Author: Breffni Banks

Rory & The Island set to release highly anticipated new EP “Centre Comes Together” out now

Brand new single “Living The Dream” out now

Also touring across Ireland from December to January

Irish artist Rory & The Island has announced the release of his highly anticipated new EP “Centre Comes Together” on 28 October on new Irish indie label Voices of the Sea. His brand new single “Living The Dream” is also set for release on 28 October.

Rory & The Island is set to tour across Ireland this coming December and January, performing songs from the new EP and previous albums. Tickets are on sale now via https://www.roryandtheisland.com.

Rory & The Island Tour Dates

8 December: Andersons, Sligo

9 December: Dolans Warehouse, Limerick

10 December: Opium, Dublin

26 January: Spirit Store, Dundalk

28 January: Monroes, Galway

“Centre Comes Together” is the brand new 4 track EP by Donegal artist Rory & The Island, and is a direct follow up to “Centre Falls Apart”, the album released by Rory & The Island earlier this year. The album received a fantastic reaction with 3 singles charting at Number 1 on iTunes Ireland, alongside RTE Radio 1 and Ocean FM making “Centre Falls Apart” their album of the week.

Speaking of the single and the announcement of the EP Rory & The Island said: ”I’m buzzing to release my new single “Living the Dream”, It’s one of the strongest melodies I have ever written and I like the double meaning of the lyrics which casts a cold eye on the double edged sword that is Social Media. This EP also contains 3 leftover songs from my album sessions which I reworked, as they just were not right at the time.”

Recorded in Distant Studios in Yorkshire,  the standout song of the 4 track EP is “Living The Dream” – a catchy satirical gem which gives a dark twist on how we are easily sucked into the false side of social media. Sonically it gives nods to The Beatles, The Divine Comedy, Phil Spector and The Ramones.

The EP also includes the track “Dreaming of a Supernova”,  a humorous song written about an actual dream Rory & The Island had about Liam and Noel Gallagher getting back together in an Irish bar.

Previous to Rory & The Island, Rory Gallagher was the lead singer and bassist with Irish Meteor award winning group The Revs from 2000 to 2007 – before relocating to Lanzarote where he and his wife opened The Island music bar. He and his family then moved to Scotland in February 2020 to open a new live music bar in Edinburgh, unfortunately they never reached their official opening night in March 2020 due to the global pandemic. During the lockdowns Rory & The Island gigged to a huge new online audience, which led to him playing sold out shows in cities all over Ireland and the UK and Ireland once restrictions were lifted.

After the lows of losing a live music bar in Edinburgh in the 2020 pandemic, Rory Gallagher is now opening a brand new one in his old stomping ground of Puerto Del Carmen in Lanzarote. Speaking of the new opening he said: “It’s crazy to think at one point I was doing delivery driving for Amazon in 2020 and now I am able to release brand new music, tour and open another live music bar in 2023. It’s absolutely brilliant!”. Rory’s Corner Bar will officially open in late January 2023, on the sunny island of Lanzarote.

“Centre Comes Together” the highly anticipated new EP from Rory & The Island is out on 28 October on new Irish indie label Voices of the Sea alongside his brand new single “Living The Dream”.

Connect with Rory & The Island 

Website | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram

Irish electronic producer Gavin MacDermott, better known as Dashoda, returns after a three-year hiatus on Friday, October 28th, 2022 with his new retro pop earworm, ‘Looking For You‘.

The track was written and produced by Dashoda with London-based Ross Fortune (A.K.A. Benny Smiles), who has worked with Jonas Blue, Clean Bandit, Hotline Miami Soundtrack, on additional production.

Early support has come from Beta DaSilva who played the single on his 2fm new music show last night.

On ‘Looking For You’, Dashoda’s smooth falsetto soars into the stratosphere over a funky bassline and buzzing electric guitar. The neon, shimmering synth will have you itching to bust out the mirror ball.

‘Looking For You’ wasn’t always destined for the dance floor. Dashoda says of the track: “I started writing ‘Looking For You’ with Richey McCourt before the lockdown in 2020. It began life with a very different sound, more sombre and lo-fi. Ross Fortune took a risk on a more lush synth heavy sound. When I first heard it played back I was having a few beers on the canal with my girlfriend and I loved his interpretation. It felt like the right way to go, especially because of how uncertain those times were.”

