Carosel are a folk pop duo – engaged to be married – who make beautiful music together. Sure to be crowd favourites at this year’s Oxegen festival in July.
It wasn’t until months after he started dating her that classically trained guitarist Pete McGrane knew his girlfriend Michelle Phelan could sing. But by the crystal clear sounds of their infectious, upbeat pop folk, it would seem the now-engaged couple had been making music forever.
After a series of small gigs from 2007 through 2008, and with Phelan’s feet on solid performing ground, the two played the Guinness Storehouse, the main stage at the Cork Jazz Festival and the Electric Picnic. Carosel’s first studio album, Kaleidoscope, was the result of a vacation to the south of France, where the pair began to write material for the record. With the help of Cora Venus Lunny and Justin Carroll, the duo strung together an uplifting collection of sprightly earworms that was released in February. Kaleidoscope earned the title of Album of the Week from Radio One and the Larry Gogan Show, and The Star said it “had a feel-good factor of 10.”
Now, already compared to the likes of Feist and Regina Spektor, the Reekus act are contentedly waiting for what comes next.
The Swell Season, including members of The Frames, kick off their Irish tour tonight in Derry’s Millennium Forum, taking in Wexford, Cork and Ennis along the way and finishing up in Dublin’s National Concert Hall.
Tues 18-Aug Millennium Forum Derry
Fri 21-Aug Wexford Opera House Wexford
Sun 23-Aug Everyman Palace Cork
Mon 24-Aug Glor Ennis
Wed 26-Aug National Concert Hall Dublin
The Swell Season, the Oscar-winning duo of Frames frontman Glen Hansard and Czech ingénue Marketa Irglova, are putting the finishing touches to Strict Joy (for release in Ireland on Oct 23 on the Plateau label).
It is, of course, the follow-up to their self-titled debut which expanded into the gold-certified soundtrack for the hit film Once. The twelve new, original songs on Strict Joy were recorded last year and document a time of great change, tumult and progression.
22 September 2009 | 8.30pm
NEW MUSIC FOR PIANO, PERCUSSION AND ELECTRONICS
The National Concert Hall / An Ceoláras Náisiúnta, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2
Tickets €10/8, available at the door and in advance from the National Concert Hall box office. Telephone: +353 (0)1 4170000.
Performers: David Bremner (Piano, Electronics), Maeve O’Hara (Percussion)
Composers: Michael Gallen, Natasa Paterson, Laura Kilty, Ian McDonnell, Louise Harte, Amanda Feery, D E McCarthy, Shane McKenna.
Workshop before concert beginning at 8.00pm
The Irish Composers’ Collective (ICC) is a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing Irish composers with a community for information, education and the pooling of resources in order to create concerts of their music.
The ICC was formerly known as the Young Composers’ Collective.
Having recently supported U2 at their Croke Park shows in Ireland, Bell X1’s next Irish performance will be at the Duke Box festival in Belfast this Friday and then at Electric Picnic over the first weekend of September.
A digital EP, “The Ribs Of A Broken Umbrella”, is now available from iTunes with additional tracks “The Snowman” and “Is That All There Is” (all purchasable separately). www.bellx1.com
Director have just announced an extensive Irish tour for October ). In the meantime, the band have just finalized plans for the UK release of their current album I’ll Wait For Sound. It will be coming out there via ADA Global in September and will be preceded by the single Sing It Without A Tune.
The album, I’ll Wait For Sound, went straight into the Irish album charts at No 11 in May. The current single is “Moment To Moment”. www.directormusic.co.uk
Hard Working Class Heroes received a great number of applications from bands and photographers for this year’s festival and will be announcing the line-up very soon.
The festival, now in it’s 7th year, will take place in 6 venues in the Temple Bar area of Dublin on 16/17/18 October and has become an essential on Ireland’s music calendar, offering a perfectly encapsulated introduction to Ireland’s best emerging talent on the music scene. Full details of this year’s festival are on the website: www.hwch.net
David Kitt has just announced a gig for Whelans, Dublin on Friday 18 Setpember and ahead of that he’ll be making an appearance at this year’s Electric Picnic festival.
Kittser most recent album, The Night Saver, was released on his own label in March and his back catalogue is now fully available to buy from his website in both digital and physical format (full details at http://www.davidkitt.com) . The site also features all sorts of live shows and videos (including the new video for “No Truth In Your Eyes”. www.davidkitt.com
Dublin band The Rags release a new single “A Mirror To A Woman” on 25 September on their own label Grand Cake Records. The single will be available digitally with a limited amount of CD copies available via their myspace and website. The band also plan to play a gig in Crawdaddy,Dublin on 3 October with more shows being announced soon. www.myspace.com/therags
The Swell Season (featuring The Frames) have announced full details of their 12-track album, Strict Joy (Plateau), which will be released in Ireland on 23 October.
The band come to the end of their Irish tour this week, with gigs this week in Ennis tonight and Dublin on Wednesday. Special Guest on all Irish shows has been (and will be) Lisa Hannigan.
It is, of course, the follow-up to their self-titled debut which spawned the “Once” soundtrack album, bagging Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova an Oscar along the way for hit song “Falling Slowly”.
Following the Irish shows The Swell Season tour will roll into the US in September / October and Europe in November / December – with plans to roll the tour into Asia in Spring 2010. www.theswellseason.com
Villagers continue with a spread of carefully selected shows over the summer including an appearance at the Electric Picnic Festival next weekend.
The band released teased an eager audience with their excellent debut EP in February on the Any Other City label. They have since been concentrating on playing live and building up a live audience in Ireland and the UK. www.myspace.com/wearevillagers
The Angel Pier released a new single, “Align The Seas” on the Irish Independent label Delphi on 7 Aug. The 4-piece are 75% Irish, 25% Canadian and, via their previous releases, have gained a reputation for captivating live shows and ensnaring pop melodies. www.myspace.com/angelpier
