Author: Breffni Banks

Irish R&B singer-songwriter Zeinab (feat. George Mandizha) latest single is a chilled summer vibe, that reverberates wistful & carefree summer love.

Zeinab’s soulful, velvet voice with hypnotic repetitive lyrics, partnered with George Mandizha’s production, lulls listeners into a sense of accepting warmth and calm. The kind of sensation one experiences when lost in carefree summer love.

The single will be released on Friday, 6 May across all music platforms. This is Zeinab’s second single of 2022 and first time collaborating with George Mandizha.

Zeinab was named Hot Press Magazine’s ‘Hot for 2022’ list of emerging Irish musical talent and Dublin Live’s ‘10 Dublin musicians set to make it big in 2022’.  The singer-songwriter is also a regular music contributor on Virgin Media’s ‘Six O’Clock Show’.

Reflecting on the inspiration behind the song Zeinab said:

“’Summertime’ is an energetic summer bop. It’s familiar but fresh. About summer love and the excitement that comes with it. It’s the beginning of an adventure in love when the future is bright.”

“Beyond summer it’s also the feeling you get at the beginning of a relationship. The giddiness, the butterflies, the excitement and possibility of what could be.”

“I feel like it’s a song to listen to while driving with the windows down, wind in your hair, summer sun on your skin and this BLARING through the speakers. I hope it gives everyone those summer feels!”

Producer George who also features on the track describes Summertime as:

“Picture hip-hop grooves meets soul progressions and R&B elements, summertime is exactly that. It allows the listener to enter a vibrant new world that’s also familiar to them as it creatively takes elements from the 70s and the 90s but fits comfortably today. This song is for soul lovers who enjoy the golden era of soul music. The silky smooth vocals and passion Zeinab delivered creates a feeling that lovers of this genre will really appreciate.”

This is Zeinab’s first time working with London-based producer George Mandizha. She also collaborated with US-based illustrator Jamie Tam to produce the single’s fun bright artwork.

Upcoming gigs will be announced shortly on zeinabofficial.com.

For more information on Zeinab and her new single ‘Summertime’, visit, zeinabofficial.com

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‘Otherworld’ is a folk rock track which offers a deep and epic feel that builds and builds drawing the listener into the drama of the story as it unfolds. It combines spoken word narration with verses that haunt as it delves into the story of love from this world locked in the Otherworld. This track is a reflective piece, a dramatic love story with mythical insinuations as the lovers mind wanders with an air of utter vulnerability.

The track is inspired by Con’s work supporting individuals in recovery in the mental health services in Mayo. It reflects the joy and escapism in music, it’s healing power as it takes you away to another emotion, narrative, world and state of mind. Otherworld explores a mind that wanders back to days gone by where love and passion were at the forefront. Under a ballroom ceiling the power between two not yet acquainted lovers has begun to grow, however, with this follows a vulnerability even more powerful – so much so that it can destroy the very concept of ones own ability to manage one’s own stable mind. This track has been tipped as one of the best you may hear this year from an independent Irish artist.

With his own distinctive vocal and current sound, Con has spent many years developing his music as an alt-folk singer-songwriter, drawing inspiration from stories passed down the generations and music from the likes of Whipping Boy,The Cure, Future Islands, The Frames and Bell X1.

His debut album release is preceded by the single release of the title track ‘Otherworld’ on the 22nd of April. This track has been hotly tipped as one of the best songs you will hear this year from an independent Irish artist. ‘Otherworld’ is a folk rock track that offers a deep and epic feel that builds and builds drawing the listener into the drama of the story as it unfolds. It combines spoken word narration with verses that haunt as it delves into the story of love from this world locked in the Otherworld.

Over the past number of years, Con and his band have appeared twice at the Electric Picnic Music & Arts festival, opened up two shows for Aslan in his native Co. Mayo, have sold out headline shows in Whelan’s Dublin, the Roisin Dubh in Galway, and ‘The Fjord’ EP launch show in Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland in 2018.

Con is a story teller who’s songs will take you through the byroads of Ireland, to the Eastern Fjords of Iceland, and offer an escape into the Otherworld.  The success of his live shows are testimony to the power and intimacy of his live stage performances. Recent collaborations included a cello performance from acclaimed cellist & songwriter Vyvienne Long on Con’s 2020 single ‘Condemned the Lyricist’, a real tip of the hat to Con’s credibility as a talented songwriter.

Con’s debut studio album is embedded with stories intertwined with real people and tales from other worlds from ethereal alt folk ballads to soft rock and feel good vibes. There is something in this collection for everyone. This collection represents a real coming of age for Con as an original artist and marks his best work to date.