Dashoda has started to build a good reputation as an artist of irresistible electro pop stylings. Nialler9 named him “one to watch” after the release of his 2019 single ‘38 Long’, and Totally Dublin  praised that song as “a ridiculously infectious, energy-packed piece of dance-indie.”

The Single Cells are childhood friends Ian and Tom. They’ve made music together for over 10 years and, for better or for worse, will always make music together… even if they want to kill each other.

Influences include Pavement, The Magnetic Fields, Guided by Voices, John Fahey, and many more they are audibly thieving from. Their lyrics are typically made up of observations from humorous occurrences in their daily lives, embellished with failed surrealistic attempts at “poetry”.

At the very least, they’re laughing. Hopefully you can laugh, too.

‘silent fears’ is letting go of what you hold the closest – Echo Northstar.

The track has roots in 80s gothic aesthetics, branching forward to ethereal unknowns for new ideas and sounds.

Echo wishes the listener “to turn to what scares them the most…without fear”.

 Echo Northstar is an artist, songwriter and producer now living and making music and art in London, with roots strongly grounded in Ireland.

‘silent fears’ follows Echo Northstar’s debut single ‘someone else’.

Echo’s forthcoming EP ‘things I wish I could say’ will land in the New Year.

‘silent fears’ will be available on all streaming platforms including Bandcamp from today.

Join Echo Northstar’s loyal fan base to forge on into the unknown.

Connect with Echo Northstar

Website | Instagram | Twitter

Corner Boy have just released of their highly anticipated self-titled debut album today, Friday 28th October – with new single ‘The Sea’ out now across all digital platforms.

A knockout punch of marauding dark folk infused with traditional Irish instruments, ‘The Sea’ is the third and final single from Corner Boy’s debut album. Featuring unrelenting funereal drumming, empathic vocals and screaming guitar ‘The Sea’ explores a dialogue of inner turmoil through striking imagery and impassioned lyrics. Produced by Gavin Glass, Orphan Studios, Ireland.

For nearly a decade late-night driving, couch surfing and service station dinners fuelled Corner Boy’s ever-evolving foot stomping ramble through the many pubs, clubs, rooms and ruins of every shape and size up and down Ireland and further afield.

As a result a collection of songs quietly willed their way into existence representative of this experience living and learning on the road and crafted by the associated peaks and troughs that come with the transient territory.

Fast forward to March 2020 and with the band’s 2002 Ford Transit van (Sheila) now indisposed a moment finally arrived for Corner Boy to record their debut album. Under the tutelage of producer Gavin Glass the band sought refuge in Orphan Studios and some 18 months later, emerged from the other side with a debut album in hand.

Very much the aural amalgam, the album explores in varying degrees combinations of folk, rock, traditional, bluegrass and alternative. Accompanied by heartfelt lyrics as earnest as they are resonant.

The highly anticipated self-titled debut album Corner Boy is out now.

Upcoming Live Dates

Friday 2nd December – Whelans (https://www.whelanslive.com/event/corner-boy/)

Saturday 10th December  – National Opera House, Wexford (https://www.nationaloperahouse.ie/whats-on/show/corner-boy)

Kerry musician ‘Ways of Seeing’ releases his debut album ‘End Comes To Light’ on October 28th, 2022. The album was recorded and produced with Christian Best (Mick Flannery) and Alex Borwick (Niamh Regan, Rachel Lavelle). The album was mixed by Tommy McLaughlin (Soak, Pillow Queens, Ailbhe Reddy) at Attica Audio in Donegal.

“The record was made over two years with its humble beginnings in an attic space in Kerry. Once the songs were written, I worked with many talented musicians in Cork and Dublin to develop the ideas – their musicianship really helped to tie the album together and hopefully give the album its own unique sound. It is an album about change, the slow realisation that something is coming to an end, the process of grieving this end and seeing it as the start of something else. It also explores the idea of arriving at the place where you started but seeing this place in a whole new light.”

