David Keenan ups the ante with this uptempo, four-on-the-floor rocker – ‘Semidelinquent’ – which sees him back in the studio with Gavin Glass, who produced David’s widely acclaimed debut album – ‘A Beginner’s Guide To Bravery’.
David says: “Semidelinquent” is a soulful rock n roll eulogy to dysfunctional love, sang and spewed amidst a new big band sound. It’s brash, poetic and proud.”
Recorded live in the studio with David’s superb new gigging band, ‘Semidelinquent’ sees him connecting with his rock ‘n’ roll influences for a thrilling stomper. David Keenan has just returned from a successful tour of Scandinavia and has played Irish summer shows with David Gray in Cork and at Sea Sessions in Bundoran.
David Keenan plays the Galway Arts Festival on July 13th before heading back into Europe for more festivals and will be on tour with Counting Crows around Europe in the autumn. The live B-side – a new recording of ‘Peter O’Toole’s Drinking Stories’ – was cut in concert earlier this year at David Keenan’s triumphant return to Dublin’s 3Olympia Theatre.
Pa Sheehy has just released his brand new single ‘Surrender’ feat. Sinead White, out today the 1 July across all digital platforms.
Speaking about the single Pa Sheehy said: ‘This song swivels through childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Contrasting imagery that creates a longing for what was and a sadness for what is. It was written in the middle of nowhere with a few friends this time last year. Some songs are hard to write and some songs just fall on your lap. This song was written so easily. I hope people can connect with it the same way I do.’
Pa Sheehy paved the way for his debut solo EP ‘The Art of Disappearing’ with the radio hit ‘Róisín’, which received widespread acclaim, and on release the EP shot to Independent Number 1 in the Irish album charts. To celebrate the release he also took to the road for a sold out nationwide Irish Tour.
Upcoming live dates include Indiependence Festival, Cork on the 29 July as well as a host of European Tour dates.
EU Tour Dates
10.10 – Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands
11.10 – Maschinenhaus, Berlin, Germany
12.10 – Artheater, Cologne, Germany
18.10 – Academy, Dublin, Ireland
19.10 – Dolans, Limerick, Ireland
20.10 – Limelight 2, Belfast, Ireland
22.10 – Omeara, London, UK
It wasn’t just Covid-19 and lockdown, which made 2020 a year that Pa Sheehy is unlikely to forget. After a decade fronting the Irish chart-conquering Walking On Cars, he decided that it was time to leave the group.
“When lockdown hit, the level of peace that came over me was something I’d never felt before” I slowed down and stopped thinking of the next song and the next gig for the first time in ten years. I knew it wouldn’t last forever so when I was ready to “take on the world again”. I need to keep reminding myself to take a breath every now and again.”
“There was no bust up or other big drama; it had just run its course” he explains. “Following all those years of band democracy, I wanted to be able to totally do my own thing, which has been very liberating. Walking On Cars was an amazing period in all our lives. The people of Dingle were with us from our first gig in a local bar, Two albums later and we had toured all across the world, played to 14,000 people in Dublin’s 3Arena; and performed before Kendrick Lamar at Electric Picnic to 35,000 people singing back every word. So all in all, we did good.”
‘Surrender’ feat. Sinead White the brand new single from Pa Sheehy is out now across all digital platforms.
Corner Boy are set to release their new single ‘Kingdom Come and Go’, which is out across all digital platforms on 1 July. A knock-out punch of energetic feel-good indie/folk, ‘Kingdom Come and Go’ is the second single from Corner Boy’s debut album which is due for release in October, 2022.
Featuring exploding brass sections, racing fiddle crescendo and an anthemic sing along chorus, the song explores the conversation of connection; highs, lows, certainties and uncertainty through heartfelt melody and poignant lyrics. Produced by Gavin Glass (David Keenan, Lisa Hannigan) with combinations of folk rock, traditional & indie alternative.
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.
‘Kingdom Come and Go’, the second single from Corner Boy’s upcoming debut album, is set for release on the 1 July with their debut album due to be released in October, 2022.
The Willie Clancy Summer School takes place from 2 – 10 July, and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta will be broadcasting from the heart of the festival all week.
RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy have a partnership that goes back fifty years. The then fledgling radio station was in attendance the very first year of the school, in 1973, and has been there every year since to record or broadcast live from the West Clare music mecca.
