien Dempsey, Muddy Waters and Metallica, HUGSIE has put together an eclectic mix of raw, honest, colloquial songs compiled of soaring, gritty vocals, driving acoustic guitar, thumping suitcase kick drum, dramatic Bodhrán, delicate Fiddle playing and banjo picking, peppered in parts with hefty basslines.

HUGSIE uses storytelling and a range of different musical instruments to create an energetic live show that is light-hearted, lively and jovial.

Keep up to date with upcoming gigs and shows by following HUGSIE on Instagram HERE

Letterbox Kid is the artistic project of 23-year-old Irish singer-singerwriter, producer, and rapper, Isaac O’Sullivan. The Letterbox Kid project elegantly blends a wide array of genres such as Hip-Hop, R&B and Soul to create an astoundingly unique and melodic sound.

Since Isaac’s first release as the Letterbox Kid back in 2021, the Letterbox Kid project has never stopped growing and evolving, both sonically and thematically. From selling CDs from his school bag to supporting the likes of Paul Noonan and Daithi, Isaac has always made music for the right reasons; for personal growth and understanding, for sharing in expression, for fun. The Letterbox Kid project is now ready to stretch its legs. Let The Forecast Be White Please is the beautiful culmination of this young Hip-Hop artists hard work, aspirations and vision. It is a plea for hope. It is a bold cry for help. It is acceptance, and it is letting go. It is all melodic, gorgeous, inspiring and honest. It represents the ups and downs of life, the pain and the joy. It is the start of this next chapter of creation for the Letterbox Kid. It is the maturity of this artistic project coming to light.

Isaac was born in the countryside of Waterford in the south of Ireland, he grew up on the sounds of Joni Mitchell, Damien Dempsey, The Police and The Be Good Tanyas, with his father being a formative figure on his listening habits. He has spent the majority of his young adult life living in Cork City, studying under some of the brilliant minds at the Cork School of Music. Here was where the Letterbox Kid project was born. Influenced by peers and friends such as Hausu Records co-founders Automatic Blue and ActualAcid, as well as Irish Hip-Hop revelation Alex Gough, the Letterbox Kid sprung into life with sounds of Jeff Buckley, Tyler The Creator, King Krule and Travis Scott. The harder Isaac worked and the more comfortable he became in his skin made for local as well as national success with shows in Cyprus Avenue, Workmans, Sea Church and Whelans, working with artists such as 1000 Beasts, Arthur Valentine and Houseplants along the way, finding Spotify editorial playlist success on ‘A Breath Of Fresh Eire’.

The Letterbox Kid will now release his most complete work to date in ‘Let The Forecast Be White Please’. It is a uniquely beautiful, melodic and mesmerising song. The Letterbox Kid holds his distinguished grit and character throughout the track but he is surrounded by luscious synths, gorgeous samples and sweet vocals. He delicately hand picks his sounds of production from the Electronic world, the Hip-Hop world as well as the R&B world to create something magnificent. Although self-produced, Isaac calls on all of the talents available to him on Let The Forecast Be White Please. Some of his closest friends as well as colleagues contribute to the beauty of the song. Irish pop-star Darian June lends her keyboard skills, music producer extraordinaire Automatic Blue MDs, the extremely professional and talented Grace Wood is responsible for the stunning backing vocals, and the whole song was mixed & mastered by Corks very own Cian Sweeney (1000 Beasts).

Let The Forecast Be White Please is the first of 4 singles to be released throughout the coming year as part of a larger EP cleverly titled, Let’s Talk About The Weather. This EP playfully intermingles the Letterbox Kids expressive thoughts and feelings with Irelands obsession with the topic of weather to create an immersive experience. One full of interesting bars, catchy hooks and cinematic sound-scape. Let The Forecast Be White Please releases on all streaming platforms on September 22nd. Find contact details as well as an exclusive listen to the song above.

Connect with Letterbox Kid

Instagram | Facebook | Spotify