“The next step is to bring it to a live audience which will happen in the coming months. I can’t wait to see how these songs translate to a live setting and to share the live experience with others – especially family and friends. It’s been a while since I’ve played a live gig so it will be exciting!”

Ways of Seeing – Artist Bio

Ways of Seeing is the project of singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist James O’Donnell. This is his first solo project after previous musical ventures with bands ‘Hush War Cry’ and ‘Dear Desert’. This new project started in the attic of his childhood home in Kerry where his musical journey began many years before. After converting the attic into a home studio, the unfolding pandemic provided time to flesh out years of voice notes and musical sketches.

The name “Ways of Seeing” came from the idea that songs could reveal parts of the self that might otherwise never have been revealed. In an attempt to capture the subconscious, melodies and lyrics were kept as they came out on first takes of recording. The songs exist as dreamlike stories where the subconscious voice inhabits a world of lush panoramic soundscapes.

Ways of Seeing aims to use musical ideas to dig deeper into knowing one’s self while observing the world from new perspectives. Song-writing can allow us to see the world in ways we never could have imagined, for Ways of Seeing this is just the start of that journey…

Connect with Ways of Seeing

Twitter | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify

Crybabyamy is a 20 year old crybaby, as she describes herself, with the ambition to normalize every kind of emotion through her pop-based music.

She is writing, producing and singing her way to removing the shame that comes with being somebody who spontaneously bursts into tears at the worst of times— and we’ve all been there. From being vocally influenced by Adele, to being lyrically inspired by the likes of Julia Michaels, Crybabyamy is destined for success.

Crybabyamy is ready to portray the rawest of emotions in her music. Her new song Validation is a song about being obsessed with your phone. She herself calls it as an anthem for young people, who are going through the motions of having a love/hate relationship with social media and struggling with the vicious cycle of putting your phone down and picking it up again.

The track is her first release since signing a major publishing deal with BMG and was written and recorded at home before receiving additional production from UK producer Rob Milton (Holly Humberstone, Easy Life, The 1975)

“Validation is a song about being obsessed with the attention we get from posting and being on social media! I see it as an anthem for young people, who are going through the motions of having a love/hate relationship with social media, I know I struggle with the vicious cycle of picking up my phone and putting it down again! Always chasing validation!” – Crybabyamy

Connect with Crybabyamy

Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify

Following on from their recent singles ‘Talk to Joe’ and ‘Please Don’t Start the Fun’, Ispíní na hÉireann share their debut album ‘The Hard Working Men’ out now, Friday 28^th October 2022.

During a trip to Slovakia in 2017, banjo player Adam J. Holohan and guitar player Tomás Mulligan discovered how much they enjoyed playing with each other, shortly after they decided to form a band. One day, while sitting at the bar of the famous Cobblestone Pub in Smithfield Square Dublin, drinking the strongest accidentally created ale the Four Provinces Brewery had to offer, they decided upon a name; ‘Ispíní na hÉireann’, and thus the ‘Sausages of Ireland’ were born.

“We are Ispíní na hÉireann, the Hardest Working Band in all of the Land. For those who don’t know yet, that means The Sausages of Ireland, and we’re called so because we are the slippiest, greasiest dogs going.”

One of their theories of music they decided to expand and experiment on, was that people respond to repetition. The self-proclaimed “World’s Hardest Working Band” hypothesised that people unfamiliar with Irish music couldn’t actually tell the difference between any of the tunes that musicians were playing, and likely wouldn’t be aware if the same tune was repeated several times in a session. Rather, they believed that the repetition would lead to subconscious conditioning, leading the people to enjoy the session more as it went on, as, unbeknownst to them, they had become familiar with the tune. After agreeing upon a reel called The Silver Spear, the experiment was underway. The research peaked on St Patrick’s Day 2019 in Molly Malone’s Bar in Temple Bar, when the Silver Spear was played in excess of 20 times in a 3 hour session to a rousing response. Legend has it that the Silver Spear passed 30 plays that day, but as of yet, no concrete evidence has been put forward to support this claim.

Since then, the repertoire of Ispíní na hÉireann has evolved substantially. Nonetheless, in paying homage to their roots, this album both opens and closes with versions of this great reel.