This year, the live broadcasts on RTÉ RnaG start on Sunday with the Éirinn is Alba concert at 8 pm, celebrating the connections between the Celtic nations. Musicians on stage will include Hamish Moore, Connie O’Connell, Maighréad Ni Dhomhnaill, Paddy Glackin, Louise & Mick Mulcahy, and groups from Cape Breton, Wales and Québec. Neansaí Ní Choisdealbha will present the concert.
Then the broadcasting moves to the RnaG Roadcaster, An Ródaí, which will be parked up outside the hall for the week. Áine Hensey will be broadcasting live every afternoon Monday to Friday from 3 pm to 5 pm, with great live music and interviews on Binneas Béil. Then, RnaG Music Editor and musician Neansaí Ní Choisdealbha takes over for Ceol Binn ó na Beanna Monday to Wednesday 7 pm to 9 pm Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Neansaí will have more superb live music from solo musicians and groups for the listeners, as well as interviews and lots of information about the festival.
Keep an eye on the RTÉ RnaG social media platforms for lots of photos and videos from the broadcasts. You can listen live on FM or online, or listen back at rte.ie/rnag
Cold Wind Blowing’ is the latest single from Cork singer songwriter John Neville.
John’s last single ‘Old Honey Bee’ received considerable local and national airplay and was placed on the RTE Radio One Recommends list for two weeks.
‘Cold Wind Blowing’ is an upbeat catchy earworm influenced by the classic American 70’s pop songwriting that shapes much of John’s music. The bright bubbling music in the song is juxtaposed with a pensive lyric lamenting lost love but ultimately ends in hope. Produced by Martin Leahy ‘Cold Wind Blowing’ is the final single before the release of John’s much anticipated second album next month entitled ‘Sun Valley Drive’.
John Neville is a singer songwriter from Cork city. He played and recorded with the excellent traditional Irish group North Cregg of which he was a founding member. He released his debut solo album ‘Dance With The Wind’ in 2017 to critical acclaim. Songs from that album received nationwide airplay including RTE Radio1 programs such as Lillian Smith’s Rising Time, The John Creedon Show and Niall Toner’s Roots Freeway. John’s powerful song ‘The Wobbling Man’ featured in a New York Times article by acclaimed writer Jennifer Finney Boylan.
Cold Wind Blowing Credits:
John Neville – Guitar, Vocals
Aine O Gorman – Backing Vocals.
Martin Leahy – Drums, Bass, Acoustic & Electric Guitar, Keys, Pedal Steel, Backing Vocals.
For 2 years we have been isolating from each other. Many have been anxious and alone.
Throughout these lonesome days, music and songs have been a salve and an inspiration. During that time Irish folk rock band Scullion have recorded an uplifting and inspirational collection of songs for the head and heart and will take to the highway, collapse distance and bring us back together in the halls, front rooms, back rooms and bar rooms of Ireland. This compelling album, ‘Time Has Made a Change in Me’, will be shared September 2022, coinciding with an album launch tour across the country.
Today, the band share a new song from the album, ‘All the Bells in Spain’.
With lyrics by the band’s prolific songwriter Sonny Condell, he explains “This song was written as a way of dodging making a speech as father of the bride at my Daughter’s wedding. It was a big nervous gamble, could I write it? And in time, would they like it? Would the hired guitar be playable? But it all worked out, and it was first performed as the sun set over the Mediterranean sea, and that happy day was in 2018.”
Formed in the mid-1970’s, Scullion are revered and feted as one of Ireland’s most innovative, original and brilliant live bands. Their upcoming new record emphasises the band’s musical curiosity and like all of the band records, it breaks new ground.
Bob Dylan, James Joyce and Sufjan Stevens are woven into the DNA of this record with the inspirational music of Sonny Condell beating at the heart of the thing.
Scullion’s new album “Time Has Made a Change in Me” is due out September 22nd.
I’m tired of being the one to listen, now I’ll make some music, and make it love me” a line from Cocooning Heart, the title track on Myles O’Reilly’s new album out now via Doolin Arts.