Otherworld single release date: 22.04.22

Otherworld album release date: 06.05.2

Jake Carter is set to release his self-penned track “Who We Are”. The single is completely different to anything Jake has released previously, and is described as “a raw & emotional track, that speaks the truth about the current world we live in. The ‘real-talking’ pop track was produced by Wayne Farrel and mastered by Marcin Ciszczon. Full of meaningful lyrics, the track was written by Jake Carter and Irish songwriter Megan O’Neill over zoom during the pandemic.

Speaking on the song’s origins, Jake says:

“It was a song we wrote during lockdown through zoom, and then finished in studio. It started off as a bit of a rant about what was going on in the world and the situation we found ourselves in during the pandemic. We put all of our thoughts and feelings into this song, and although it slightly different to anything myself or Megan have done before, I am extremely proud of what we have achieved. We never intended for the Verses to be spoken (I won’t say rapped as I never see myself as a rapper), however we found we had so much to get off our chest’s, that the best way to put it into the song was to just speak the lines instead of give them a full vocal melody.”

Liverpool born but Ireland based since he was 18, Jake Carter, still only 23, has already made a name for himself in the world of creative arts through his victory on Dancing With The Stars as well as acting roles in a number of stage shows. While he enjoys the idea of continuing to bring that triple threat of acting, dancing and singing, music is Jake’s first love. The 23-year old is now seeking to firmly establish himself as a pop star in the mould of Olly Murs and Tom Greenan and to create music that reflects who he really is and not who people think he should be.

Jake Carter has plenty more songs in the pipeline and looks set to build upon the success he’s had so far and make a name for himself in the music industry. With over 500k total streams on Spotify as well as 500k+ views on his YouTube channel, combined with Live Musical appearances on Dancing With The Stars, The Ray D’Arcy Show and The Late Late Show, shows at Vicar Street and Cork Opera House as well as radio slots on Today FM, 2FM, Spin1038 and more, the future’s looking bright.

Harry Fennell, praised as one of our capital city’s most captivating singer-songwriters, has roots in the rural blues, old-time folk, and early jazz styles of Americana music. Fennell dares his audiences not to sing, dance or weep to his Cohen inspired ballads and Shakey Graves inspired sounds. Raised on a strict diet of Bob Dylan, Fennell takes the mundane and shines a light on all parts beautiful and violent, raising our appreciation for the good and bad in life. Drawing from experiences of his own and observing the world around him, he speaks candidly on the reality of being a young person in Ireland today and the hardships of love and loss.

He is set to make his debut with his release ‘Lack of Light’. Fennell has been quietly sharpening his tools and defining his voice as a regular support artist for musicians around the country. Harry Fennell is making both his debut headline and debut release on the 6th of May 2022 celebrating his single launch with a headline show in Dublin’s The Sound House.

Harry Fennell’s debut single ‘Lack of Light’ is a bold first step that is a statement of his developed style and capabilities as a songwriter. Fennell introduces his music to us with a delta blues dark folk anthem unveiling the truth and hardship of loss narrated by the self-doubt and blame that come with it. The ever-evolving structures of each stanza allow the lengthy song to seamlessly fly by, with the listener constantly discovering

Harry Fennell’s wondrous ensemble consists of some of Ireland’s most passionate musicians with Sky Atlas’ Lughaidh Armstrong Mayock and Ryan McClelland on lead guitar and drums, Bala Blake on bass and Gareth Quinn Redmond on strings and harmonium. Fennell’s delta blues Travis picking riff and Mayocks iconic fretwork relate to each other with grace and precision. We hear the bird sounds of Bala Blake opening the song which is juxtaposed with his attacking dark playing to bookend the song. Ryan McClelland’s patience as a drummer is demonstrated by his ever so gradual dynamic build, which allows for the climactic signature cymbal work at the end of the song.

This exceptional ensemble gathered in Station Studios over four blistering hot days and efficiently recorded five tracks with intervals of hooliganism in the surrounding beaches and fields. Jejune Records, Daniel De Burca was the engineer in the studio with help from Jack Kelly. De Burca went on to mix the track as it is heard now with mastering handled by Simon Francis.

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The Lost Messiahs release a new single ‘Searching in Mirrors’ from their upcoming album. The track was recorded at Golden Egg Studios, Portlaoise and mastered by Greg Calbi, Sterling Sound, New York.

The song spawned during the Covid lockdown captures the sense of frustration and isolation felt by a band who had just released a new album and were about to embark on an East Coast America tour to include prestigious venues in New York.

‘He’s been searching in mirrors for hours now

Trying to find the truth

He’s been down to the merry go rounds

But they fill you with potions and pills’

Tired of feeling helpless they decided to go back into the studio and record a brand-new album of 12 tracks which is due for release in June entitled ‘Connected to the Real’.

The band have already released a first single from the album ‘Place in my Heart‘ with the video for the track proving very popular with over 15,000 views on YouTube.

