Author: Press Officer

This year eight music acts performed at An Chonair Bar, as part of the IMRO Other Room at Other Voices. Tony Clayton-Lea reviewed all of them – here is the second segment of them.

LE BOOM

If a stuffed room at 3.30 in the afternoon is anything to go by, then Le Boom had better get ready for a name change to Le Bang sometime very soon. Doctors might say that cold weather kills infections stone dead, but this Dublin electro-pop duo (Chris and Aimie) invest so much heat into An Chonair Bar that you feel a trip to the doctor’s surgery is on the cards. From the first bounce of the beat, Le Boom instil confidence – the duo may be newish tykes on the block (the pair started writing music together about 15 months ago), but they have the self-assurance of musicians much more experienced. Added to this is the sheer exhuberance of the music, which seems not only match fit and fit for purpose but also tailored for easy of physical access. The reception Le Boom receives is a huge, deserved result, but a thought lingers: if they can create such a ludicrously crowd-surging, floor-bouncing reaction mid-afternoon, then what on earth will late night gigs produce. Boom? Bang? Whatever way it goes down, the Chris & Aimie explosion starts here.

KATIE KIM

The difference between the music styles of Katies Laffan and Kim is so immense there’s no point doing anything as dumb as a cross reference check. As host/MC MayKay says in her introduction to this artist, “people have spent years trying to define her.” This is as good a pointer to Kim’s singular music as anything you care to dream up, and it’s fair to say that those people who have tried to come up with anything remotely close to a classification have failed miserably. It isn’t difficult to understand why. Kim, who occasionally supplements her chosen art by being a support musician in The Waterboys, walks a fine line between experimentations and arty excess, but whereas many attempting similar styles would stumble she instead walks as sure-footed as a mountain goat patrolling the Conor Pass. There is something beguiling as well as beautiful about her music – it starts slowly, and stays at a certain level throughout her short set. It may not have the crossover appeal of Le Boom or Katie Laffan, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that Kim is filtering her art through a system that accepts her difference and diversity.

ROSBOROUGH

Like Touts, the punk band that tore up An Chonair Bar during the Other Voices Music Trail, Glenn Rosborough is from Derry, yet the differences in their music is remarkable. With just a guitar and a handful of songs, he snagged the attention of a crowd who had just about come down from the high of Le Boom. Insightful songs (including Burn Blue, In The Moment) are performed with integrity and passion, his strong, wide-ranging voice as firm a calling card as you could hope for. The songs performed will be featured on his debut album, which is due for release next year, and for which we advise you to keep an ear out for.

JOSHUA BURNSIDE

Northern Ireland’s Joshua Burnside has been around for several years, but it was with this year’s Ephrata album that he crossed over from cult to well known. The album won him the Northern Ireland Music Prize 2017, an accolade that Burnside will surely place beside a few others before the end of 2018.  Although he played a short set, there was much to admire in a batch of songs that had real emotional depth and weight. By the end, the feeling that you really wanted to hear more lingered for quite a while. For many music fans, this is as close to a good result as they could have wished for.

This year eight music acts performed at An Chonair Bar, as part of the IMRO Other Room at Other Voices. Tony Clayton-Lea reviewed all of them. It’s a tough job, but someone had to do it, etc.

PILLOW QUEENS

Dublin’s Pillow Queens (Sarah, Pam, Cathy, and Rach) kickstarted the IMRO Other Room at Other Voices, and instantly captured if not conveyed the spirit of what it must have felt like when all-female bands such as The Raincoats, The Modettes, and The Slits blazed a trail back in the late ’70s. If that spirit encompassed pioneering sensibilities then it also ensured that women’s voices were heard. While Pillow Queens reference music that anyone with an avid interest in punk(ish) rock would be aware of (and while they have all the right influences and have read all the right books) they bring a solid sense of the times they are living in with captivating, brisk songs such as Rats, Wonderboys, and Olive.

MARIA KELLY

It says something about the burgeoning popularity of Mayo singer-songwriter Maria Kelly that out of over 1,000 entries for this year’s Other Voices IMRO Open Call, she won the public vote. Clearly, the people have spoken. Positioning herself centre stage, Kelly may look the part of the archetypal female singer-songwriter, but there’s a steeliness to her performance that marks her out from so many others. Songs such as Far Below, Torn Into Two, and Dark Places showcase Kelly’s songwriting in a particularly bright light. Factor in a band that is as empathetic as it is able to create accomplished and delicate soundscapes, and you have a class act that seems well able to deliver not only on the faith of those who voted her in but also on the promise of her talent. We may too often fall into the trap of saying things like ‘one to keep an eye out for’, and so on, but seriously, Maria Kelly is precisely that.