In July 2019, while on tour in Lithuania, Ispíní na hÉireann would expand its ranks when they became acquainted with talented cellist Aongus Mac Amhlaigh, who they quickly adopted into the band due to his amazing ability to make their music somewhat credible. It was on this trip that the Ispíní came across Sergeant James McCafferty, thus securing them their first man on the inside of An Garda Síochána. Sergeant James would lend his talents to this album, throwing down saxophone, cornet, organ and clarinet on several tracks.

With some semblance of a sound coming together the eager pair would seek the guidance of a top performing producer to capture their sound. Band manager Kül de Soup made a phone call to one Chris ‘The Rich’ Barry to see if he was up for the immense and arduous task ahead, would he record the Sausages of Ireland?! “I suppose so” he said half-heartedly, while taking a drag out of several cigarettes simultaneously.

The journey to the album nobody wanted but everybody was getting, commenced.

Then all of a sudden go-tobann, just as the sound was starting to come together, the world was overcome with a terrible sickness, and due to circumstances beyond the band’s control, the continuation of this album came to a screeching halt. This, however, may have been a blessing in disguise for this particular album as it gave the Hard Working Men time to reflect and analyse what they had already put together, and also an opportunity to write new material about their view of the state of the world.

As the world seemed to be coming to grips with the pandemic, Ispíní na hÉireann returned to the studio with more tricks up their sleeves and even more musicians to help them realise their vision. Their first single, released was ‘Talk to Joe’. A song about Tomás’ time working on the phones for RTÉ’s Liveline radio show hosted by Joe Duffy. “Lyrics stem from real situations but are altered to protect the guilty.”

Followed by ‘Please Don’t Start the Fun’, “A song about the hesitation to return to the craic of Pre-Pandemic life, however contrast to its lyrics, the music to the song would convey that the fun is only just beginning…”

SINGLES

‘Please Don’t Start the Fun’ Official Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3LXUoRuKP8

‘Please Don’t Start the Fun’ single on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/PleaseDontStart

‘Talk to Joe’ on Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/track/0w0JG3x5gzFxdYbFXnrZpN?si=d5e69bea4284498d

‘The Hard Working Men’ by Ispíní na hÉireann is out now, Friday 28^th October 2022. https://ispini.bandcamp.com/music

LYRA has teamed up with UK producer duo Cahill & DTAG for their version of ‘29 Box’ – released Friday October 28th, 2022 

The UK-based team are one of the hottest remix – production outfits and have garnered  890 million streams on Spotify. Bursting onto the music in 2007, they’ve had incredible  success with their run of remixes for Jess Glynn (I’ll Be There), Little Mix (Black Magic),

Astrid S (Think Before I Talk), Clean Bandit with Julia Michaels (I Miss You). They’ve worked with some of the biggest artists in the music industry among others Nicole Scherzinger,  Rhianna & Calvin Harris and Lady Gaga. 

LYRA’S dance collaborations have achieved huge success with Shane Codd, John Gibbons and Anton Powers. Both ‘Lose My Mind ’ and ‘ Edge of Seventeen’ charted in the Top 10 of  the official Music Week Commercial Dance Charts this year.

LYRA is set to embark on her Irish Tour this week, with a headline date at 3Olympia  Theatre next month. 

Upcoming 2022 tour dates: 

*OCTOBER 2022 * 

Thursday 27 ^th – Spiegel Tent, Wexford

Friday 28 ^th – Cyprus Avenue, Cork

Saturday 29 ^th – Cyprus Avenue, Cork * Extra Date added 

*NOVEMBER 2022* 

Thursday 3 ^rd – Monroe’s, Galway

Friday 4 ^th – Dolan’s, Limerick

Saturday 5th – Monroe’s, Galway – * Extra Date added Sunday 6 ^th – INEC, Killarney

Tuesday 8 ^th – 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin

Thursday 10 ^th – Limelight, Belfast

Friday 11 ^th – The TLT, Drogheda

Saturday 12 ^th – Set Theatre Kilkenny

Sunday 13 ^th – The Haven, Waterford