The band have received excellent reviews including a piece in the Sunday Independent by Barry Egan: “The Lost Messiahs have a distinct sound with echoes of Mercury Rev and The National”. Previous tracks have been played by Dave Fanning, Dan Hegarty and John Creedon, RTE, have been playlisted by Radio Nova and many regional stations and selected as song of the week on Joe.ie.

Their album release will coincide with their appearances at Forest Fest and the Electric Picnic as well as a string of venues around the country and a rescheduled American tour in November.

Hailing from Portlaoise this new single will be from the band’s third album of original music.

The band have built up a loyal following and never fail to disappoint live. Their well-crafted songs are delivered with a rich shimmering sonic palette of atmospheric guitars, driving percussion and hypnotic synths.

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Photo Credit: John Dunne

Multi-awarded songwriters NICK KELLY (The Fat Lady Sings, Alien Envoy) and SEAN “DOCTOR” MILLAR (The Cute Hoors, All Is Leaf) have just announced the release of a new song written and recorded together under the collective artist name DOGS.

The inception of the project was Sean’s rash offer to house-sit for his friend Brian Fleming in West Clare, which also turned out to entail looking after Brian’s energetic 8-month-old German shepherd Yogi. In need of both moral and physical support for his unexpectedly onerous dog-wrangling duties, Sean invited his buddy Nick to join him in Milton Malbay on the pretext of writing a few songs together.

Despite, or maybe because of, the hyperactive influence of Yogi, the duo managed to write four cracking new tunes together in between big feeds, cold plunges and long walks. They later recorded these four new songs in Anthony Gibney’s Audioland studios, recruiting Robbie Malone and Dave Hingerty to supply bass and drums.

The first fruits of the session is “Old Dog Young Dog”, a shimmering eliding of Laurel Canyon and Lahinch.

To celebrate the release of “Old Dog Young Dog”, Dogs are taking to the highways and byways of the deep South with shows in Cork City (The Friary, Thursday May 12^th), Ballydehob (Levis’s, Saturday May 14^th) and Schull (O’Regans, Sunday May 15^th).

Nick will be travelling to and between these shows by bicycle, in a warm-up for his Song Cycle to Glastonbury, a project he’s initiated to start a conversation about more sustainable ways to perform live music.

Nick Kelly first came to prominence fronting The Fat Lady Sings, the fabled ‘90s band responsible for such powerful singles as “Arclight”, “Drunkard Logic”, “Deborah” and “Dronning Maud Land”.

Nick’s debut solo album “Between Trapezes” was acclaimed “album of the decade” by Hot Press and led to Nick being voted Best Solo Artist at the 1999 Irish Music Critics Awards. His second solo release “Running Dog” was nominated for Irish Album of The Year at the inaugural Choice Music Prize in 2005.

In 2009, Nick embarked upon a fresh musical chapter by rebranding himself Alien Envoy – “my way of being allowed to do things that are more collective, more experimental and more fun”. “Nine Lives” was a collection of songs performed and recorded live in Dublin venue Whelans with an array of guest collaborators over an innovative nine-month project called Gestation. The first Alien Envoy studio album “Loads” spawned Irish radio hits “Nothing Left To Do But To Dance” and “Resolution” (the latter featuring a star-studded video) and the anthemic “Break America”, and was listed among the Irish albums of the year by both the Irish Independent and Hot Press. Nick was voted Ireland’s #3 Best Songwriter in the Hot Press’s annual Readers’ Poll 2015.

In recent years, Nick has with his friend and fellow-songwriter Sean “Doctor” Millar been co-fronting The Unelectables, a not-too-serious supergroup of “former future rock stars”. With a set drawn from the noisiest corners of Nick and Sean’s combined back catalogues, The Unelectables won the accolade of Best Dressed Act in The Irish Times’ round-up of the 2018 Electric Picnic.

Most recently and seriously, Nick and Sean have been working together on new music as Dogs, the name inspired by a week spent in West Clare in October 2021 house-sitting for a holidaying friend and keeping his 8 month old Alsatian fed, exercised and entertained. Despite – or perhaps because of – their onerous duties, Nick and Sean managed to write the four new songs which they later recorded and are now set to release as an EP, appropriately entitled “Tricks”.

In recent years much of Nick’s creative life has been occupied in making movies rather than music. Having been Oscar-shortlisted for his third short “Shoe”, his debut feature “The Drummer And The Keeper” won best Irish First Feature at the 2017 Galway Film Fleadh and subsequently snagged 17 more major awards on the global festival circuit. As well as writing and directing “The Drummer And The Keeper” Nick did contribute a few key musical moments to the soundtrack, notably the cornerstone song “Baby”, sung by Eddi Reader. He has also created a stage show called “See:Hear” which has been programmed at various music and film festivals, in which he mixes live musical performances and film clips to explain how rock’n’roll has taught him to make movies.