Myles O’Reilly is a musician, composer, and filmmaker from Dublin. Since first lifting a camera in 2010, multitasking O’Reilly has filmed, directed and edited over 100 music video promos and 20+ music documentaries of Irish musicians at home and abroad, some of which include Glen Hansard, Villagers, Imelda May, Lisa O’Neill, Ye Vagabonds, Sinead O’Connor and Lisa Hannigan, alongside other international artists such as Hollywood soundtrack virtuoso Ernst Reijseger, Icelandic artists Soléy, Múm, and Amiina, US soul phenomenon Janelle Monae, and UK folk trio The Staves.
Early life as a working musician began for Myles in 2003 with the band Juno Falls. Signed for two albums by Sony UK and then V2 records, Juno Falls disbanded in 2010.
Ten years later and in a global pandemic lockdown, Myles returned to making music and has since composed, recorded, and released two minimal ambient albums, Cabin Light’s Off (2020) and My Mothers Star (2021), followed now by this new collection ambient folk songs titled ‘Cocooning Heart’.
THE EXPERIENCES THAT HAVE LED TO ‘COCOONING HEART’…
Always evident in O’Reilly’s music documentary film work has been his deep adoration and passion for music but most important to note, having once been a working musician himself, for over a decade his willingness to prioritize his subject’s love for performing music above his own is perhaps what is most poignant about this long-overdue role reversal. “It took a pandemic lockdown for me to have nobody to cast a lens on but myself”.
“At 10 years old I was pretty much the same person I am today. Watching my Dad make bad television, thinking I knew how to do it better. Impersonating my favourite pop singers”. Myles’ mother Monika championed his creativity, perhaps to a fault, especially his singing, “I got away with murder in school. My teachers told mum I showed no interest in any subject and was certain to fail my leaving cert but it didn’t matter to her, as long as I kept singing”. Most parents regularly check on their children to make sure they’re applying themselves to homework, “Mum would pass my bedroom door and if she heard me belting out a song, I was left alone”.
Signed to a major label in his mid 20’s, the reality of the music business hit Myles hard in 2008 in a global economic crisis. His label V2 records, home to his favourite band Elbow, suddenly and without warning liquidated. “My album was due to be released the day I read about their bankruptcy in the paper”. It was the catalyst for Myles turning to his second love, photography, and film but he would persist with music, only as subject matter for his inquisitive lens.
“Mum died from cancer in 2013. I made a promise at her deathbed that I would sing again” but no sooner had the tragedy of her loss occurred than he himself suffered a life-changing near-death accident. “It took me over a year to learn how to speak again without slurring every word”. In a collision with an extremely violent bacteria, Myles lost the use of half his tongue. “The doctors told me I would eventually regain my speech but articulating certain words would be a permanent difficulty for me. So that was it really. I had no more hopes for singing”.
The pandemic of 2020 had its challenges for everyone, but with Myles working specifically in music, there were several projects evolving that weren’t just put on hold but cancelled outright. “The first two weeks on the sofa staring at the ceiling were the longest two weeks of my life. I was completely grief-stricken”. Given that his previous dice with mortality was compounded by a battle with his immunity, in lockdown he was ‘Cocooning’, and not taking any chances. “I went from being constantly on the road, to suddenly being exiled at home.
“My wife Aideen took to drawing and painting, but I didn’t know what to do with myself”. In a moment of inspiration, he thought to text his neighbour Rod, to ask if he had any instruments lying around that he could borrow. “Moments later Rod knocked on my door wielding a Moog synthesizer. It had a hundred buttons. I thought to myself, this is perfect. It’ll take me ages to figure out what each knob does. A perfect time filler”.
The album title track Cocooning Heart was written and recorded that night. “Flood gates opened. I was in my attic, whispering into a mic so my wife couldn’t hear me. There were moments when I cried profusely. I was reunited with the act of writing music, and nothing else mattered. Every lyric of that song is exactly what was on my mind that night, in that reunion”.
Indeed every track on Cocooning Heart does carry a feeling as though it was recorded in the intimacy of a home, late at night. The gentle whirr of a laptop is accompanied by a whistling wind noise from outside, where cats can be heard fighting. A kettle is warming up. The dull racket of a shower from next door. In listening, the listener is very much transported into Myles’ attic. It’s an ode to life within those walls, and to living there with his wife.
Singer-song writer, Rob Harley, is proud to announce the release of his single “Swinging for Fences” on all digital platforms, on Thursday, 30th June.