SLOW RIOT

Limerick’s Slow Riot (Niall Clancy, bass/vocals; Aaron Duff, guitar; Liam O’Connor, guitar; Paul Cosgrave, drums) has been dipping in and out of focus for the past few years. Taking post-punk bits of Interpol, pieces of The Editors and slivers of New Order, Slow Riot make a helluva noise – songs such as Lighthouse, Pink December, Trophy Wife, and Absent Dreams pack not only a singular punch but highlight a firm grasp on how good internal song dynamics can sound when they’re married to smart lyrical ideas, forceful stage presentation, cleverly deployed riffage and a specific sense of  musicians that know their way around – as well as in and out of – a tune. Spoiler alert: we really like this band.

KATIE LAFFAN

Katie Laffan has the type of natural instincts and inclinations for putting the fun into funky. Such an approach makes her stand out from everyone else on the IMRO Other Voices Room line-up (which is, not so incidentally, a microcosm of the diversity of creative musical talents in Ireland right now). Not for her the classic fragility of Maria Kelly, the post-punk intensity of Slow Riot, the folk aesthetics of Rosborough and Joshua Burnside, the electro-pop brilliance of Le Boom, or the punk/pop classicism of Pillow Queens. Rather, Laffan chooses to go a completely different route, taking stops along the way to namecheck the likes of Erykah Badu, Frank Sinatra and Britney, while her band agilely negotiate their way around the intricacies of funk, ska, hip-hop as well as a concise blend of R&B and jazz. It’s a mixture that settles into the system like warmth from a fire on a cold day, and frankly we are all the better for it.

This time last year, we noted that more and more people were somehow getting into the idea of driving down to Dingle for a weekend of music, cultural encounters, discussion, food, and checking out the unique character of the local bars. What we couldn’t have predicted was how much word has spread in the interim period. As I was taking stock of the world we live in, sitting beside the fire at Kennedy’s Bar, with a beverage in front of me, I overheard a few people talking close by. They had never been to Other Voices before, they said to each other; two of them said they had never even heard of it until earlier this year when acquaintances had told them about it. Even now, it seems, 16 years after it first started as a twinkle of an idea in the minds of Philip King, Tina O’Reilly, Nuala O’Connor and a few more, there is still work to be done in getting news of Other Voices – as well as its importance within the cultural fabric of the country – out to the population at large.

There’s no doubt that Other Voices has increased its public profile over the past four years, let alone 14. There was a time, said Molly King (daughter of Philip and Nuala), and now one of Other Voices’ highly effective development team, when she had to beg (or borrow) people passing by on Main Street to come into St James Church to fill the pews. Now? People would almost bite your hand off for a ticket.

Speaking of the church, here’s a question for you: has anyone witnessed a better and more powerful performance than that given by Seattle artist Perfume Genius on Friday night? We’ll answer that in a minute. Firstly, it takes some guts to stand out on a small stage and perform in front of strangers and a film crew, but UK singer Isaac Gracie and Irish singers Dermot Kennedy and Aine Cahill did just that. Short sets of around 25-30 minutes each focused on their respective good points, and if sometimes these young artists felt ever so slightly burdened by their influences they didn’t seem any the worse for it.

But, Holy Mother of God – Perfume Genius? Here was an artist who corralled his tortured soul into a space that fully enabled him to provide one of the best Other Voices performances I’ve seen since The National almost ripped the rivets off the church roof several years ago. Enacting some kind of kinetic, sinewy dance that no one would even want to match, Mike Hadreas drew delicate lines around an imperious collection of alternative pop songs that engaged with societal norms while ferociously challenging them. The cherry on top of this was the man’s voice, which connects any discernible gaps between Jonsi (of Sigur Ros), Anohni, and our own James Vincent McMorrow. The end result is, genuinely, like I’ve ever seen before.

Before and after the church were many Music Trail gigs, of which there are far too much of to list here, but which we fully recommend should be checked out for their diversity, range, and styles.

Today (Saturday) is when IMRO takes over. IMRO has been a supporter of Other Voices for many years, and IMRO’s Other Room is the section of Other Voices that acknowledges the talents of Irish musicians and songwriters. In blog posts for Sunday and Monday, I’ll be reviewing all of the IMRO Other Room acts – Pillow Queens, Maria Kelly, Slow Riot, Katie Laffan, Le Boom, Katie Kim, Rosborough, and Joshua Burnside – performing at An Chonair Bar.

Until then, relax into the weekend: pace yourself, have some lovely food, enjoy a drink (or two – it’s allowed!) and see you in front of the stage.

Tony Clayton-Lea