Seán Millar also known as Doctor Millar is a critically acclaimed multi award nominated musician, writer and theatre maker from Dublin. He has released 5  Solo  albums and written, and composed for, several award winning theatre shows.

His album ‘The Bitter Lie’ got him nominated for a Hot Press Heineken award for best songwriter and has made several critics best Irish albums of all time lists and was recently cited by “for these I love” as a major influence. His Album ‘The Deal’ was a Sunday Times top 5 albums of the year and included in Tony Clayton Lea’s100 Irish albums you must hear before you die. His “album Always coming home” had him hailed as ‘a national treasure’ by the Irish Times and The Hot Press Magazine review pointed out why his work was more relevant than Dylan and Elvis Costello- they later called him Ireland’s greatest songwriter. His 2013 album C48 was hailed as a masterpiece by  Hot Press, and got 4 and 5 star reviews in the Irish Mail, State Magazine and Sunday business post, and was RTE arenas critic’s choice of the album of the year.

As a theatre maker Seán’s Critical success was combined with sell out festival runs and international tours. His piece Silver Stars was listed as no 1. In the Irish Independent Newspapers most important theatre shows of the noughties- and made the Irish Times Critics best live music events and best Theatre events in consecutive years 2008 and 2009. It has been the subject of several academic works and is studied as text on several university courses. His show The last ten years was nominated for two fringe awards.  He was also the composer for Brokentalkers’ international winning dance piece “The Blue Boy” which over a period of four years, toured all over the world.

Since the late 1990s, Seán has worked as an artist/facilitator on many ground-breaking Community-based, socially-engaged,  collaborative music and theatre performances (this too has been the subject of academic works). One of his goals has been to cross, and indeed help dissolve, the divide that is perceived to exist between community-based participatory projects and so called “serious” artwork.

The themes he is drawn back to, again and again, are the ignored and forgotten  stories of Irish society, and the perspectives that time allows us on emotive topics.

His most recent theatre show Shame (co writer), a collaboration with his partner the actress and comedian Pom Boyd, was Nominated for two Fringe awards.  His most recent  participatory arts piece, ‘Sometimes the signal jumps’, created over 2 years with Residents of Bluebell housing Estate, was performed by the National symphony Orchestra and a cast of community performers, at the National Concert Hall  in October 2019.

Dogs, his new project with long-time friend Nick Kelly (The Fat Lady Sings) was started when they spent a week Dog sitting in west Clare.

Ye Vagabonds today share a new single ‘An Island’, taken from their forthcoming album for Rough Trade’s River Lea label, ‘Nine Waves’ which is to be released on May 13^th.

Speaking of the song, Vagabond Diarmuid MacGloinn says “An Island was written in a time of isolation. I sat in the same chair day after day with a guitar, looking out the same window. It was one of the first songs I showed to Brían in March 2021 when we got together to write at his place in Wicklow. I was actually kind of nervous. I didn’t know if it would work. He got me to play it a few times then he took the lyric sheet and played the song back to me with his guitar in a big open tuning. It was wild, hearing it in his voice for the first time. It made sense. It’s funny that, even though we were more cut off from each other than ever, our process was the most collaborative it’s ever been.”

Nine Waves was recorded in the Dublin Mountains at Hellfire Studios, produced by John ‘Spud’ Murphy (whose previous work includes records by black midi, Lankum and caroline). The album features 11 tracks of both traditional and original songs and tunes. This new album follows in the wake of the duo’s standalone single I’m A Rover, which won them an RTE Radio One Folk Award for Best Traditional Folk Track. Ye Vagabonds were also named Best Folk Group for the second time at the 2021 ceremony, where they hold the record for most awarded artists.

The brotherly harmonies and multi-instrumental abilities of Diarmuid and Brían Mac Gloinn were joined on Nine Waves by Kate Ellis (cello) and Caimin Gilmore (double bass), both members of the Irish contemporary classical group Crash Ensemble, and Ryan Hargadon (Anna Mieke, Rachael Lavelle, Kojaque) on piano and saxophone. The record also features concertina from Cormac Begley and harmonium from regular touring member of Ye Vagabonds, Alain McFadden.

Pre-order ‘Nine Waves’, the new album from Ye Vagabonds, at https://ffm.to/ninewaves

Ye Vagabonds embark on an album launch show across Ireland throughout June. Tickets are available from yevagabonds.com

Irish Tour Dates:

 9th June – Vicar St. Dublin Launch Show

10^th June – Cloughjordan

11th June – Doolin Folk Festival

12^th June – Visual, Carlow

15^th June – Linenhall, Castlebar

17^th June Oranmore Castle

19^th June Arranmore Island

22^nd June – The Everyman, Cork

23^rd June – Connolly’s of Leap, West Cork

24^th June – Crown Live, Wexford

25^th June – Ballykeefe Amphitheatre, Kilkenny

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Photo Credit: Rich Gilligan