Rob Harley is an experienced blues singer-guitarist, who was born in England to Irish parents and grew up in the San Francisco bay area and in Ireland.
He has played and sung with many bands around Ireland, including his own Rob Harley Black River Band and The Rob Harley Blues Band. Back in 2003, he released his own original material with his first album “Dirty Black River” which garnered much raving media attention.
“Swinging for Fences” is the third single release from the album “Big Tree” written by Rob Harley. The last single release, ‘These Days’ gained notable attention from renowned thought leader podcaster and bestselling author, Dr. Chris Ryan, who played the song on a recent episode on his show “Tangentially Speaking”.
The episode featuring an interview with American actor, Simon Rex, can be heard here:
‘Swinging for Fences’ is a work of passion for Rob as he wrote the song about the resilience of his partner in overcoming physical and emotional trauma after a serious accident. His vocal harmonies reflect his emotional drive in the song. His original contemporary blues music distinguishes the song and gives a new horizon, positive, looking forward and euphoric vibe to the single.
It was recorded, produced and mastered by Christian Best at Monique Studios in East Cork. All vocals and guitars are performed by Rob with Christian Best on Drums and percussion, electric bass guitar by Chris McCarthy and keyboards/piano/organ by Darragh Keary. ‘Swinging For Fences’ was recorded, produced and mastered by Christian Best at Monique Studios in East Cork. All vocals and guitars are performed by Rob with Christian Best on Drums and percussion, electric bass guitar by Chris McCarthy and keyboards/piano/organ by Darragh Keary.
Following her previous single ‘Run the Wild’, Jennifer Lyons could not be more excited to now share her second single ‘Take It Back’, out 1 July and available to pre-save here.
‘Take It Back’ is a delicate ballad depicting the many turns and conflicting emotions that occur at the end of a relationship. A portrayal of former lovers who stand gridlocked in jealousy, insecurity and pride.
Mixed and engineered at Monique Studios with Christian Best. This will be the second release from Jennifer’s highly anticipated album ‘Run the Wild’.
With poignant lyrics “Still I remember, the moments between. Your face in the crowd still haunts me”, this song was written as a remedy for anyone caught in a war, realising that sometimes a love can be too lost and broken, a remedy will never be found.
‘Take it Back’ will be available on all streaming platforms from Friday, July 1st.
Jim McHugh’s newly minted single ‘On My Life’ takes the listener on a vocal journey of highs and lows, unveiling the singer’s poetic musings on the push and pull of emotions and promises in the land of romantic love. The first single from Jim’s upcoming fourth album ‘I Whisper to the Dawn’, the song evolves from the mellow side of Indie, with driving rhythms and tempos giving shape to the singer’s introspections. In a reflective mood reminiscent of last year’s ‘Her Love’, Jim’s voice soars soulfully as he philosophises with prismatic imagery towards a tuneful crescendo.
‘On My Life’ was recorded, produced and mixed by Alex Borwick (Niamh Reagan, James Vincent McMorrow) at Transmission Rooms Studios, Drumlish, Longford and The Stables Studio, Castleblayney, Monaghan. It was mastered by Fergal Davis (Sinéad O’Connor/Muse).
‘On My Life’ features Jim McHugh on Vocals/Backing Vocals, Electric/Acoustic Guitar, Paul McCabe on Bass/ Backing Vocals, Paul Sherry on Electric Guitar, James ‘Butch’ McNeill on Drums and Alex Borwick on Piano, synthesiser and Backing Vocals.
Single cover photo by James ‘Butch’ McNeill.
This single is Jim’s first offering from his new 2022 album ‘I Whisper To The Dawn’. Jim’s previous album ‘Pretending To Wake Up’ was released last year and featured singles ‘Dave’, ‘Hey Jimbo’ and ‘Her Love’. Jim’s songs have been premiered by Hotpress and received national and international radio play.
Jim’s 2019 album release ‘My Nuclear Radio’ was critically received and album single My Mandalay featured on the ‘RTÉ RADIO 1 recommends’ playlist in Nov/Dec 2019, and was the ‘LMFM All Out Local Song Choice’ for March 2019. Single Everything’s Cool was Roddie Cleere’s ‘Song of the Week’ on KCLR in August 2018 while Avenue Road and Marjorie were widely played at home and abroad.
‘On My Life’ will be available on all digital formats for streaming/download.
